* I would like to thank everyone who left posts or called with helpful tips. I found that through this challenge I'm not the only one who struggles with this.
I've decided that going back to doing a menu is going to be incredibly helpful for me. I like to be organized and this is great. It also lets Thomas know what to look forward to. I can't just "wing" meals anymore. Having two kids won't allow me to that. My days get busy fast and before I know it it's dinner time and I haven't even thought about what to make. A menu will be great.
Thank you again. I'll let you know how the month goes.
Thomas put our family to a challenge for the month of March. NO EATING OUT! We have been a family that enjoys eating out. Some weeks we can go without eating out at all and then we have weeks where I think we eat out everyday. Now when I say eating out I mean going to fast food restaurants. Not that that matters, but I wanted to clarify.
I blame eating out a lot on myself. I tend to be a little lazy when it comes to making meals. My biggest problem is not knowing what to make. Well I guess I have lots of problems I forget to take out the meat, I don't have all the ingredients and Thomas hates that I'm always saying, "I have to go to Walmart again" or I go to make something and I hear "I'm not in the mood for that"or "I'm not that hungry."
When Thomas and I were first married it was so easy to make meals. I'm not really sure why. Maybe it was because I was "being an adult" and now had someone to take care of and it was all new and exciting. But now 6 years and two kids later it feels more like a chore.
At one time in our marriage I wrote out a menu. I would sit down sometime during the weekend and put together this really elaborate menu. If we had sloppy joes in the beginning of the week I would make sure that we had something like hot ham and cheese a few days later so that we could use up the hamburger buns before they molded. I even went as far as putting what we were having for supper up on a white board so that Thomas could see what we were having and didn't have to ask me.
So now with this challenge I have questions for you. How do you guys plan suppers? Do you shop for groceries the same day every week? Do you buy groceries as you need them or do you buy for the week? Or month? Do you tend to make the same things or do you enjoy trying new things? I would love to hear new ideas.
2 years ago
3 comments:
I am a menu planner. I just do one week in advance and get it all laid out, make a list and go to the store. I always shop on Sunday so I can leave the kids at home. It is just faster and easier. If mid week, we are out of fresh fruits and veggies then I will make another trip out for those things. I hear you on this, it is a pain in the rear. If I could I would just make desserts and we would have that to eat three meals a day. ;)
I can totally relate to you, Sarah. I hate cooking meals and I especially hate going grocery shopping. I usually try to shop every two weeks (because E can't ever keep the kids for me) and we eat a lot of the same things. Breakfast is always oatmeal, cold cereal, or frozen waffles (I always make sure to have all three of these things on hand). Lunch is usually left-overs from the night before or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. And dinner is a little harder for me. Sunday nights we eat at church (which is a life saver!) and Wednesday nights we usually have a frozen pizza because I don't have time to prepare a meal before going to church. All the other nights are up in the air. We are lucky in that we deer hunt, so our freezer is full of all kinds of ground meat, steaks, chops, and roasts. I usually use this meat for everything from spaghetti to hot dishes or just plain steaks. I do a lot of canned veggies and baked potatoes. Jello, pudding, or applesauce are usual sides! We often just have smoothies for dessert (yogurt, milk, frozen strawberries or blueberries, and a banana). I would love to expand my menu and have found that (1) by shopping at Costco and buying in bulk, it has helped me have more on hand, and (2) www.allrecipes.com is one of my favorite websites for coming up with new things to make. I would also love to menu plan, but find that really overwhelming. I've tried to find a good website where they would just menu plan for me, but haven't found one yet that make normal things or things that aren't really complicated!
Thanks for posting this post! It's good to know I'm not the only wife/mom that struggles with this and I also look forward to reading the responses you get!!
Hey Sarah - good thoughts out there. I also do a monthly menu and I have Jeremy help me make it. Then, we go through the menu and see what ingredients we have and what we need...there starts the grocery list. I usually order groceries online once a month (a large order) that covers my bases for all meals for the month. The groceries are delivered to my house for a small fee (soooo worth it!). I still end up going to the grocery store or walmart probably once a week or once everyother week for the basics...milk, bread, fresh fruit, etc. We definitely don't follow the menu to a T, but at least I know that I have everything that I need to make everything on the menu. It really helps us not eat out - and it mixes up the meals so that we don't have hamburger 5 out of 7 nights. I have some good, easy recipes if you are interested I can email them to you.
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