With the help of my friend Marissa of RaeGun I've been inspired to plan my meals out ahead of time and get all my groceries for the week in one trip. It's fantastic. I've tried this several times in the past. Usually lasting about...a week. Since we moved to Cincinnati and are living on a tighter budget the weekly meal planning started as a money saving idea and now I love it. (besides shopping with a squirming 1 year old and a loud 3 year old and carrying the large amount of groceries up to our 3rd floor apt).
I just got home from Meijers and here's the menu for this week:
Monday: Lasagna and green salad w/ french bread
Tuesday: Pulled pork BBQ sandwiches w/ baked beans and steamed broccoli
Wednesday: Beef Stroganoff over egg noodles
Thursday: Pork Burritos (with the left over pork from the BBQ sandwiches just different sauce)
Friday: Bean and Cheese Burritos and left-overs (homemade re-fried beans)
The Bean and Cheese burritos are a hit! I make the re-fried beans at home, shred some cheddar cheese, wrap them in tortillas and freeze a whole ton (as many as I can get out of 2 lbs of dry pinto beans). Then lunch and quick dinners are a breeze. It's one of Penelope's favorite meals so it also means no dinner time battles. In addition to the money saving benefit they don't have all those additives (you know the ones no one can pronounce on those cheap frozen burritos I used to like- seriously look at the ingredients on their bean and cheese burritos sometime).
I've added up the prices of some of our favorite meals to compare cooking in versus eating out. Most of our meals average $1.20 per plate. And that's an Eric size portion. Really puts our favorite "cheap" Cafe Rio pork barbacoa burrito plate at $8.00 in perspective.
I still get tired of cooking, well really it's the dishes (without a dish washer) that I get tired of. It's a whole lot easier when I already have the ingredients and know what I'm making ahead of time to stay in rather than eat out. Since we moved to Cincy 4 months ago we've eaten out a handful of times and most at Wendy's $1 menu :) Ah, the life of having a grad student husband.
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7 comments:
I have started trying to do this, too, and I love it! We miss you guys and hope Cincy is treating you great!
I think it's great. Maybe it's because we're super poor but I don't really miss eating. Plus with eating out there's never any leftovers!
Eric - I'm glad you don't miss eating because we still have 5 months of poor grad students. You can eat once we have real jobs again. :)
Eating OUT! I meant eating out! Dang it...
Okay, I thought everyone meal planned. Apparently not, because I have heard from several people who have just started. I have to admit I have been meal planning sice before I got married...just say it! I am an organizational freak! You've gone on vacay with me before :)
I used to do it, but then I stopped doing it around the time I got pregnant. It is really nice to know what to have for dinner! I should start doing it again.
I feel so special, I wasn't sure if my food plans were totally boring or not but they totally help me. It is so true how even the cheapest eating out is so much more expensive than making stuff at home.
p.s. I think your teeny flower clips in your shop are SO cute
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