Do you do it?
Thought about doing?
Love it... hate it....
To be honest I am not sure I am sold on it yet. But don't get me wrong I absolutely love the perks of it.
Knowing what you are going to have that day. Taking the guess work out of staring into the abis of cabinets thinking... Hmmm what to make??? While I have still faced those same times and questions the one think I have yet to figure out is how is it saving me money? I'll be perfectly frank my husband and I have a small budget of about $200 every 2 weeks for groceries and toiletries for a family of 5. Yes very tight, and yes that includes a pack of diapers from Costco at least once a month and pull ups here and there as well! (Note this is the same budget we have had for years now we have just added 2 other family members to the mix. So we have kept the same food budget we had for 3 people now it's just 5. There isn't any wiggle room on the amount even though the amount of people have grown.)
We have done what we call "blind shopping" for years. A quick list and methodically go down every aisle. Grab the usual and then pick some other things. No really plan or direction. Sometimes what stinks about this is there are missing ingredients during the 2 weeks to make "complete" meals, but honestly it seems like we get more in our cart and pantry that way. When we have made out meal plans and done our shopping for 2 weeks at a time it seems as if we are stretched tighter, can not get all that we need, and end up leaving "meals" off our lists and spending more than we have. Which then leaves me feeling very discouraged and like I have yet again failed in the food dept for my family for yet another 2 weeks, and since there is no other money until my husband gets paid again we have to stretch what we are able to get and are still left looking into the abis asking Hmmmm what to make??
I have not 100% given up on the idea of meal planning. I have not given up on wanting to plan and have things ready and/or available for my family to choose for dinner, but my budget can not take it anymore. It honestly feels like we are getting worse vs better when grocery shopping when we have a meal plan to go off of. I thought that wasn't the point. Then again maybe I have received the wrong idea about meal planning.
Either way something has got to change. We need to figure out a different approach to this grocery shopping gig. We need more bang for our buck like everyone else, and I have yet to figure out how. Don't asking me about couponing because honestly the awesome technique of saving more than you spend is not something I have not figured out how to do with the stores that are in my state. What I wouldn't do to live on the East Coast or Midwest where so many bloggers have shared valuable information on how to do so. Alas, I can not find any for my area with such information.
So until we can figure out how to best tackle this dilemma I am not sure what to do.
Anything you do that really helps out your family???
(and if you are ok with sharing maybe what is your budget and how many mouths does it feed?)
1 comment:
I wish I could share some valuable info! But like you, we just wing it.
I used to be a stickler for planning menus and following them to a "T".
I do generally start out with a plan (in my head) about what I'm going to be making for dinner each day just before I go shopping.
This is something that I have wanted to sit down and plan out for a while now, but I keep procrastinating. When I did use a plan or menu, it worked well for us.
My budget is roughly $100.00 a week for the four of us. I usually end up having to grab a half gallon of milk and loaf of bread mid to late week.
Post a Comment