Those are good ideas.  

Our student is taiwanese.     Dh does not eat tuna at all and that is not going to change.   I don't expect our student to cook because he is homestay and we are getting paid to have him.  he nukes meals for snacks.

I do wraps and leftovers.  I can get deli meats like ham for about $5 a lb.       Cheese starts at $5 a lb here.    It is the whole case of groceries just being more expensive to begin with.  

dh lunch for example..he takes basically the same thing every day.  meat/cheese on white bread with mayo and mustard. no veggies! lol.

if a sandwich costs me from $1 to $2

yogurt cups .35 to .50

banana .25 to .30

treat .25 to .50 each.

he needs quick lunches. 

dd and our student get treat, sandwich, drink and fruit/veggie.  our student doesn't eat the fruit much or veggies.   We have had teenagers from all over the world and only the japanese seems to like salads and veggies!

Reworked my budget:

Estmated Income: $2500.

Church 200.

Savings 250.

Mortgage 879.

Electric 70.

Phone/ISP 81.

Long Distance 16

Trash 72. (1stQTR)

Grocery 100. (I have a $50 gift card for Meijers)

Christmas excess 100.

0 interest card 50.

Medical 12.

Auto tags 57.

auto gas 120.

Auto/Term Insurances 130

Non Food 30

Misc 75

Cash on hand 50

Dining 80

Farm Grain 40

Charities 28

Medical Insurance 106

total expenses are $2546.  for a SHORTAGE of $46.

The shortage can be accomodated, but I wanted to start the new year by saving something every week if possible.

So far I've spent:

$40 church

$50 Savings

$72 Trash

$100 Christmas excess

$12 Medicine

$50 in Gas

$24 dining

$27 farm grain

I was able to find a bunch of 8oz. packages of roast beef luncheon slices for .99 a piece, or $1.98 a pound, which is very cheap compared to deli prices! The bread I get from the Sara Lee factory store in 20 pound garbage bags as "animal feed" for $3.50, so the squooshed stuff goes to the animals and the good stuff goes in my freezer.  So dh's lunch sandwiches are pretty cheap, and I try to give him a thermos of leftover soup or chili to go with it. I keep packets of instant soup in the cupboard so if I don't have any in the fridge or freezer to give him, I can reconstitute the chicken noodle or tomato soup packets and put in his thermos.

I guess I should confess the most expensive part of dh's lunch is PopTarts! He has to have his pop tarts. Not just cake or cookies, but pop tarts. So I get the dollar store brand or when amazon has a good bulk sale with online coupon for about $1.22 - $1.25 a box, I get those because I can get flavors there I can't find in grocery stores.

He can go a day or two w/o, but he grumbles. He'd rather I cut back elsewhere and get him his PopTarts!

 Michelle, LOL Babs

  His 10 am breaktime just isn't the same otherwise....Poptarts and milk. UNTOASTED poptarts, egads!

Cinnamonhuskies:

I guess I should confess the most expensive part of dh's lunch is PopTarts! He has to have his pop tarts. Not just cake or cookies, but pop tarts. So I get the dollar store brand or when amazon has a good bulk sale with online coupon for about $1.22 - $1.25 a box, I get those because I can get flavors there I can't find in grocery stores.

He can go a day or two w/o, but he grumbles. He'd rather I cut back elsewhere and get him his PopTarts!

LOL! These men! I'm happy that my DH loves leftovers. We hardly buy lunch meat except on super-sale. DH also loves tuna and egg salad sandwiches if we are in the sandwich mood. But he would rather have something hot for lunch so sending soup or stew or casserole, etc. leftovers is a great thing for our budget.

The only thing DH really, really likes to have on hand: cold cereal. He does eat oatmeal but he loves having a bowl of cereal. I can buy store brand, thank goodness and look for good deals. But like your DH poptarts, he can't go long without his cereal fix.

I am hoping for more of a garden this summer and we are splitting a hog and beef with my parents (will be about $2.50 a lb) in February/March. We are trying to cut out snack foods and cold cereal. Ugh, chips, chips, chips. We are trying to do more popcorn in place of chips. And veggies! But first I have to get the rest of the chips out of the house. Heathier and cheaper to not have them around.

lol my dh loves his poptarts too but we can't get his favorite ones here ,the brown sugar ones.  I have to admit those are almost edible.   You would think they would at least throw some vitamins in them.   dh has to have his treat with lunch, wagon wheels  cookies etc.  if he goes for a snack it is for cookies. 

Cinnamonhuskies:

He can go a day or two w/o, but he grumbles. He'd rather I cut back elsewhere and get him his PopTarts!

I believe it has been said here that a happy husband is a well fed one. His notion of well fed is what is important.

Husbands are too funny!

Dh loves cold cereal too, but like a dessert before bed. Luckily he's not picky with cereals.

Maybe I can get him to eat more meatless meals! I'll tell him it's a matter of the budget: it's either your PopTarts or 2 days of meat! I wonder how that would go over?