Menu Planning

My Problem:

After intense googling, I have found overwhelming information that menu planning is infact much more effective and actually a cheaper way to grocery shop and eat healthier.  The catch?  It is one of those things you just know Satan and God met up to decide how to throw it out to the world.  Atleast, for my husband and I it is difficult. 

SATAN: "So, God, how about we make that menu planning thing the worst nightmare on earth?"

God:  "I thought that was you."

SATAN:  "This stuff is ten times worse than I ever want to be."

For us, conflicting interests divide our bill and pretty much work as hard as possible at doubling it.  I don't know a single "healthy" thing he would eat for lunch, other than a turkey sandwich, and quite frankly, he'd be pretty mad if I took away the pizza bites for turkey sammiches.  So, while I may buy turkey sammiches for the kids and I, he won't eat them more than once.  Therefore, I buy both things instead of just one.  It generally has been working this way for most meals.  For dinner, I just plan whatever, which includes some sort of veggie, hopefully, and go from there.  I've been planning a bunch with lots of veggies, and since I don't have any sort of garden, veggies get expensive, especially on top of everything else, like pizzas, meat, snacks, dairy, ect.  That's just one more item building up.  This spring, I'm going to attempt to grow a garden, and hopefully it works. (More in another post, probably next week when I plant strawberries/garlic.)

My food pyramid:

My husband's food pyramid:

So conflicting!  Next time, I'll get him to sit down with me and help me out in making the grocery list, because he needs to eat healthier too, and we will save more money that way.

How I am currently planning:

Step 1:

Right now, I figure out how many days until the next time I have to grocery shop.  Example:  This time, I planned from October 1-17, because you NEVER. EVER. want to go grocery shopping at the Commissary on a military pay day.  (1st and 15th)  The commissary raises their prices by about ten cents, and it is PACKED.  Everyone goes on payday.  So, I do my best to plan enough meals to last until the stocking day after pay day. (in this case, it is a Tuesday.)   Here, nothing good is left if it isn't stocking day, because this place is tiny, and the economy prices are generally more expensive.  Better quailty though.  I just happen to like the commissary, probably because it is familiar to me already and a small token of home in the states.  

Step 2: 

I work on picking out enough dinners for each night until the next planned grocery shopping trip, plus one or two for back up meals.  I make sure to pick a good variety, usually two or three of each category:  meatless, hamburger, pork, fish, pizza night, steak, ect.  Its best to plan things you already have most if not all the ingredients to.

Step 3:

Make a grocery list for everything you need from the meals planned.  I do this in the kitchen, simply because I know what I have and what I don't, and can look if I don't remember and it not take a long walk to the kitchen.

Step 4:

Next, I plan out a few fancy breakfasts, like muffins, pancakes, eggs and bacon.  You get the jist.  After planning out a few based on the number of days I'm planning for, then I add needed ingredients to the list as well.

Step 5:

I make sure I have a full bag of each type of flour I need as well as sugar and other common ingredients and add to my list accordingly.  I also check all the other things needed in the house like cleaners, toilet paper, shower items, ect. 

Step 6:

Lastly, I add all the random lunch items we normally buy, like turkey deli meat, lettuce, pizza rolls, and things like that.  Lunch at my house is usually find it eat it.

Then, I go to the store and spend a crap ton of money on food and other items.  Some weeks, I dread that shopping trip. 

mmm food!

But, if I didn't go, I wouldn't have food for the next few weeks.  Just as I'm not going to have muffins if I don't go cook them now.



Tomorrow, I'll try to post: "Things I wish to change about meal planning, and how I aim to do so."  It might be a few days before I do though.



**Images courtesy of google image searches.