Progress on my cupboard stocking goal

 I have been using some of the extra money in my budget from getting the Farmers to Families food boxes to stock some shelf stable meals in my cupboard. I purposely chose meals that we eat pretty often that way I can make sure to rotate them. We only have two more Farmers to Families food boxes left, and I estimated that each box saved me $20.

I chose:

• Pancakes, applesauce and fried spam
  
•  Chicken Enchilada soup and crackers 
• Boxed mac and cheese mixed with tuna with baked beans and carrots
• Ramen with white beans and spinach
  
• Fried rice with canned vegetables and canned chicken
• Chili and crackers
  
• Spaghetti and green beans
  

Here is what I have so far: 

• 5 boxes of pasta
• 5 cans of green beans
• 5 cans of spaghetti sauce

Originally my goal was for 5 dinners each of 7 meals, but at the time I didn't know they were going to end the program. I think ultimately that is still my goal, but I only have two more boxes ($40) so I am going to pare down what I try to buy with this money and then pick up the other meals as I can. I am focusing on the least expensive meals first. So here is what I am going to try to get with my remaining money.

• 5 cans of tuna at $.79- $3.95
• 5 boxes of deluxe mac and cheese (only needs water) at $1.50- $7.50
• 5 cans of carrots at $.59- $2.95
• 5 cans of chili at $1.59- $7.95
• 5 boxes of crackers at $1- $5.00
• 20 packages of ramen at $.25- $5.00
• 5 cans of white beans at $.69- $3.45
• 5 cans of spinach at $.79- $3.95

This brings my total to $39.75. Each meal will feed four with a mix of protein, carbs and vegetable for

$2.88, $2.59 and $1.73 for each meal. 

To finish my goal, I still need to get a lot more stuff, but this gives me 20 meals, which is almost a week of food if we need it, or a way to fill in around the edges if we have a bad week. Once these are all in my cupboard, I will have the security of knowing we have food to eat no matter what. I am really excited about this goal and hope it works out!

I have set myself a pretty big goal, and I don't know if I will achieve it, so I also set a smaller goal, I hope I can achieve it. If I can't, I at least know that I have 5 meals in the cupboard now for emergency. Having concrete, achievable goals help me be more successful.

I would love to hear of any emergency goals you are working towards, tell me about them in the comments!