Cost prohibitive?

The husband asked me last night if I had thought about the financial impact of making new meals every night for 10 weeks. I told him that was one of my first concerns and that while I wanted this to be something fun, I wasn't in the business of letting it put us in the poor house. For one, I shop with coupons every chance I get. My local Kroger tallies the percentage saved with each shopping trip when you combine store sales, coupons, and double coupons. Last night I saved 20% off my bill by maximizing my savings, which is not far off what I usually save when I shop there. Good stuff. So I fully intend on utilizing coupons or other savings as often as I possibly can for the next 10 weeks. We also have WalMart which is a good choice for cheap groceries, but you're usually risking your life or sanity by shopping there.

Secondly, as I stated in my very first post, I'll just have to cut back elsewhere. I rarely eat out during the week as it is, but I'll have to be extra diligent about little costs adding up. I don't mind leftovers, and I have a feeling I'll be dealing with lots of leftovers if I'm cooking this much. Also, halving the meals will help cut back on the overall cost. Finally, I need to do a final look through of all my recipes to see if there are any that just have too many odd ingredients to justify the one-time purchase. If that's the case, I'll just cut it out. I did find two good Chinese items on close out at Kroger this weekend - rice wine vinegar and garlic chile sauce. Yum! Surely I can find a use for those items.

This challenge officially starts in seven days. The husband leaves for the academy in six days. I need to get my butt in gear and finalize my recipes so I can know what to can and what to keep. Time's a wastin'!