Meal planning on a budget

When I took on this new job position of CEO of StayatHomeMommyINC, I took on a whole new list of job responsibilities (totally self inflicted, by the way... the only job responsibility my husband gave me was keep Holden happy. Easier said than done sometimes, but hey...). One of these responsibilities was to save us as much money as possible so I could keep my current position....wouldn't want to be let go due to lack of funds and my position in the Rispoli company being eliminated, ya know?

One of the ways I am attempting to do this is by meal planning, and yes, clipping coupons. I am no extreme couponer yet...I go to the grocery store and get crazy excited if I save $20 off of my $120 shopping order. Problem with coupons is that I don't need things like taquitos, Macaroni Grill ready dinners and Chef Boyardee!

I've realized that it's very hard to plan 6 or 7 dinners, some lunches and breakfast for under $100 ~ especially because we are somewhat snobby eaters...no hamburger helper in this house. So, I scour the Internet for $5, $10 dinner sites, clip, print and buy coupons (yes, buy. I purchased a bulk lot of 100 coupons on ebay for $1.35 cents. I saved about $5 in total with a few of them...don't think I'll do that again) and only purchase what is totally needed for said meals. This is not an easy task for a girl like me ~ I have to curb my expensive random imported cheese buying binges. This is also probably a good thing, since my freakin' cholesterol is at 270 (thank you heredity...).

So, what's on the dinner menu this week? Here we go:
-Matt's favorite Sausage Pasta (made with the fresh ziti I made on Sunday)
-Chicken Enchiladas (found on Pinterest)
-Baked Rosemary Garlic Chicken Thighs
-Calzones (with the yummy dough from my dad's restaurant)
-Shrimp Creole (if this tops my delish Shrimp Jumbalaya from last week, I will be shocked!)
-Slow Cooker Shrimp Curry (The large bags of frozen uncleaned shrimp are a great deal- I can usually get 3 dinners out of one bag)
-Crab Cakes (ok, a little bit of a splurge. Lump crab meat was on sale, and we get dinner and lunch out of it)

Bon apetit and happy couponing (good grief)!