I can't believe that Tate will be 15 months old. Time has flown by! In the last several months, we have been in the transition stage for his meals. He definitely took me by surprise when he completely rejected table food! I was stunned! Trey was NOTHING like that. Thus began our experimentation with every type of food possible and me turning in to a short order cook. Ugh. Those months were no fun. I thought I was the only mother on the planet with a 13 month old that still ate Sprout baby food pouches several times a day.
Luckly, things have gotten better and Tate is 100% eating table food. And a lot of it! :) As everyone in our family can eat the same meals, I have been doing quite a bit of cooking now. It was such an important thing when I was growing up to eat as a family at the dinner table. Because I was raised in that manner, I wanted to have the same principles for my children. Life does get crazy and sometimes we have to run thru the Chick-Fil-A drive thru, but at least 4 days a week, I'm cooking dinner at the table.
I have seen throughout the blogosphere about menu planning but had never given it a thought. Honestly, it just seemed like something a very organized mom would do. A mom with PLENTY of time on her hands. Well, let me tell you...I was surely mistaken.
One Sunday, I decided to meal plan. And I'm serious, my life (and my wallet) has never been the same! :) The absolute #1 reason why meal planning is so great is because it saves a boat load of money! I had NEVER even thought of that! So on this monumental Sunday, I planned out my 5 meals for the week, wrote my ingredients that I would need, added a few other staples on the grocery list (milk, bananas, cereal bars) and headed to the store.
My grand total for my entire week's shopping? $85.00. For one week. For a family of 4. People, I die. As in, that is so unbelieveably less than I have ever spent for a weeks worth of groceries! In the past, I'd buy WAY too much, buy a mish mosh of things that didn't go together and at the end of the day, I had a fridge and pantry full of food that couldn't possibly be paired together to make a decent meal. So, from then on. I was hooked!
I've tweaked my process, adjusted my budget and now I plan for 5 meals to eat throughout a 7 day period on a budget of $100/week. Someweeks I go overbudget. And some weeks, I am under. It's almost like a game. Like a puzzle to figure out what I can do to stretch my dollar and make a really good dinner!
(For you number crunchers out there, our budget of $100/week can be calculated to $3.57/day for each of us. That is obscenely crazy. But it works! ...not taking in consideration if we go out to eat. ...which we do. )The kicker for me is that I have to cook on the weekend or prepare the night before. On weekdays, I walk in the door at 5:30pm. My children cannot wait for longer than about 20 minutes for dinner. So everything is made or prepped the night before or the weekend before. Then I pop it in the oven or re-heat and serve. There definitely are things I cannot serve during the week becuase it takes too long, but I just save that for the weekend.
Nowadays, I'm looking for good recipes. I've been through a lot already and we certainly do have our favorites, but make sure to leave me a comment with a favorite recipe or link--I'd love to try it!
Here's a few things that have been on my table in the last month or so...
-Poppyseed Chicken
-Italian Beef in the Crockpot served on French Bread
-Enchaladas
-Burgers
-Venison Meatloaf (no joke-out of this world amazing!)
-Spaghetti and Homemade Meatballs
-Broccoli, Rice, Chicken Casserole
-Sweedish Meatballs
-Baked Talapia
-Rigatoni in Rose sauce
-Roast in Crockpot
I hope this might have encouraged you to try out meal planning. If not for the budgeting, take a minute to sit down with your family for a nice meal. I know it's a keeper in my house!
xoxoH
