Ok, we eat. That means, we have to buy food. duh. My boys are only getting bigger and with that comes bigger appetites. Every time I go to the grocery store, I spend money on this necessity of life, food. Every time I go to the grocery store, I feel guilty about spending the money. For the last 6 months or so, I have been creating a meal plan for the week in my head, as I shop, which in turn, makes me spend alot more money. Prior to our other computer crashing, I created an 8 week rotation meal plan. It was great. Along with the plan, I created a list of items that were necessary to prepare these meals. If I stuck to the list, I went out spending what I am supposed to. My computer crashed and the plan went with it.
As I looked through the cupboards last night, I realized I purchase a lot of snack type foods. I am not a snacker, but the rest of my family is. When the boys come home from school, they are STARVING. I have tried to give them something small (like a hot dog) to tie them over, but once dinner comes, they are not hungry. A soft pretzel and glass of milk doesn't do the trick either. Those with kids, please answer this...Do you feel like your kids constantly are hungry? I don't want to deprive them of food, but then again, I don't want them constantly have something in their mouths(and in the process, practicing a little self control).
So, I am creating a meal plan AND am going to start clipping coupons. Gasp. The last time I clipped coupons was about 4 months ago. Elliott grabbed my organizer and dumped them all over the supermarket floor. I didnt laugh or think it was cute AT ALL (kind of like when he barfed all over in Panera Bread today, another story). Yes, that was the last time I clipped coupons. I use to cut coupons when Aaron and I first got married. I would go out with a $200.00 grocery order paying only $45.00 tops. The local Grocery store at the time (Farmer Jack) would double coupons to $1.00, so it was almost a challenge for me to do this every week. Many of my friends are surprised by the fact that I don't clip coupons. I am always trying to find a bargain and it seems like stuff tends to just fall in my lap when it comes to deals. Some of my friends have said "I need to go shopping with you...you always find great stuff". This cracks me up because IF I took them shopping with me, THEY would get the deals and I would be left in the dark. So friends, don't expect me to invite you to come along. I want them all for myself. lol. Totally kidding.
My sister in law purchased this program called Cook'n. She actually has not used it yet, but told me about it and it looks like something I think would benefit our family. I downloaded the program for 15 days, so it will be interesting to see how much money I will save just by being a little organized.
So, I need some ideas. What type of meals do you prepare for your family? How do you grocery shop (weekly, monthly, daily)? Please share your ideas with me. Please, please, please. Also, if you have an online cookbook that you would like to share, I would love to see it.
4 comments:
First of all, I'd be up for a recipe/menu brainstorming party (without kids!!)
We are constantly finding ourselves in the same boat--AMAZED at how fast we go through our weekly stock-up of food, milk, eggs, etc.
One think I"m seeing is that I think the kids need more protein and starched (??--like potatoes, etc.?)
They are waking up EARLY every morning, always so hungry. And when I stop to think about it, some of our evening meals are pretty lame. So I am going to be trying harder to plan pretty substantial evening meal (meat and potatoes type things) so that the kids really go to bed with something in their tummy to last them until 7:00 a.m. (that's all I'm asking for, people).
I'm also going to try and get back to making them oatmeal in the mornings b/c cereal doesn't cut it for the long haul of the school day.
That's it for now.
you know about our weekly 'categories' of meals for each day of the week (i.e. thursdays: crock pot, wednesday: ethnic food, tuesdays: pasta, sundays: soup, friday: pizza) & then we just go through our cookbooks or allrecipes.com to fill in the days. plus, stocking up at costco helps with random days when suddenly we don't have a meal.
& yes, my girls snack all day, but mostly on cereal or fruit. but they're only 3 & 1, so i don't think i can give you help w/ your older two! good luck ??!
Gracie seems to want to snack all day too. I try to give her cheese or yogurt in the afternoon so she is full but will still eat dinner.
I shop every two weeks with a few filler trips for milk and eggs and bread in between. I haven't mastered menus yet but what I have been doing is writing a list of what I could make by the ingredients I have on the fridge and then I cross it off as I make it. I just started clipping coupons- NOT fun when you are shopping iwth a baby but I've been getting some good deals. Not as amazing as the blogs I read but still. Here are some good ones for you
www.5dollardinners.com
www.onceamonthmom.com (I've been trying to freeze extra meals and want to try this soon)
www.moneysavingmom.com
www.moneysavingmamainmichigan.com
Let us know how coupons go!
i meal plan but i kind of suck at it. what i do to save money is:
- look at the weekly specials for kroger and giant eagle and plan meals around what is on sale
- never/rarely serve meat as the main course, only as an additive. (like chicken noodle soup vs grilled chicken) i can usually serve 1 1/2 chicken breasts in a dish to feed all 4 of us for example. 1 breast if im pushing it
- coupons! most coupons dont matter much to me because i dont buy a lot of things that coupons are for. that seriously sucks. but! if i am loyal to a brand it's a good tip to check the sunday paper first, then i google search for printable coupons for stuff i want or i hit the manufacturers website. lots of coupons can be found on their websites!
i used to do the grocery game (grocerygame.com) but i dunno. same kind of thing as above. the coupons aren't usually for things i buy anyways. but i took a bunch of their tips (like only shopping on double coupon days, being creative with meat by using it sparingly or using alternative/cheaper cuts - thighs vs breasts, etc)
retailmenot.com/grocery is one i like a lot
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