So like I've mentioned before, my goal for 2010 is to make things easier.
The first area I felt it needed some serious simplifying was our grocery/menu list. I've tried different things in the past, such as doing a two week menu but we didn't stick much to it. I always ask Tim what he would like for dinner, and he would either say Brazilian strogonoff or ask me what are our options. Well, eating Brazilian strogonooff 3x a week is not a favorite of other members of the family. When I answered him our other options, the conversation went like this:
Vanessa: What would you like for dinner?
Tim: What do we have?
Vanessa: chicken, meat, rice, vegetables. (I went on with a few item, already frustrated because I knew where the conversation was going!)
Tim: uummmmm...(as he looked into the freezer)
Vanessa: never mind, I'll figure something...
Tim: CHICKEN (like that was helpful)
Vanessa: Timmy, get out of the kitchen!!
Timmy: But I want to help!
Vanessa: Honey, I'll just figure it out. Thanks!! (ok, maybe not that nice sometimes)
Not to mention that we were spending way too much money on groceries. We would go to the store and just grab different thing that I thought it could turn into a meal without planning.
My solution:
We had a little meeting and I wrote down about 10 meals we would like to have during the week. I wrote those in a peace of paper and hang on the fridge. We don't have assigned days like Monday is chicken, we just have meal choices. I went and bought groceries for those 10 meals plus, of course, snacks and some desserts. Each day we look at our list, pick a meal, open the fridge and grab the things we need and cook it. After that we cross the chosen meal off the list. When my list is getting low, I know I need to make another one and go shopping.
Let me tell you that this has been working out great for us. We don't argue over what we should cook, we help each other because we know what we're suppose to be making and we have been been saving on groceries and wasting less too. Sometimes I would buy vegetables and not use them, now I have all the vegetables that I buy included in the meals, so no waist.
I know most of you probably have a system like this going on, but I honestly never was organized like that and it's been great!
No, we don`t have a system like this at all. In fact, I even wrote on my blog because this is seriously something that stresses me a bit: having to figure out what to cook every single night.
ReplyDeleteSo, I am going to try the 10 meal thing. And, I am going to throw in there easy things that Chad can make as well.
Let`s see how it works out for us.
We could not possibly have rice and beans for instance more than once a week. I would love to eat rice and beans more often, but Chad does not like it so much. Me on the other hand, I can only have pizza at the night we order it. I don`t like to eat pizza two days in a row.
Hey, keep posting ideas, although they may not seem like a big deal to you, they always help someone else.
Can you post some of the meals you guys have on your list?
I do this too ;) My problem is I always lose my list of ideas hehe and then i am back to square 1 ;)
ReplyDeleteMandi, just hang it on your fridge and use another list for the grocery.
ReplyDeleteSil, we don't eat rice and beans everyday either. In fact, I think it has been two weeks since I've made rice and beans. Tim doesn't like it over two days in a row. When I cook beans, usually I freeze most of it for later. I'll post some of the meals, but they are all very easy to make and I always get two or three fast meals in case I'm not home or we're lazy to avoid to eat out. It's cheaper to buy a $10 lasagna or that frozen mac and cheese for &7 than to go to Wendy's where we end up spending around $14.