With a multi-state move on the horizon, my grocery shopping habits taken a slight turn. I am no longer stockpiling. (Packing and moving boxes of can and dry goods across several states does not sound fun to me!)
Instead, I have set a goal for myself to cook from our pantry and freezer in order to use up every food item here that we possibly can. The trick to this, I am convinced, is being organized in the kitchen and intentional about meal planning. This, admittedly, has never been a strength of mine. In the past, I have relied on my mind alone to scrape together meals and remember what we have on hand. But, oh my! Four kids and many commitments later my poor mind can't quite hold it all together anymore.
So, after an evening with a cookbook and a spreadsheet, my first written meal plan was born. It's not fancy by any means, but it's organized in a way that is useful to me.
This week, the meals I've chosen all come from Healthy Meals for Less by Jonni McCoy. I've had this cookbook for a couple of years and have had success with the recipes. They are easy and economical, and there is a "crock-pot" section which is especially helpful during this season of busy evenings.
After choosing the meals based on what I already had in my pantry or freezer, I was amazed at how little I needed at the grocery store for the week! In fact, after shopping at two different stores, our weekly grocery total came to just $58.19!
The Costco trip came to $29.00 even, and even included more than a week's worth of Special K with Strawberries. (It's our favorite, so when Costco has a coupon for it we can't resist buying it up!)
The Kroger trip came to $31.19. This trip really contains exactly what we need for meals this week, however, I did buy Pampers baby wipes that I got for about $1.00 per pack (it's a three-pack package) because it was clearanced and I had a good coupon. I also picked up a few things to put in my girls' lunches, all with coupons.
Next week my goal is to bring it down even lower...anything under $58.19 and more gone from our freezer and pantry will be an accomplishment!









