We're at the end of our one-month menu/grocery shopping plan. It was a learning experience for sure!
The Good:
1. I made fewer trips to the store. I still made a few more than I had predicted, but far less than normal. I could see a difference in how often I had to fill up my gas tank!
2. It was SO wonderful having a full 4 weeks of meals already planned out! Before, when I planned a week at a time, it felt like the week went by so quickly and before I knew it I was sitting there trying to plan another menu. I love having much more already planned out.
3. I baked my heart out! I stuck to my goal of baking everything, breads, muffins, rolls, biscuits, etc. We made pancakes and waffles and cookies from scratch. It wasn't nearly as challenging as I thought it might be!
4. We ate a lot more vegetables and fruit and didn't eat out hardly at all. I think we got a $5 pizza once and that was it. We also learned to eat smaller portions in order to stretch our food supply farther. Little things like only having black beans as a side with enchiladas instead of beans and rice actually made a big difference.
5. We lost weight! Nick has lost 15 pounds already. Me, not nearly as much but it's better than nothing. :)
6. One of the best things I did was make a big batch of pasta sauce and freeze 3 portions of it. Instead of needing a jar of Ragu on hand for a quick spaghetti dinner, I just pulled out a container of homemade meat sauce. It was just as quick and much more delicious and healthy. I'm going to do this every month!
The Bad:
1. I had to estimate a lot of things, not knowing what would actually last a whole month. Some things I was WAY off on, like coffee cream. I actually had to buy coffee cream 3 times! Crazy.
2. Fresh produce only lasts so long. There is no choice here: I had to make additional shopping trips for lettuce, kale, etc.
3. Planning the menu before checking on sales, etc. is a bad idea. I actually had to alter my last menu quite a bit. I ended up not being able to afford things like roasts. Bummer, but that was part of the learning experience.
The Ugly:
1. Not using cash and paying with a debit card. Very dumb, and all because I let myself get too stressed out to plan that simple part of shopping. The results were ugly; I went over budget a bit. Nothing shattering but I disappointed myself.
2. Not planning for emergencies. I think we can all agree that home cooking from scratch is a great thing, but what happens when you get sick? Or something else crazy comes up? For a person who had emergency surgery earlier this year and had to unexpectedly leave my boys to fend for themselves for a few days, I should have learned this lesson already. This last month, I came down with a terrible cold. Worst I ever had! And I had no convenience food to help myself along or for my husband to heat up for us. Not a can of soup, not a box of mac'n'cheese. Nothing! I struggled along for two weeks, then pleaded for Nick to figure out dinner one night so I could rest. He got---you guessed it--pizza! And of course that affected our budget. So, this time I am making several freezer meals to have on hand. Just in case!
3. Cravings---which could be considered an emergency at times. :) I rarely get serious food cravings but this month of course I had one. For chocolate, something I hardly ever crave and we hardly ever have in the house! It's a bit silly, but to avoid unnecessary shopping trips I think I'll plan on hiding a chocolate bar or two in the house just in case. :)
Overall, this plan has been a good one and I'm sticking to it. I plan to slash our food budget in half and I'm really determined to stick to it this time by using the cash envelope system.
I'm working on this next month's menu and will post that soon!
3 comments:
Honestly? I think you did FANTASTIC. Really, truly great--especially for the first time out of the gate! I totally second the back-up contingency plan though--after so many years of migraines, I KNOW this, but I still am not always great at doing it. I'm trying to get better. A good goal for both of us though. :)
As far as freezer cooking, Money Saving Mom has some great posts about this! She used to do the big-batch cook-all-day and have all her meals for a month thing. Earlier this year, she came to the conclusion that with 3 active young children, she couldn't do that. She started to do one hour-long session each week, and she really piled up an impressive stash during those times. I'm looking at my weekly schedule to try to figure out where I can incorporate a similar idea. Of course, you can always just double whatever you're making for dinner and store the 2nd half, but I'm not that gifted. ;) And she has a free freezer cooking e-book she's offering right now. It's important to have recipes that freeze well, so you don't end up hating it!
Geez, sorry for the super long comment! Guess I should have just emailed, huh? :-p Anyway, I think you did terrific, and I'm learning from you!
Thanks Karen! I appreciate the encouragement very much. :) Hopefully one day we'll both feel like we're meeting all our goals. :)
If I had a bigger freezer, I might do more freezer cooking. It gets full fast with all the meats and veggies and stock. :) I'm trying to do more this month; we'll see how it goes.
Yeah, I've seen Debi Taylor-Hough talk about how to do a month's worth of freezer meals in the above fridge freezer, but she admits there's not room for much other than the meals at first!
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