The Challenge

Once upon a time, back when I was part of a family of three, I never really thought about menu planning.  Going to the grocery store every couple of days was one way that the kid and I got out of the house.  Not to mention, there is something I like about the grocery store.  I love exploring and finding new things.  But I digress.  When our family of three turned into four, I found that it was increasingly difficult to get to the store that often.

So I had to start planning ahead.  No more choosing dinner based on what sounded good at that moment.  Well, at least not every night.  Goodness knows I go off plan.  It took me a while to find my rhythm.  About the time that I really got into regular planning, we realized that we needed to start cutting costs, and one of the areas that took a hit was the grocery budget.



Where we had been spending close to $150-200 a week in groceries, I was going to challenge myself to spending $100.  With better planning, the costs had been coming down anyway, but not quite enough.

So here are the changes that I have made.  I started splitting my shopping between the local grocery store and Aldi.  That has helped a lot.  Through trial and error, I have found some items that going off-brand doesn't make a difference.  If I can get the same product for less, why not?

I'm also making better use of leftovers as well and extra ingredients.  There are certain types of leftovers that I know I'm probably not going to eat.  As the main leftover consumer, this was a problem.  Now when I know I am going to have leftovers that I won't eat, I plan the menu around it to use it in a different way.  Mainly, I rarely eat a leftover piece of meat.  So a piece of grilled chicken gets used in my favorite Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad.  Leftover pork chops go into Fried Rice.

Some complicating factors: 1. We love to have people over for dinner.  While the menu plan for the week almost always has something big enough to feed another family, it can cut into portions that I was counting on for lunches.  If what I have on hand won't cover our sudden dinner plans, off we go to the store.  2. At least once a week we have a meeting at our house where we provide the snack.  3. I have kids.  Yeah.

I also want to specify that this budget is almost exclusively food.  On occasion, I will buy a cleaning supply or paper good from the grocery store.  But since I have found that these items are frequently cheaper elsewhere, I prefer to go where I can get the same product for less.  This also doesn't include diapers, toiletries, etc.  Same reasoning.

So here we go.  Using my menu planning skills, the grocery store ads, and a concerted effort to make better use of our resources, the menu planning and budgeting challenge is underway.