Grocery Planning - another tip for followers

This particular grocery expedition took some extra planning and I feel sure that the program may find an exception during this pay cycle. Here are my challenges:

• My Son's Birthday Party;
• Easter: including Homemade Hot Cross Buns on Good Friday, Egg shapped chocolate truffles, Saturday Pot-Luck Fried Chicken, and Sunday Ham Dinner with fixins; and,
• House guests: 2 adults and 2 children for 4 nights

I don't find any of these things burdonsome but they do add another layer of complication to my shopping list and menu planning. It means that I have specific food to make on specific days and extra food to be prepared for on other days.

I KNOW that my friend will want to contribute to the meals but I really want her to have a vacation from all of those duties while she is at my house so we will see who wins. Either way, I am prepared as is my pantry.

I bought up a lot of things again because there was a great sale on meat and if it wasn't for milk and bread, I could probably go a month without buying another thing at the store.

Here is a snapshot at my menu and loose plan for everything in store:

Menu:
Meatloaf (make an extra one to freeze), mashed potatoes, peas and corn
Stuffed chicken with orzo and spinach salad
Tortellini covered in sauce with salad
Pan Fried Pork Chops, Rice and Gravy, steamed mixed veggies
Beef Stew over rice
2 year old Birthday Dinner:
Spaghetti, Fruit Salad for kids, Green Salad for adults, Garlic Bread, Cake
Easter:
Good Friday – Hot Cross Buns for breakfast (make them on Thursday)
Saturday – Fried Chicken, Ice Tea (for potluck)
Sunday – Cinnamon Rolls for breakfast, Ham, asparagus, au gratin potatoes, peas and mushrooms, dinner rolls
Friend's Visit:
Pasta Bake, Salad, and Bread
Turkey Burgers, Hotdogs, Oven Fries, Fruit Salad
Broiled Pork Chops, Baked Apples, Corn on the Cob, Green Beans (simmered with Cavendar’s seasoning for a couple of hours)
Leftovers - featuring Ham or maybe another Quiche

My tip for this week is to take a hard look at your social calendar to make sure any pot-luck, bake sales, birthday celebrations, or holidays are going to fall in your shopping cycle. Plan for these events and also have some emergency cake/cupcake supplies on hand.

The project is falling into place

Yesterday, I made a list of some things that I will cook over the next two weeks, checked my store circular, loaded my loyalty card with electronic coupons and set off to bargain shop. You see, I have been inspired by my friend over at Mason-Dixon Magnolia to start couponing. She is truly successful with it and has two boys, stays at home, etc. I think if she can do it with her schedule of being a pastor's wife, I can too. She also gets loads of free stuff and I have started requesting free samples to join her too. I think the green-eyed monster will get me to see green in my purse soon. I was so jealous of her when I saw the free stuff she was scoring and I can't wait to learn her secrets of couponing.

So, bargain shopping: I went to Aldi and got my milk and eggs among other things and I made notes of what I spent on the items I purchased and also noted the prices on things that I may buy in the future so I could check out how it matches up with Safeway, my regular grocery store. I then went to BJ's Wholesale club and picked up a big bag of garbage bags and a bag of pine nuts. I use pine nuts in several recipes and three of those recipes are coming up in this cycle so I needed lots and wasn't about to spend $4 per little bag at the grocery store. NO! I will spend $11 at BJs for a bag the size of my face...not sure if it was really a bargain but I am thinking it saved me a buck or so. While I was at BJ's I checked their price on milk and eggs...boo! I paid more at Aldi! $.20 more per gallon and I bought 3 for the milk and $.60 more for the eggs! Live and learn. At least I spent less at Aldi for the milk and eggs than I would at Safeway. I saved at least $1 per gallon by getting it at Aldi.

I had clipped some coupons that I printed but I mostly loaded my Safeway card with electronic coupons so it was just as well that the printed coupons disappeared into thin air at some point between the desk and the car...their whereabouts is still a mystery. Anyway, I was happy with the coupon and store promotion savings. I spent $150 at Safeway but saved $70 overall with the less expensive milk and eggs and, oh bread! I bought bread for $.99 per loaf at Aldi. This is only a small and mediocre example of what can be saved with coupons and I am looking forward to stocking up and having smaller grocery bills. By the way, I don't think I will make the special extra trip to Aldi. I am not willing to save just a couple of pennies for the sacrifice of quality. The second and third ingredients in their apple sauce is Corn Syrup and High Fructose Corn Syrup. I will; however, go to BJs for the milk and eggs and check coupons for bread or get that at BJs too.

Since I only shop every other week, I will be missing on some coupon deals but, for now, I am going to stick to the program and only shop once every two weeks. It is so nice to know that I don't have to reserve any money for groceries and the money I have leftover after my trip to the store is for me to designate to anything else I want/need to.

Lessons Learned and New Rules

I am learning a lot about our family's eating habits and my daily processes in planning and preparing meals.

Lessons learned:
1. In our house, everyone has choices for breakfast and lunch
a. Every morning, I ask both children what they want for breakfast. They know the options already since they have lived with me for their whole lives. These options are: cheesy eggs, cheesy grits, oatmeal, cereal, and or toast and any combination of the above. Sometimes, they can have a muffin or a pop tart but we usually don’t have those in stock. I usually have cereal or oatmeal and my hubby goes for the same with two slices of toast (hence the three loaves of bread on the grocery list)
b. At around 11:30, I ask the same question about what they want for lunch. The list of lunch options isn’t much longer than the list of breakfast items because they just aren’t interested in having anything else. Today’s lunch was an exception (I will talk more about that in a minute). Usually, they have hotdog(s) or Ham with cheese cubes or slices, crackers, a grilled cheese sandwich, or chicken nuggets, with fruit of some sort, and a pickle. Sometimes the older of the two will want a fluffer nutter (peanut butter and marshmallow fluff) but usually not. Today, the older one wanted to be like Curious George and have a jelly sandwich so he had that and the little one had a half of a peanut butter and honey sandwich. They both had a pickle and some pretzel bits.

2. I don’t like cooking every day
a. I THOUGHT that I cooked every day. I was wrong. What I did was prepare 3 meals every day. It isn’t the same. Now that I have been working from a strict menu, I realize that some days I am less enthusiastic about tackling a recipe than other days. I also noticed that last Wednesday (spaghetti night) I could have gone for making something different. This is leading to a change in the rules of the project.

3. Some days I want something different that isn’t anywhere on the menu
a. Right now (shh, don’t tell anyone) I am making soup. If you were to have a gander at the menu, you will notice no mention of a second soup in this pay cycle. Well, I am also nursing a head cold right now and fettuccini with marinara sauce isn’t going to help me tonight. I had all of the stuff on hand for this soup: I used the stock from that delicious chicken last night and a soup mix that I got from a friend that had loads of dried beans in it called French Market Soup. I soaked those beans all day yesterday and threw it all into a crock pot this morning. Honestly, I feel better just knowing that soup will be waiting for me tonight. The desire to make something new from what I have on hand that may not have been part of the original plan is leading to another change to the project rules.

New Rules:
 Plan 8-10 different dinner menus without designating when they will be eaten and plan on a couple of dishes that can be made ahead
 Expect to use leftovers of the planned meals to make additional meals and to have a leftover night. This will obviously mean that I will have to do a little planning of when I make which items but I can handle that.
 Expect some of these recipes to change as taste and time commitment variables present themselves.
 Make a grocery list of items that I will need for the two weeks (including breakfast supplies, lunch items and general household needs) and add to this list throughout the two weeks the things that I use in the pantry so, in the future; I can recreate the week’s menu with the ready-made list.
 DO NOT GO TO THE STORE MORE THAN ONCE IN THE TWO WEEK PERIOD AND SPEND AS LITTLE MONEY AS POSSIBLE.
 Post daily recipes or instructions to explain how the food made it from the fridge to the table.

My expectation is not that anyone else will be following along with me, shopping the same day as I do and making this food along with me but I wouldn't be surprised to hear if some of these recipes are tested out. If anyone is crazy enough to do a whole two week project that I have done, it would be best to do a set from the past so the shopping list is complete. Oh, and feel free to send me recipes! I will try it out and give you credit for passing it along!

The beginning, well...before the beginning

I personally am tired of buying groceries that then stay in the pantry for so long that they can be carbon dated or they go bad in the refrigerator. I have decided to plan my menus in two week blocks and restrict myself to one shopping trip every pay period and force myself to use what I have on hand. I will buy economically and expect to use everything. I have two young boys who have particular likes and dislikes and one of them is lactose intolerant so I will have these restrictions to keep in mind.
This blog will include my grocery list along with the prices of the items. Additionally, I will list the items that are staples in the pantry and include them only when my supply is depleted. This is my real life so items will change and sometimes we will squeeze another meal out of leftovers and make grilled cheese for the children (one lactose free, of course) and I will note those times. Finally, I will include recipes and my resources for menu ideas.
Over the next two weeks, I will be planning my first shopping trip. I am eager to try some new recipes and may actually add some requirements or restrictions to the project during the course of life. We shall see!