BBQ Chicken

Mmmmm doesn't that sound so good?  Well, it smells so good too.  I'm trying out a new recipe today.  Actually I think it's so easy that you can't even call it a recipe.

PULLED BBQ CHICKEN SANDWICHES

Chicken (frozen/dark meat/bone in)

BBQ sauce

Put chicken into a crock pot and cover with BBQ sauce.

Cook on low 8-10 hrs.

Pull meat off bone, shred, and put on hamb. buns

ENJOY!

I think instead of putting making them into sandwiches I'm just going to pull the meat off the bone and serve it beside home baked fries and maybe corn on the cob.  Sounds really yummy and the smell is driving me insane!  I got the chicken at .59 a pound for the whole chicken.  I used the white meat last week in a crock pot dish and I'm using the dark meat today.  I paid $2 and some change, and it is enough to feed our family twice.

It is becoming easier and easier to stay within my weekly grocery budget.  I recently switched to the cash envelope system for all our expenses and it is the greatest thing that could have happened to our budget!  Why didn't I do it before?!? 

Here's what we do.  At the beginning of every pay period I sit down and write out our budget for the next two weeks.  It was difficult for me in the beginning to take the time to budget this often.  But now that I've been doing it for a while it has became really simple to do.  I already know what our bills are and when they are due, so that is first.  Then I write down my weekly expenses for EVERYTHING I need to buy for the next two weeks, go to the bank, and withdraw cash.  The cash gets categorized and put into envelopes.  There is a category for everything:  Play money for going out to eat, groceries, gas, things like that.  Once the money is gone from the envelope, it is gone.  And we cannot spend any more in that area until pay day.

I'm going to share my grocery budget, just because I think it is amazing that we can do this and still have plenty of food in the house.  I allow myself $50 a week for groceries and $10 a week for all the household/baby items I need to buy.  ($200-$240 per month)  Household budget includes everything from stamps, my Sunday paper, cleaning supplies, personal hygiene, bathroom products, paper products, baby wipes and diapers, etc.  I never spend my full $60 a week.  I actually made it through the past two weeks by just spending $25 a week on groceries.  I'm pretty picky on what we eat too.  Bread has to be 100% whole wheat.  Milk has to be skim (except for Caleb and Kaysen).  We can go through 4-5 gallons of milk a week between all of us.  And watch out for little Kaysen!  That kid can eat!  Sometimes I think he eats almost as much as I do. 

One day I will get into more detail about my coupon adventures.  But for right now I'm going to go stir my chicken and pick up the toys laying around while my boys try to fall asleep.