Life is going to change real fast! In a week, I’ll be going to back to work while still trying to manage a household. I’m already struggling and I can at least grocery shop during the day and start dinner at 4:30pm. I’ll be surprised if this house doesn’t crumble once I return to work.
In university, I used to love grocery shopping. Pushing a cart down those aisles represented my newly attained freedom. I was no longer eating from Mom and Dad’s fridge. I could eat what I wanted when I wanted. Bring on the kraft dinner! Bring on the garlic fingers! Bring on the Reece’s Peanut Butter Puffs! Bring on the freshman fifteen!
Slowly, my enthusiasm for grocery shopping started to diminish once I started shopping with Dan. He would tell me that I should be eating healthier. (WHAT?! Living off canned and boxed food isn’t healthy? Shuddap!). Not only were we attempting to buy more real food, we also had to be concerned with price (why do you think I was buying Kraft Dinner, huh?).
Now that we’re a family, grocery shopping has become akin to a chore.
And once I go back to work, it is only going to get harder to accomplish.
So, I’ve decided the best way to solve my problem is to get organized and make a game of it.
Step One: Get Organized!
In other words, I need to start meal planning. Give each day a theme. We don’t need to stick with the same recipes weekly, but having a place to start will make planning meals so much easier.
Here’s what I’m going with:
- Monday: White Meat (most likely, chicken)
- Tuesday: Casserole
- Wednesday: Pasta
- Thursday: Vegetarian
- Friday: FUN (ie: Pizza or Tacos)
- Saturday: Red Meat (most likely, beef)
- Sunday: Slowcooker
- Backup meal if we want a change: Fish
We menu plan around here, too. It definitely makes the grocery shopping easier and smoother. And it helps me to cut down on uneccessary {did I spell that right?] expenses on things we don't need. I love the idea of categorizing each day. I'll have to keep that in mind when I make my next list! Thanks for linking up today! :-) I look forward to your posts when they pop up in my reader!
It is fun to link up! Although, I'm not sure if I'll be able to do it every week. I must admit, it is hard to think about something to write about that isn't baby related. I always worry that these posts aren't nearly as interesting as the others.
This might change when I go to work though. I'll have more non-baby time. On the other hand, I'll probably have less blogging time!
I love meal planning!… As well as grocery shopping. One of my fav couple chores to do.
I hope your challenge goes well!! For a really quick, healthy lunch – make a wrap! Whole wheat pita, spread some hummus over it, and add some veggies – spinach, grated carrots, cucumber, sliced cherry tomatoes, avocado… if desires, a little bit of salad dressing on top. And cheese if you eat dairy. yummm!! I'm also a big fan of any type of salad- with a good source of protein. ie chick peas, almonds/seeds/nuts. Make a enough for a few lunches a week when you have extra time on the weekend and keep it stored in the fridge. Cuts down on prep time!
Great ideas! Thank you! I absolutely love chick peas (and hummus), and I have an awesome recipe for a chick pea salad that I created. Now I'm actually getting excited for work lunches.
It is hysterical to me that you posted this today because my husband and I just had a discussion about the cost of eqting healthy vs. The cost of eqtig unhealthy. He is constantly arguing that eating healthy is cheaper and I'm like… You don't do the grocery shopping! So tonight, I handed over the shopping duties to Mr. know-it-all. Lets just see….
Eating healthy is NOT cheap! I buy almost nothing that comes in a box, can or package but it makes it harder to stay under budget, especially when you're trying to eat organic too. I allow myself about $75 a week for food, but that doesn't include meat because we bought it all in bulk in the fall. Just don't try to jam things that you have to buy at the grocery store into your grocery budget. My husband gets frustrated when I spend more than $100, but I remind him that I'm not just buying food, I'm also getting things like detergent and cleaner and diapers and cat food! Those add up FAST!
That's amazing. Buying fresh and healthy is so expensive. Meat is even more expensive. I'd be interested in finding out what happened on your husband's trip to the grocery store!
I stick with organic for just a few key foods, apples especially. Still ridiculously expensive.
The problem is, we don't really have another budget slot for things like paper towel and dish detergent, so it all comes out of the grocery budget.
We stock up on staples when they are on sale (soups, pastas, tomato sauce, canned (*gasp*) veggies, etc.) then that way you have cut down on what you need to buy when meal planning. Slow cooker Sundays rock and we do have leftovers (which taste better the next day for lunch). When I go back to work, I'll be looking to make extra portions of what we had for dinner (this will prevent me from spending a ton of cash on take-out lunches and change it up from daily sandwiches). Good luck!