A few months ago, Ryan and I were trying to figure out how to save time and money in terms of food.
Our problems:
- No time to organize and make grocery list
- We don't eat all the food we buy because its hard to cook for two
- With two babies, its hard to even go to the grocery store and "peruse" the aisles
What we have tried:
- Emeals.com - They have recipes and organize your grocery list. We have it a whirl for two months and found that we didn't like the food. Yes, it did help us organize and shop, but it helped us organize and shop for food we really didn't care for.
- Organizing and coupon cutting - We gave this a whirl, and it just takes time. Even when we sit down and try to make meals, we end up making the same meals over and over again each week.
Here are examples of our meals (my parents are probably rolling their eyes). Pretty much this is what we eat each week. Sad huh? I mix it up sometimes with steak and asparagus (rarely, but it happens).
- Monday - sphaghetti and garlic bread
- Tuesday - enchiladas
- Wednesday - chicken alfredo
- Thursday - quesadillas
- Friday - Take Out
- Saturday Breakfast - chocolate chip pancakes, Saturday Lunch - Take Out, Saturday Dinner - Take Out
- Sunday Breakfast - chocolate chip pancakes, Sunday Lunch - Something Random, Sunday Dinner - Grandma's house!
That's sad right? I'm crossing my fingers that as the kids get older, I'm going to have more time to layout an awesome dinner menu.
I feel bad because when we got this house, I told Ryan that I would cook more now that I had room for all of my cookware, spices, and pots/pans. I mean, in the boonies, I was preparing food on top of the washer/dryer! Needless to say, throw some babies into my world, I have no time to cook!
More recently to resolve this dilemma, Ryan and I tried something called "Once a Month Cooking". We spent $225 on groceries (and other things - you know how it is when you go to Wally World a.k.a. Walmart).
The following is a list of meals for 2 people (and a small toddler who eats your scraps). Yep. That's 24 FROZEN READY MADE dinners.
Don't get too excited. After we spent all this time doing it (an entire weekend), we found that chili didn't really sound good heated up. Enchiladas didn't taste good from frozen. We threw away more than we wanted too.
Ryan and I are just picky eaters, we just have to admit that out loud. And our waistlines show it.
But I'm not giving up. I hate eating out so often - it kind of sickens me really. I'm trying really really hard to cook more. I'm wishing that I had watched my mom cook as I was growing up (I would never tell this to her because she would say 'I told you so').
Any tips for this momma?
Ending this post with yet another phone photo of the girls (they are my world - husband included). Grandma decided to make them festive for St. Patty's day.
