When it comes to doing math, I am the absolute worst. I would rather clean a public restroom than have to be face to face with a math equation. Well, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but that's how much I don't like it. I mean, I can do simple math, like finding the price of that cute sweater that’s 40% off with out a calculator, or that 3 espresso shots + 7 ice cubes = a very happy Stacy. But having to crunch numbers for our household budget is not my strong suit.
Somehow, though, I grabbed the short straw and have been (attempting to) maintain our family’s budget for a while now. During some months, I am pretty consistent with it, but other months not so much. Those are the months that you feel the loss in your checking account afterwards during the following month. For example, if I failed to keep track of how much I spent on our entertainment in May and just did as I pleased, that extra money that I frivolously spent that was allotted to the entertainment budget for June is now gone, leaving us tighter than we had hoped.
While continuing to tweak and make our budget work for our family, my husband, jokingly, mentioned only going grocery shopping once a month to try to save some money. My initial reaction? Absolutely NOT. I can’t stand going grocery shopping. I spend so much valuable time and energy planning out a meal plan and creating a thoroughly detailed grocery shopping list twice a month, and now I was supposedly going to do it for an entire month. I was very adamantly against this crazy idea. But, as the dust settled, I started to really think about it. “It can’t hurt to try it once”, I thought, “and if it doesn’t work for our us, then I’ll go back to doing it my old way. At least then I’ll know.” That’s when I started my extensive two-day research project and started warming up to this idea. The thing about me and my personality is that if something isn't going to be fun, then there’s a very high chance that I’m not going to want to be involved in participating in it. So, the more I researched on Google, Pinterest, and YouTube about once-a-month grocery shopping tricks and tips, the more it started to become like a puzzle and game to me. I had to figure out how to use what I already have in my house to make meals for my family, and then fill in the gaps with new or tried and true recipes. And I have to do this for an entire month.
Challenge accepted.
I spent four days gathering all the facts: what was already in my pantry and my freezer.
Okay, pause. I promise you that I’m not crazy. I like knowing all of the information, even if it seems like an overload, and I LOVE having a plan. So I took notes on everything that I could think of that may be helpful for making a master meal plan.
My fridge was pretty bare because I hadn’t been to the store in two weeks, so I didn’t really take inventory of much in there besides a few staple items like eggs, milk, and syrup.
From there, I compiled a few different lists with my new found info. A Household Staples list, a Meals Ideas list, and copies of Freezer and Pantry Inventory. I’m sure I looked quite silly carrying around about three sheets of papers for a few days there, but they all were very handy in helping me make a July Meal Plan Calendar. I cracked open some family recipe books to find some new things that I could make, and then hit up good ol’ trusty Pinterest for all of the other recipes.
Since this was my first time doing this, I found it a bit tricky to fill everything out on the calendar, but I think I’ve got the hang of it now, so August’s should be a bit easier. When it came time to go to the grocery store, I was very prepared, as you could probably imagine. There were even a few vegetables that I had forgotten to write down on my master list that I remembered to buy from going over the recipes so many times! (Sheesh, right? I need a hobby).
So, without further ado, here is July’s Meal Plan:
The best part about all of this is that the amount that I spent on this shopping trip. Between two stores, for ONE month, was what I was spending for my bi-weekly shopping trip. Ummm, what?! Clearly I have been doing it all wrong before now! Even being in the store and only buying what I needed for recipes and not extra of anything was actually a relieving feeling. Although this way of planning took me days of planning ahead (which I oddly quite enjoyed), I think I will continue on with the way of doing things. It saves me a lot of stress, money, and helps me maintain my sanity at dinnertime.
Winner winner, chicken dinner!