Menu Planning

I am a terrible meal planner. In fact, I am so disinclined to plan meals ahead that when I was pregnant and had no appetite I had to sign up for a meal planning program that created the recipes and shopping list for me. This was a great service but now that I've had my Darling Daughter and have no problem with appetite I have found that the recipes are rather expensive to put together and I am looking for a more frugal menu planning method.

So I got out my trusty laptop yesterday and did a quick search for frugal menu planning and I came across a huge cross section of amazing blogs, mostly written by Moms. These women are grocery shopping, menu planning, family feeding SUPERSTARS! I know groceries are less expensive in the USA (where these bloggers are based) but seriously, one Mom spends less that $400.00 a month to feed SIX KIDS and herself and her husband. And they are eating WELL, not crappy processed food and she MAKES HER OWN BREAD with SIX KIDS.

Okay, so I am ashamed to admit that the Hunky Hubby and I have consistently spent more than $400 a month on groceries for just the two of us. Even worse, at the end of the week I end up throwing out LOTS of perishables that have gone uneaten. ORGANIC PRODUCE. Although we haven't felt the pressure of the recession directly, the overwhelming amount of news coverage has led to a lot of conversations on the home-front about how we can save some money and generally be more responsible with what we have.

So I spent some time last night planning out a month of breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks. Today I am going to use some of the blogs I found to modify the recipes to be more frugal. I am going to make sure I use the Canada Food Guide to keep things healthy as well. Then I'll put together a shopping master list and away we go. I'll post all of this info as I go along and I'll track how well I do.

I will say that I am unwilling to go to a gazillion different stores to get the BEST deal on everything. I don't see this as productive or responsible. The use of gas and frankly the waste of time adds cost to the "cheaper" price of whatever I am buying. So I intend to continue to shop for my green as my great Organic place (Organics at Home) and for the rest at Real Canadian Superstore. I do intend to supplement with Costco for any meat we buy and anything else that is less expensive there.

So wish me luck and I'll update you as I make progress! I'd love any feedback you might have or any tips!