Grocery fun!
Well, like most everyone in America, we have been feeling the financial pinch in our budget over the past few months. One solution we thought of was to vote for a removed public figure to make it all better, but in the end we chose a wacky plan: Personal responsibility.
Each week I take out a pre-set amount and that is my budget for the week. A portion of it goes towards kids clothing budget, a portion toward ‘family incidentals’, and the rest is food, toiletries, diapers, cleaning supplies, etc. Well, between the rising cost of food and our chaotic home repairs this fall, I had fallen very behind on my budget and ‘backup’ food. Something had to be done!
I have always planned out a week’s worth of meals and sides, and shopped from that list. I have been a regular Safeway customer for years, occasionally going to Sprouts if I noticed I had a lot of produce on the list. At least once a month I’d go to Costco to get diapers, Toilet paper, milk and bread, etc. It wasn’t quite as chaotic as it sounds, but I was quickly realizing Safeway was getting too expensive. Costco almost always has the best deal, if you don’t let the food go to waste, and Sprouts has hands down the freshest and cheapest produce around. So, I hatched a plan…
I began planning out 2 weeks worth of meals. This was tricky! It’s hard to think of that much food in one sitting with out getting redundant or too exotic. I tried to create 2 separate weeks of ‘mirrored’ food-if I bought food from Costco for, say, fajitas the first week (each item about a dollar more than Safeway for 3x the amount of food), I would make sure to have Enchiladas on the menu for the second week to ‘re-use’ the tortillas, sour cream, salsa and cheese. I made a big batch of marinara for Spaghetti the first week, then I’d freeze the extra sauce, and make Eggplant parmesan the second week. I bought cheddar cheese and mozzarella at Costco (soooo much cheaper!) use them for what I needed the 1st 2 weeks, then shred the rest and freeze it for later. Buying a big package of pork chops from Costco doesn’t seem so intimidating when you know you are using it in 2 applications over the next 2 weeks! I would buy all the Costco items (including snacks) for the next 2 weeks, then I go to Sprouts 2 times for produce and smaller items.
So far, it is working. I feel the extra focus and care needed to plan out the meals has helped us eat BETTER. Matt and I have so much to be thankful for, and I acknowledge ‘tight’ is a relative term, but I want to honor my husband and be accountable to the responsibility and budget set before me. And, I like to eat! Every family and every personality is different, but I think each of us should push ourselves and rise to the challenges set before us! Below is a scan of my 1st 2 week menu plan. I have done this 4 times, so from this point on, i have the next 8 weeks of meals planned, if I want to repeat!
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