HOME Management: Meals & Groceries

 

Meals.

Meal planning & grocery shopping for my crew is WORK & expen$ive!  Our family has been fortunate to have a pretty good food budget.  And in all honesty, it’s not even really a budget.  For the most part I get what we like & want.  During a typical month we spend at least $600 a month on groceries.  Until recently.  The cost of EVERYTHING is increasing & as our boys get bigger & we add once again to our family size we are definitely feeling the impact of our economy.  So, for the first time in a long time, I am becoming (*or trying at least) frugal.  I have a long way to go & it is not an easy process, but it is necessary.  I definitely need some pointers from Nicki!!  Last week I tried to only buy name brand items, but I’m not really sure it made a difference.  It seems like if I pinch a penny here, I have to put a dime there.

Considering we live at least 45 minutes from a grocery store meal planning is a must!  There is no running to the store for that one ingredient I forgot or grabbing a bite to eat at the last minute because I don’t feel like cooking.  I usually grocery shop twice a month & pick up produce in-between.  I rarely make a trip to town more than once a week so it is important that I plan our meals out.  I know a lot of “home managers” create monthly menus, but it works better for us to do bi-weekly menus.  I use the personalized family shopping list from i heart organizing to create our menu & shopping list.

 

There are a few things I take into consideration when planning meals. 

1. Is my husband working or off?  (*If he is off – he will grill!!)
2. What is my day like?
   • I try to follow Kim’s advice in Large Family Logistics & use the crockpot or easy meals on my busy days like Laundry & Town Day.
3. What is the weather?  Right now, this is a no brainer, but during other seasons I try to prepare temp appropriate meals (*I’ll often check the weather in advance & make a note of them temp for the day)
4. Fun themes
   • Taco Tuesday, Wednesday is always Pizza night, Sunday I try to prepare a “special” meal
5. What does everyone else want? 
   • I don’t accommodate everyone every week, but I try to cook at least one favorite or requested meal a week.
6. Snacks
   • Our snacks are typically a fruit during the early afternoon.  Again, I love Kim’s suggestion of 1 fruit a day.  We eat a lot of fruit!  I seldom, very seldom buy junk food snacks like brownies or little Debbie's.  Snack food around here is either a fruit or veggie (1st) then you may choose from:  whole wheat gold fish, peanut butter crackers, cheese, yogurt, or a fruit snack.  I also try to make snack time special or school related so often we will have a not so healthy snack if it pertains to school or I just feel like being a cool mom.

Groceries.

I created a Summer “Meals at a glance chart to” help plan a variety of meals.  Meals during the excruciating Texas summer are very limited around here!

I also made a core summer grocery list that I take with me to buy groceries.  It has typical household items, but the grocery list itself is more specific to ingredients we will need to prepare summer meals:

You will also find a recipe reference from i heart organizing & a food journal from The Project Girl (*I used this when I was having to track Truman’s calories while trying to get him to gain weight).  I really need to add a freezer & frig inventory too, but I’m not quite that organized (yet!)

You can download a blank Meals at a Glance HERE or HERE (*they are slightly different) & blank Grocery List HERE.