Monthly Grocery Budget.

[lazy gardener]

I don't do a weekly menu plan. But I do do a "what I'll cook next, and then, what will come next after that." That gives me a bit of a framework to work within, while allowing room to work with the left-overs to maximize their potential. Mashed potatoes last night... left overs will easily become Shepherd's pie when paired with some of the extra hamburg I cook when I make Taco Salad. I love it when I can go to the fridge and pull out some of this and some of that to do what I call a "fender's meal" (basically: fend for yourself. Here's the pile of left overs, there's the microwave)

 

[Jesusfreak101]

Lol ny husband isnt the kind to fend for himself really lol his ideal of food is ramen noodles or chef boyrd raviolies lol. So if i want my daughter to eat healthy then cooking is a must and i tend to cook just enough lol as well so we hardly have left overs.

 

[DuckLady]

We went to the grocery over in the next town today. $108.71, which brings me to $120 for the month. I only had about 8 things on my list, but you know how that goes. Plus hubby came with me.

 

[donrae]

When I cook extra, my guys seem to take it as a personal challenge to eat every bit I cooked

. We don't have many leftovers here, because I started cooking less as a means of portion control. We have weight issues and so many food issues it's not even funny. So, that's one thing I do is not plan for leftovers. We get some on occasion, and they're usually eaten for lunch or snack.

I don't always stick to my menu exactly. Last week, for example, you all had me so excited talking about lasagna I accidentally moved it up a day, and then we had leftovers the next night. That bumped things down a little and we didn't have the beef veggie soup. That's okay, cause pretty much everything for that is frozen or will easily keep and be used for another dish.

I will do a local shopping trip tomorrow, and then down to Medford on Thursday when I have a doctor's appointment. But neither should be huge. Honey got paid again tonight, and we're so thrilled about his new income

. It's making it easy to stay in budget, cause we're very motivated about having a down payment for so we can move this spring/summer.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

My wife makes big meals and then immediately freezes some and portions out the rest so they are in single meal sizes. That tends to limit going back for more.
Right now there is a big container of today's stew in the freezer and several small ones in the fridge along with one of leftover vegetable pasta and one of some awesome chili. If it had been kept in one container, it wouldn't have lived this long.

 

[Jesusfreak101]

Lol dobrea my husband is the same way its his persobal mission if there is extra to eat more then he needs. If i cook extra he complains after his second or third plate that he hurting rolls eyes he has limited self control.

 

[lazy gardener]

When I cook extra, my guys seem to take it as a personal challenge to eat every bit I cooked

. We don't have many leftovers here, because I started cooking less as a means of portion control. We have weight issues and so many food issues it's not even funny. So, that's one thing I do is not plan for leftovers. We get some on occasion, and they're usually eaten for lunch or snack.

I don't always stick to my menu exactly. Last week, for example, you all had me so excited talking about lasagna I accidentally moved it up a day, and then we had leftovers the next night. That bumped things down a little and we didn't have the beef veggie soup. That's okay, cause pretty much everything for that is frozen or will easily keep and be used for another dish.

I will do a local shopping trip tomorrow, and then down to Medford on Thursday when I have a doctor's appointment. But neither should be huge. Honey got paid again tonight, and we're so thrilled about his new income

. It's making it easy to stay in budget, cause we're very motivated about having a down payment for so we can move this spring/summer.

I've been serving food up from the stove lately. I find it cuts down on the number of serving dishes, makes clean up easier, and... if it's not sitting on a platter in the middle of the table, it's not as tempting. Also, so far, my family is pretty good... not always, but most of the time, when I say... There's enough chicken left for an other meal. (IN other words, I'll chop your hand off if you take an other piece.) Veggies: that's an other story. I encourage indulgance in those!!!

 

[donrae]

Bread store $11
grocery outlet $58.31
Wal-mart 68.94

brings my total to 567.25

And speaking of not staying on menu--I totally forgot I didn't make the chicken broccoli casserole until I opened the crisper and it was full of broccoli! I'd deboned a bunch of chicken legs to use the meat for that dish, but apparently The Locusts thought it was free for the taking, so about half was gone by that night. And, we had an extra Locust for dinner, so we defaulted to some amazing swiss/mushroom/onion/guacamole burgers and tots. So, the broccoli will be roasted for my veggie tonight to go with the pork chops.

 

[donrae]

LG--we serve from the stove also. I've never seen the point in dirtying more dishes. I go back and forth between doing the plates myself and letting them serve themselves. I get tired of serving, and my thought is all my crew is old enough to decide for themselves how much to eat. I do make Honey's plate sometimes, cause he likes me to. One thing that's been nice about having Echo is he's more normal portion sized than the rest of us, and sometimes gives Big Boy and Sugar Monkey a hard time about how much they eat, in a teasing way but they do take it to heart.

Honey used to get on me for not fixing enough food sometimes, but I always felt like that was a trap, and we're all so overweight (except Sugar Monkey). So, now I fix what I deem appropriate for 5 people. If he's still wanting to eat after that, he gets cheese and salami or something like that. But I figure that's all on him. As the Mom I have a lot of guilt over the weight issues, although Honey and I both came with plenty from our own families, trust me

.

 

[lazy gardener]

Don't buy the guilt trip about not cooking enough. American portion sizes have gone "super" while we've gotten fatter and lazier over the past several decades. Now, if we're not doing the amount of labor that Gramma and Pappa were doing, why are we expecting to eat twice as much? I'll tell you why! We're bored, and have too much time on our hands! Now, I'll climb down off my soap box, and tell you all that I've been loosing the same 15 pounds for the past 20 years! So, I fit into the "overfed" category! Keep a bunch of fruit handy, and when they complain about not enough food (hubby included) point to the apples and bananas. Or they can always make a sandwich if they're getting ready to pass out from hypoglycemia!