A few weeks ago, I was a crazy lady and cleaned out the freezer and wrote down everything we had in there. Then I moved on to the pantry and did the same thing as well. I even went through my stockpile stash that I have in the garage. After about three hours, it was all nicely organized and I knew what all we had. I was super impressed with myself that I had done it because the freezer and the amount of food we had was out of control.
I had tried and did good for about three weeks last fall when I decided to do the same thing only with the freezer. I had marked down all we had in there and started knocking out meals but I lost steam big time plus I didn't really meal plan, just pulled something out and made it.
This is where I was different this time, I actually took all of the information I gathered and planned meals. When I was done going through everything we had in the freezer and pantry, I had like 28 different meals that I could make with no duplicates. I also was getting rid of stuff that had been in there for awhile.
So almost three weeks later, we have ordered pizza once and grabbed sandwiches on the way home from soccer, all the rest has been homemade meals that were planned out. We have made some great new meals that the kids have loved trying, okay one of the kids while the other one sticks his nose up at it. He sticks his nose up at everything so I am far from being offended or annoyed anymore. I did add one meal in after we got a huge eggplant from the veggie co-op I am in and made eggplant parmigiana which was not my best one.
I also noticed I needed way less from the grocery store this week and last. I think I spent about a third of what I usually spend. I just got some milk and some extra add ins that were on sale for the stockpile. I also think by doing this we are eating better and smaller portions. The kids haven’t complained one bit as to what I have made. They ate the fish or should I say gobbled it up. Even my hubby who isn't a big fish eater (it has to be in patty form with cheese, tarter sauce and a bun) really enjoyed it.
I already started planning our next set of meals and of course the major shopping I am going to have to do when I clean us out. We have a list on the fridge for both regular grocery items and Sam's Club items (the new one down off of 45 should be open by than). I also preordered my meats to arrive in about two weeks as well so that is already done.
I am liking the no guessing as to what we eat plus we have had variety. In 28 days, no repeat of any meals. It is important for me to have variety when I eat. Every week growing up we had spaghetti because it was easy for mom to fix and I think it was once in our whole rotation with a yummy italian chicken breast. I am not a big fan of spaghetti though because we don't eat it that often the kids love it.
So my goal is to keep this up because so far I have seen benefits with lower grocery costs and better eating. I have lost like four pounds the last two weeks between the better eating and of course the fact I am on the elliptical almost every day! Taking 3 hours of planning once a month is so less stressful than rushing in the door after swim lessons or soccer and standing there trying to figure out what to make. I am hopeful that maybe I can actually start making and freezing some meals as well bit hey I am not going to push it!
Rebecca Benson is a League City stay at home mom who has lived here since 2003 when her husband took a job on the International Space Station program. She followed soon after working on the same program for nearly six years when she started staying home with the kids. Rebecca loves to craft, scrapbook, sew, and embrace motherhood. Rebecca has a blog called Mommiedom ((http://queenmommiedom.blogspot.com/) where she talks about all the things in her life not just those “confessions”.
