I feel a little one-track minded these past few days. Is that even a phrase? I know someone can have a one-track mind but can they be one-track minded? OK, so I feel like I have a one-track mind lately. And it’s all budget, budget, budget. I’m not sure what I was thinking when I started a test-run of a budgeting system on a Friday. Um, hello Friday night-life, Saturday shopping and Sunday sales papers. Boo! But we did really, really well. Like, super well. I continued to say no to things but it felt really good to have a full envelope. As expected it is SUPER tough to spend cash. I haven’t even gotten Starbucks yet this week.
The hardest part though has been groceries. I think we have plenty budgeted but it’s hard to think about what to cook in advance and keep it under budget. And it’s hard when you’re in the store not to pick up other stuff. I mean, you have to think about food at least 3 times a day and much more with kids that require many snacks. Just when I get over one meal, I feel like the cycle starts all over again. Scott says I should plan for a week at a time and I know that’s what most meal-planners do but I just can’t yet. I don’t know. Right now I’m going one day at a time. It seems grocery sales ads change at different times and my stock items at home are running out and I’m trying to plan around the kids’ meals at school and I just can’t plan a week in advance. To be honest, the whole thing is stressing me out a little. Can you tell? This is why for our entire married life I’ve always just cooked what I’ve wanted when I wanted and eaten out when I didn’t want to cook at all. But I can’t ignore the fact that we only spent $40 on food through an entire weekend, including a few staples we needed.
Also, I’m loving that our checkbook balance is not plummeting every time I log in. It’s good. I know it is. It’s just…I have to get better at this meal plan thing. Advice?
I know you don’t want to hear it, but truly, the weekly planning thing does seem to be the only way it works.
Would it help to kind of ease into it? I can think of a couple of ways.
First, you could do what I do and cook on the weekends and then eat it during the week. I like this, but it’s just my own palate that I’m pleasing, so it’s probably easier for me.
Second, you could follow the Real Simple “Month of Dinners” plan. There was one in this month’s issue – want me to send it to you?
A month!? You’re trying to kill me right? But yes, I will be glad to take a look and see what others are doing that works.
I do the menu one week at a time, but I don’t stay strict on which days I make a meal. Plus- I usually leave one night at least for leftovers or if plans change.
It takes a couple of weeks for your pantry to adjust to this, and really- you’ll find that shopping to your menu is actually cheaper than shopping completely off of ads or coupons. If you keep your shopping day on the same day every week then you aren’t constantly going to the store to get a deal.
On thing that may be easier for your is that most families cook the same meals over a two week period. You could make a two week menu and just rotate through that. I always think that sitting down and planning a different menu every week is stressful, so a set rotation could be easy.
Set rotation sounds like a good idea!
I get paid once a month and when I got the store, I shop for the month. Except for things that are truly perisable. I factor in what weekends and nights I will be working, and having food provided at work, along with what nights I will be home and what nights I will be out of town. And then I go shopping for the month.
I have certain things that I like to eat regularly for the month and then spice it up with different things.
It has always worked for me.
Good luck,
D
Really don’t know how you do once a month! Yikes! I bow down!
OK, I am a BIG meal planner. Here’s what I’ve figured out over the years.
I meal plan weekly, usually on a Sunday and do shopping Monday afternoon but it varies. I get everything in one big trip. I used to meal plan for two weeks at a time but I found that my fridge just got really full and I “lost” things in there.
I also plan breakfasts and lunches, though loosely. I actually write out a meal plan for the week on a big chalkboard in my kitchen. It’s cute, and it’s functional. 😉
The best tip I’ve got is to make a long list of all of the dinners your family likes to cook/eat. Add to it after you cook a new recipe. This makes a great go-to list when you are sitting down at the beginning of the week trying to plan meals.
Now, developing a long list of meals that are “everyday” type meals can take time. I’ve drawn from a few sources: southernliving.com, cookinglight.com and (of course) tasty kitchen. Other great sources are those magazines that I thought only old women read. 🙂 Redbook, Women’s Day, Taste of Home, Family Circle. All of them have great recipes and you can usually get a subscription for less than $3 a year, sometimes free. Old magazines that people are getting rid of are great for this, too.
Another good source for everyday meals is E-Mealz, website e-mealz.com. They provide a list of meals for you each week. I subscribed for three months, which gave me a HUGE stockpile of everyday recipes to choose from. I never followed their “week” 100%, but instead just used them as a sort of recipe resource. Now, I’ve got all of the saved pdf’s they sent me and I can reference them anytime I’m stuck for a good meal idea. I think I spent all of about $15 and it was WELL worth it.
So, I find that every mom seems to struggle with finding everyday, five ingredient type meals for their family. I’ve thought for a long time that we need a forum for moms ( or dads) to post their weekly meals so we can all share them. You’d be great at putting something like that together on Facebook or a website. 🙂
Hope that helps!
Wow, Jenny thanks so much! I have so many recipes but it’s just not necessarily in budget. I guess it’s going to take some time to weed out the ones that are pricey and save those for once a month/week whatever.
There are lots of sites that do Menu Plan Monday as part of http://orgjunkie.com. Maybe I should link up there so I have a reason to plan it out that far in advance. Nothing like combining budgeting cooking and blogging!
I have attempted to make a list of all my go-to recipes but have never kept it around long. I really need to sit down and make a new one especially now that I’m armed with all my Pioneer Woman recipes.
Thx for all the input!
Oh my God. Perhaps I should have just sent you an email. Holy long-winded reply. Sorry. 🙂
Stephanie has a spread sheet on the computer that she uses to plan meals for the week. It’s so much easier to go the store on Sunday and buy what you need for the week.
Would love to see that if she’d be willing to share!
Glad I could help. Another idea: remember that dinner doesn’t have to be a big ordeal. For everyday meals ( weekday stuff) my rule of thumb is that I cook one part ( the entree) and the rest are things I can throw onto the plate. For instance, I cook chicken but the accompanying rice is a 90 second microwaveable Uncle Ben’s packet and the veggies are just steam-in-bag. Fresh fruit is another easy stand by side dish, too.
Ok, I’m all about simple. Here are my steps:
1. LOOK AT MY STOCKPILE: I know we’re both couponers so I won’t go into all that. Hopefully I have a stockpile of meat in the freezer that I got really cheap. If not, I look at what meat is on sale that week.
2. RECIPES: I created a “Recipes at a Glance” sheet with all my favorite recipes. I match up the meat to the recipe and see if I’m missing any ingredients. I use my “Grocery List by Aisle” sheet to write down anything I need to pick up at the store.
3. PLAN MEALS: I created a “Weekly Meal Planner” that I laminate and reuse every two weeks. Here it is: http://www.scribd.com/full/13015004?access_key=key-1z052dytvawhf2u7xuyg. Write in the meals and you’re done. You can either stick to the days or just use it as a guide, knowing you have the ingredients for all the meals listed on your Meal Planner.
4. Shop and Save b/c you won’t eat out.
Hope that helps.
I like your approach…that is very similar to how I’ve thought about it…cook what I have and if I don’t have anything, see what’s on sale. I think the key is to get that list in order!
Your meal planner is so cute!
I signed up for E-mealz a couple of months ago. I don’t follow it exactly, but it does give good (cheap) ideas…or sometimes it sparks a memory of something similar that I like. It matches up the menu with whichever grocery store ad you want to use…and tells you the sale prices. Of course you can use SouthernSavers.com or something similar to get even better deals at the grocery store. When I signed up for E-mealz I even had a coupon code (DAVE was the code…you can google to see if it is still a valid code)…Dave Ramsey even supports E-mealz 🙂 I admire you for going on the envelope program…we keep talking about it, just haven’t done it.
I wasn’t sold on the sample menus but I’ve heard some decent things about it and of course Dave recommends it. Going to check out that coupon code. Thanks!!
I went back and looked at my e-mealz lists and I’d say that every week there were 2 meals I liked. But add those 2 meals up over 15 weeks, and it’s a good addition to my stockpile of easy recipes.
I’ve been meal planning for years and won’t ever be going back. I love knowing what to fix each night and love only going to the store once a week- because if I go for one thing, I can’t just get one thing… It’s also nice when we know we’ll be spending more in other areas, to be able to plan for cheaper meals or use what we have on hand. I’ve done several posts on meal planning and budget cooking on my food blog if you’d like to browse. http://www.whoneedscows.blogspot.com
That’s exactly what I need to do. Thanks for the tips
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