I have been asked by several friends to start a blog about food. For many years now, I have tried to create healthy meals for my family while not spending a fortune. There are some weeks I succeed and some that, quite frankly, it is too much work because life has a tendency to throw some curve balls our way.
On a good week, I grab the Wednesday paper on my way out the door in the morning. During lunch I look over the ads and see which stores have the best deals. I try NOT to have any store or brand loyalty! I grab my trusty 3 section spiral notebook and start taking notes in section #1. I make a heading on the page of each of the 4-5 grocery stores where I may be likely to shop. It might look something like this
Basha's Sunflower Fry's
tomato sauce (s) (c - contadina) berries ($2/pt) berries (1.50/pt)
I write down things I will likely buy and if one store has a killer deal, I will compare other items at that store to see if it is worth my time and gas to go to more than one store. I mark which items are on sale (s) as well as any items for which I have coupons (c). YES! This is can be very time consuming! I have made a game of this -- I challenge myself to see how much money I can save. I love it when the clerk smiles and says, "Thank you for shopping - your total is $65.92 and you saved ....wow... you saved $98.40!" Okay -- that doesn't happen every week, but it has happened!
The next step is to plan the weekly menu. Yup. PLAN, just like our lesson plans, folks. We have an idea what we are going to do, we gather our materials (groceries) and we try to stick to the plan! The menu goes into Section II of the spiral notebook. (That way, if the store is out of a crucial ingredient, I can see which day I need to adjust, quickly make a change at the store, and not have to order pizza on that night.) If I am ever stuck for something to cook, the first place I look is at past menus.
This week's menu (going back a bit since we were out of town):
12/29/10 Cheesy corn & potato chowder with bacon
12/30/10 Baked squash stuffed with apples & pecans, pork chops topped with onions &
lemons *** bake 2 extra chops
12/31/10 Lunch (yup - on days everyone is home, I try to plan and cook a healthy,
inexpensive lunch, too) Ground Beef & Barley Stew
Dinner - our News Year's Eve tradition of appetizers. (Junk food allowed) Nachos,
coconut shrimp, etc.
1/1/11 Pasta and chicken in spicy peanut sauce
1/2/11 Lunch - leftover barley stew & pasta
Dinner - Chicken fajitas (homemade marinade)
1/3/11 Chili - I cooked it at the same time I cooked the Barley stew as it has several
ingredients that are the same.
1/4/11 Shrimp with peppers and corn, served with lime rice
1/5/11 Red lentils & pork (cooked it when I did the Barley Stew, cut up the extra pork chops
and onions from 12/30 and added them, then popped them into the freezer. Just heat
up!)
1/6/11 Parmesan chicken breasts with salad and mandarin oranges.
1/7/11 Spicy orange chicken with potstickers. (frozen from Trader Joe's or Costco. -- I have
made my own, but didn't have time this week.)
The third section of the notebook -- is where I keep copies of the receipts (you need a feel good moment on occasion - look how much you are saving!) I also keep track of the monthly food expenditures. Sometimes I also just write down notes about what was good and what didn't go over so well with the family!
I will post tips and recipes later. I hope you find this helpful.
And my disclaimer - I am not a nutritionist. I am not a financial adviser. I am a busy, working mom who is trying to make ends meet.
Love it! Thanks for the tips Maggie!
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