Budget

So I haven't been doing super great with my budget the last couple of weeks. I've been in Summer Mode (only 2 weeks left till the end of the school year!!) We just completed the state testing and the attitude of the school is "We're done" You can feel it in the kids, feel it in the teachers, and feel it in the administration. Everyone knows there's no point in teaching kids anything new with only 2 weeks left before summer vacation and the feeling is definitely contagious.

I've been going out and socializing more, and everyone knows that socializing costs money. I've also been working out less and eating like crap. In my defense, when I am out socializing and starving, I feel guilty getting a chicken sandwich and fries for 10 dollars when I can just get a side of french fries for 3 dollars that will still fill me up. That combined with having little time to grocery shop or make food has left me eating unhealthy. It's not a huge deal and I know I can get back on track. I'm starting today! I went grocery shopping today and this is what I came up with:

Food Lion:

MorningStar Soy Crumbles- $3.50 (on sale from $4)
Iceberg Lettuce - 99 cents (sale from $2.99)
Chicken Breast- $6.99 (on sale from $12.99)
Red Kidney Beans- 79 cents
Carrots - 99 cents (on sale from $1.29)
No fat Cottage Cheese - $2.69
Tomato Paste- 44 cents

Total $17.98

Not too bad. I decided to make a huge thing of Chili in the crock pot, even though it's 90 degrees outside. I didn't follow any recipe because I've made chili a bunch of times. I've never tried to Soy Crumbles but Hungry Girl uses them a lot and she never steers me wrong. I had to admit that when I tried it today I was a little put off by the texture, but I'm hoping I won't notice it as much in the chili.

Basically this is how I made it:

Chopped up a whole onion, cooked it with about half a bag of the soy crumbles and a leftover taco seasoning packet I had, put it in crock pot.
Added a can of tomatoes with green chili, corn, and the kidney beans. Then I had about half a jar of salsa left over so I added that too. I added a half a cup or so of water. Then I liberally added chili powder , garlic, and red pepper flakes. I was gonna add hot sauce but I thought it might be a little too spicy with the other stuff, so I figured I could add more later.

I hope it's good because I made a whole huge pot and I plan on eating it all week. The whole thing must have cost around 10 dollars and I made enough to last at least a week. I'll let you all know how the soy crumbles work in the recipe!