Episode 54: In Which Jessica Successfully Makes a Menu Plan and Eats Fruit

Sometimes, the days seem to drag on forever. It's usually like that near the end of school...like your finals can't be done fast enough (which they can't). Thankfully, this is not one of those "finish your finals fast" things but when you're looking forward to something time ALWAYS moves slower.

Tonight, Andrew and I are going camping! I'm super excited and so work seemed to drag on forever! And now I'm sitting here waiting for Andrew to get home and that also seems to be dragging on. After I'm finished posting this, I'll go forage in the fridge for fruit. (I'm apparently into alliteration today...and its brought to you by the letter f. 10 points if you can figure out what I'm talking about)

Andrew and I went shopping yesterday. We've been living off top ramen for the last couple days because I refused to go grocery shopping until we got paid. Well, pay day finally came and we went grocery shopping so there is an abundance of deliciousness in my fridge (and some not so delciousness *cough* failed rice cake *cough cough*).

I tried something new this month by planning all the meals for the whole month the day before we went shopping. From that plan, I made my grocery list and it all worked amazingly.

I know you're probably thinking "Jessica, the whole month!?! are you insane!?"

Probably. But it really wasn't that hard. Instead of planning meals all at once, I started with themes. Here's how I did it.

1. about a week before the month ended I went through my calendar and wrote down the days:
• we were having company over
• we had an activity planned in the evening
• any day that I felt like having a certain cuisine (we knew we wanted Japanese food once a week, so I penciled that in)
• and finally, the days that I historically feel tired on and don't want to cook. (those became planned leftover days, or "quick and simple" days)
2. The day before shopping I sat andrew down and we looked at the calendar (I did this all on my gmail calendar) and decided on actual meals based on the themes I had written down. Here are some examples
• on a sunday night, I knew I wouldn't want to cook, so I wrote "slow cooker" down. Then when we planned the meals, I chose slow cooker spaghetti.
• On a friday or saturday, I knew I would want to use the grill so I wrote "grill" and then decided that teriyaki chicken fit very well into that theme
• Usually on Thursdays I feel like I just can't make it to the weekend and so I wrote "simple and quick" or "leftovers"
• on days I wrote leftovers, I made sure that the days before it, were meals that made larger portions...or I wrote "double" on the chosen dish
• For days I knew we were going out, but dinner wasn't included (like outdoor movies) I wrote "portable" and then later on, decided on an easily transportable meal like sandwiches
• You get the idea, right?
3. After I was finished I looked at the first two weeks of the month (until the next paycheck) and decided what I needed to buy for those meals. Then I put them into the grocery list. I was surprised to find that despite the fact that we had only been eating top ramen for the last week, the list of needed supplies was NOT that long.
4. The day of grocery shopping I pulled out all the circulars (the grocery ads) and found out if anything on my list was on sale and I wrote those stores next to the item. I knew I had to go to costco and so I planned to visit the stores in between here and costco to save on gas. That allowed me to shop the sales at different stores. 
5. While I was out shopping, I double checked the prices. Even though broccoli was on sale at Smith's, it was still cheaper at Macey's so I saved myself the trip to Smith's and a couple of cents.

In the end, the result was a plethora of fresh fruits (apples, strawberries, watermelon, grapes) and veggies (lettuce, tomatoes, zucchini, broccoli, carrots, and jicama for well under what the budget is. And who says you can't eat well on a budget? :)

The Costco trip admittedly pushed us over a bit but I have to keep telling myself that Costco is a once a quarter trip and now I will have chicken on hand for the next 3 months, so the next few shopping trips will balance the budget out. That's what I'm hoping anyhow, because I'm trying to debate if its worth it to renew our Costco membership...

If you read all that, otsukare-sama (you're a hard worker). I promise though, that as much work as that sounds like, it wasn't really. It probably took me about an hour and a half total. Once you have the themes in place, its much easier to figure out a dish you want to make and the calendar makes it all visual, so you don't end up having spaghetti followed by alfredo the next day. =P

If I was REALLY good, I would be able to plan the menu by taking leftovers and making a new dish with them...but I'm not America's Test Kitchen.

The other benefit of this menu is that with all the meals in place, we really only will eat out when planned (Yes, date nights were planned into the menu) so hopefully this will keep us on track with the grocery budget AND the dining budget.

I find food is what throws me off budget EVERY time. But its ok because the Lord has really blessed us with what we need and even though the budget is in the red most months, it always turns out ok and we never have to take money out of savings to save ourselves. Still, its a good idea to continue trying to keep us in the black. :)

So with that all said, I'm going to go eat strawberries now. I'll let you know how camping was when I get home!

PS. If anyone wants to try to take on the task of menu planning as I outlined it (or has any questions), let me know how it turns out! Admittedly, I stole the idea from another blog (and the accumulated wisdom of my mom), but I don't remember where so I can't credit it. All the same, let me know. And if you have other ideas, also let me know. I'm a bit of a crazy when it comes to family management. =P