Fighting the High Cost of Food (Part 2)

In my last post, I admitted frustration over our family's increasing food budget.  If you missed it, you can read it here.  

On my journey of finding better, yet easier, ways to feed my family, I decided to start with some freezer cooking.  Don't ask me how I landed on this specific decision, but part of it is my relentless quest to become more adept in the kitchen.  So with a little help from a few websites, I devised a plan to stock some ready meals in the freezer and be rid of the incessant phrase [insert teenage drama tone here] "There's nothing to eat in this house." 

The first site I started with was Money Saving Mom.  If you're looking to save and want some great ideas, this is a great site to visit.   The series of posts to fill the freezer piqued my interest.  I have never tried to freeze meals, even though we have the space to do so.  Most of the time, I do buy in bulk and I'll freeze ground beef, chicken, or spaghetti sauce into meal-size portions.  I also frequently stock up at the bakery outlet and freeze bagels, tortillas, and multiple loaves of bread.   

So in my typical fashion of big ideas (finish degree while working full-time, take a minimester graduate course, run a marathon), I planned to spend a Saturday filling our freezer.

I spent five hours in the kitchen that day, and here's what I learned:  

1.  I was smart enough to put a roast in the crock pot for dinner before I did anything else.

2.  The more cooking I did, the less I wanted to snack.

3.  I should never get tied up at home for hours with no Diet Coke.

4.  The only thing I can competently do with a rolling pin is roll out muscle soreness in my legs from running.

5.  Reading the directions all the way through is very important! 

I wasn't able to finish everything I planned on Saturday, but I did a little more Sunday afternoon and Monday evening.

What went into my freezer (by Monday evening):

The rest of a double batch of waffles from breakfast (there weren't many)

1 Lasagna Casserole

3.5 lbs of Barbecued Meatballs

1 batch of Pizza Pockets (the remainder after the kids hit them for lunch)

Southwest Rollups  

Was the freezer cooking worth doing again?

While it has been nice to have things on hand, I don't like spending hours in the kitchen at one time.  I am going to try to become more efficient with my cooking though.  For instance, Monday evening while chicken enchiladas were in the oven, I made the Southwest Rollups.  These have been a handy lunch item to have on hand, and cheaper than sandwiches.  Next time I will make them without chicken to decrease the cost per item even more.    

Meanwhile, I'm still searching for more ways to eat better for less.  If I can only master homemade pizza dough...    

Fighting the High Cost of Food (Part 1)

Newsflash!!!!


My kids are growing!

Yes, I know.  It shouldn't have caught me by surprise.  I don't know what happened, but all of a sudden they want to eat all the time.  All four of them!  My youngest will finish off his entire kid's meal.  The teenagers now eat off of the adult menu. Yet, I still want to shop for my family of six like there's a toddler at home.  So why am I surprised when a bag of Goldfish crackers disappears in an instant?

Part of this denial is due largely in part to rising food costs.  I am determined to not increase our monthly food budget.  I consider myself to be a pretty savvy shopper when it comes to the grocery store.  We don't buy a lot of meat, junk food is minimal, and I shop the ads from the local grocery stores.  I clip coupons for the things we use, and I buy some items in bulk from the warehouse store.  I know when something is at a good price, or if it will usually go cheaper.  It's a gift.  I can still tell you what we paid for sirloin steak when my husband and I first married seventeen years ago.  Those were the days we had steak and baked potatoes every Friday night.

Sigh.

I had just about decided the best way to reduce the cost of food in our home was to put us all on a steady diet of ramen noodles.  Okay, I'm kidding, I'm kidding.  Mostly.  Remember, I am the mom whose children prefer spaghetti and meatballs from a can.

Instead I decided to challenge myself to feed my family for less each month, without sacrificing quality or quantity.  Note:  I don't want to increase the amount of time I spend in the kitchen.

Stay tuned for the next post where I'll detail the first steps of my plan which includes some freezer cooking.  If you have any ideas to help me along, I'd love to hear from you!

Reasons I Run

It was late at night, after the kids had long been asleep, when I took a break from my computer and made my way to the kitchen.  That was my first mistake.  My second mistake was taking the container of ice cream out of the freezer.   Using my best motherhood justification, I reasoned there wasn’t enough ice cream to split four ways.  I saved myself the trouble of a dispute between children. 

In the past, this scenario would've loaded me with guilt, and I would’ve gone to bed beating myself up over my lack of willpower with food.    

No longer.

There are people who don't understand why I run.  There are people who think I'm crazy for wanting to run a marathon.  Why would I want to spend hours running each week?  Why would I want to run 26.2 miles all at once?  

Well, for those of you who feel that way, here's my list of the most important reasons I run:

1.  Donut shop Fridays 

2.   I buy treats for the kids that I like too (see above example).

3.   There are some days I just want to run away (Who can't identify with this?)

4.   It’s hard to cry while running (goes along with reason #3).

5.   It’s cheaper than counseling (see reasons #3 & #4).

6.    I’m trying to set a positive example for my children (the antithesis of reason #2).

7.   To prove to my first track coach (my dad) that I may have some athletic potential after all.

8.   I’ve seen parts of my city on foot I would never have seen otherwise.  

9.   Donut shop Thursdays 

10. I just like to run. 

   

Crazy, I know.  But I'm okay with that.