Food Budget - How Do I Make it Work?

This week in one of my mommy groups, the subject of food budgets came up. Everyone was sharing what they spent, how they saved, and how they made feeding their family work. That got me to thinking how I really save money in the kitchen. I know my food budget is pretty small, but how? What have I done differently to keep expenses low and still eat healthy? I know I garden and use that produce during the winter, but I don't can everything. So, I have been inspired to pay attention to what I do, not change anything from my "normal" routine, and come back here with a report. The timing is perfect because I haven't had any time to plan menus and stock up special for you blog readers. Currently I have a pretty big list of things in my pantry that are in dire need of restocking (like, these staples are gone). This way you'll be able to see that I do spend money!

It's Tuesday, so basically the start of a new week... ish. Yesterday for dinner I made fajitas, which consisted of some steak I had in the freezer, peppers that I had chopped and frozen from our garden, homemade tortillas, and sour cream that I already had in the fridge. 

I guess I should warn you first. We don't eat multiple dish meals on a daily basis. One reason for that is because it's not practical for us. I'm feeding two adults and a baby, and we don't eat a ton. It doesn't make sense for me to serve a fraction batch of rolls or open several different cans of vegetables only to have half of them sitting in my fridge waiting for me to come up with another way to use them up in the next few days. I do it on occasion when I know I'll use them, but as a general rule I try not to fill my fridge with little bits of food. I prefer leftovers to be enough for a lunch meal or else another days dinner. Now that the little guy is eating solids, it's a bit more frequent that I have partial jars in the fridge, but I try to feed him from the ingredients that we're also having for dinner.

Breakfasts and lunches are pretty random, too. I used up our last egg yesterday, and we were out of bread (I'm baking more as I type), so I made me a giant pancake for breakfast, with no egg, since we're fresh out. It's 1pm and lunch is going to be some leftover Shepherd's Pie from a couple days ago. I have supper planned, but there are times that I change my mind last minute, so I'd best wait to let you know what I've actually made after the fact. 

Come follow along on my adventure! And feel free to comment with any questions.