Buying a book was probably a very smart thing to do. It might not have taken me so long to figure it out if I had done some reading ahead of time! As for the organization, believe me, it was born of necessity! I used to be extremely DISorganized, but I’ve realized that when you have small children, disorganization is not your friend.
I’m really enjoying your blog, John!

Take care,
Alissa

Alissa MacPhee´s latest blog post…Still here.

@Alissa – Wow, that is fantastic that it works out so well for you. Success stories like yours are great to hear. I feel that using the book we bought that provides all the steps necessary for the shopping and cooking for a month was a good way to get started without feeling even more overwhelmed than we were. I think we will eventually move to a system more similar to yours as we get more adept at the process. You seem extremely organized, Alissa.

Weekly planning was better, but I found I was repeating a lot of meals, and it still didn’t seem as efficient as it could be. So I started by making a list of all the meals our family likes to eat. It’s very important to me to feed my family a healthy, balanced diet, so I tried to incorporate a variety of grains, legumes, and good fats into our menu. Then I drew up a grid, writing Saturday-Sunday across the top, and weeks 1-4 down the side. It was just a matter of plugging in meals. This made it SO much easier to balance our meals throughout the month. I tend to stick to themes which makes it even easier (Sunday is always soup day, Monday is stir-fry on a different grain each week, Tuesday is legumes (a different legume each week), Wednesday is casserole and salad, Thursday is pasta and homemade bread, Friday is veggie burgers, some kind of potato, and some kind of vegetable (again, different each week), and Saturday is homemade pizza night). I just plugged in a meal for each day, and then compiled my grocery list. I have a “monthly” grocery list, and then 4 “weekly” grocery lists for fresh items (which my husband can pick up quickly on his way home from work Friday nights). I added to my monthly list the staples that we also need throughout the month, things like flour, oils, etc., as well as household and personal care items – toilet paper, dish soap, recycling bags, toiletries, etc., and estimated how much of each of those items we’d need for the whole month. On the first Saturday of each month, I get up early, list and coffee in hand, and head to the grocery store, all by myself. It usually takes me a couple of hours, and usually I have to do half my load, pay, take it out to the car, and then go back and continue (the cart gets WAY too heavy for me to push!). I should also add that my grocery list is organized according to the way the grocery store is laid out. Trust me, when your cart is loaded to the brim, and you’re halfway through the store, the last thing you want to realize is that you forgot something in produce!

I do have to have the rear seats folded down in the van in order to fit everything in. Then I bring it all home, and my husband lugs everything in. On that day, I simply get all of the groceries put away – usually I’m exhausted by then! Then the next day, I do some prepping and cooking. We’re not big fans of frozen meals, per se, and we are vegetarian, so a lot of what we eat is fresh produce, grains, and legumes. But there are lots of things I can still make ahead and stick in the freezer. For instance, since we have pizza 4x/month, I do a double-large batch of pizza dough, split it into 4 balls, wrap, and freeze. Same with pizza sauce; make enough for 4 pizzas, split, and freeze. Mozzarella gets grated into pizza-sized servings, and frozen. I prefer to make my own condiments, so salad dressings, etc., can be made ahead of time. Celery can be washed, trimmed, and stored in water. This isn’t exactly once-a-month cooking, but doing things in batches is definitely a time-saver! And then once it’s done, I get to sit back and enjoy the rest of the month.

The beauty of the system is that I can recycle my meal plan and grocery list month after month. There might be the odd recipe we get tired of and replace with something else, but for the most part we have a good variety, and it works well. I do feel it saves us a little bit of money, but most importantly it saves time and stress.

Sorry for the long, drawn-out reply! Thought you might like hearing that this can be done successfully, and that it’s a real sanity-saver! Look forward to hearing how your family makes out with it.

Alissa

Alissa MacPhee´s latest blog post…Still here.

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@Carrie – thanks so much for sharing that this is actually possible! I’m assuming that you have noticed a decrease in time spent at the grocery store throughout the month – have you noticed any monetary benefit?

I’m glad your wife is not only “on-board” but seems to be the motivating factor. It truly is a blessing when a spouse shares in your passions (and can be very destructive if the opposite is true).

I would REALLY appreciate an update on this post, because if it works well for you I may consider adopting the philosophy!

DebtFREEk!

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