Monday, March 26, 2018

#MealPlanMonday: March 24-30 & making tweaks

Happy Monday to all :)

If you are a regular reader you know that I tried Blue Apron last week.  I plan on writing a review, but I've had a little less free time these past couples weeks so I'm not getting out as many posts as I would like.  I will get to it, I promise!  Overall it was a good experience.



On the menu this week:

You'll notice a few changes with how I'm presenting my menu:

  1. I've linked up the recipes in case you find them appetizing
  2. I added how many servings I think or know they will make.  If I don't know, I go by what the recipe says.
I've made 3 of these recipes in the past.  The chicken bowls recipe states it makes 8 servings, but I know it will make 6 for my family.  On the other hand, the Greek Tacos recipes says it will make 4 servings, and it's made 6, if not more, for my family several times.  The casserole, if I recall correctly, made a good 8 servings - note to self, make 2 casseroles & freeze one!

I also added an approximate price per serving.  This will vary depending on where you live, what you have on hand and what's on sale at the grocery store.  For example, I don't usually buy ground beef at the grocery store.  My in-laws have raised cattle for the past several years and we've bought 1/4 cow from them.  It seems like a high cost when you pay it up front, but it's been well worth it for us.  For this reason, the Greek Tacos and Casserole recipes aren't as expensive for me to make as they might be for others who don't have ground beef on hand.

Why have I suddenly decided to add servings and price per serving?  I've recently noticed that I'm not saving like I used to at the grocery store.  It feels like it's gone up in the last month or so.  And I certainly feel like it would be worse if I didn't have a plan.  I've been doing this for a while now, and I know that I saved money several months in a row... just not the last month or so.

It's always tough because things like diapers, paper towels, laundry supplies, those all get tacked onto my grocery budget even if they aren't food items.  For example, this past week I bought diapers, laundry supplies, mouth wash, hair conditioner, vitamins.  That cost alone was over $40.00.  Hopefully the diaper expense goes away soon, but in the meantime it's still something that we have to buy every two weeks or so.

I feel like the price of groceries has recently gone up, in general, which means I need to make adjustments to how I'm meal planning because the need for detergent, shampoo, toilet paper and the likes will not go away.  And then I have staples I buy every week - bread, milk, bananas, berries (which aren't cheap by any means).  The staples run me at about $20.00.

This week is when I'm meal planning for April and I plan to making the following tweaks to my plan:
  • Ensure I have a really low cost meal option (example - spaghetti with meatballs and sauce in a jar - I already have a jar and meatballs on hand)
  • Ensure that if I choose a recipe that has a lot of ingredients, that I pick two others that have significantly less, or which require pantry items for the most part.
  • Pick a recipe that yields 8 servings and cut it in half - either buy half what the recipes calls for, or make 2 batches and freeze one for future use.
  • As I make recipes document how many servings we got out of it and document it on the recipe
  • As I do my grocery list, document how much the meal costs and document it on the recipe
  • Aim for a specific price point to spend on food items only.  I'm going to aim for $125.00.  Remove my staples and we're down to $105.00 for my meal plan and anything else we need for breakfast, lunch and snacks.
  • Allow $25.00 for non-food items and explore purchasing them from other places such as Target, Amazon or Walmart.  
Fun times right?  I can say with all honestly that meal planning, cooking, grocery shopping and managing everything that revolves around these things makes me feel like I'm making a huge contribution to the family.  And whatever way I can find to improve the processes will be beneficial to us all.  Cheers to you mama if you are also in charge of these things.  It's not as easy as it seems to get dinner on the table, is it?


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