food

Tuesday’s Tip: Master Your Menu

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Last week I wrote about including all your family members in the menu-making process. It not only helps you plan for the week, but also aids in eliminating the moaning and groaning that may drive you completely insane. This week, I’d like to expand on that topic a bit and show you how planning a menu in advance can save you money in a couple of different ways . . .

First, creating a menu for the week will give you the building blocks for an efficient shopping list. When you come up with a menu, you can then make a shopping list that includes everything you need to make the meals. To begin, you’ll need to see what you already have in your cupboard, fridge, or freezer. For example, I keep things like pasta, tomato paste, canned tomatoes, rice, beans, cooking soups (you know, cream of chicken, etc.), bread crumbs, oils, broth, frozen and/or fresh veggies, spices, and the like on hand all the time. I buy these kinds of staples when they’re on sale, or when I have coupons, and they’re there whenever I need them. But these items are also common in lots of recipes, so it’s easy to base your menus on them as well. I even buy things like beef, pork, or chicken when they’re on sale, then freeze them for later use. Next, you’ll write down whatever you need to buy at the store. By doing this, you’ll cut down on extra trips to the store because you forgot something while you were there the first time. This saves more money than you think, because you may go to the store “for just a couple things”, but you almost always leave with more than what you went for in the first place. (You know it’s true . . .)

Second, having a complete shopping list cuts down on extra spending by cutting down on impulse buying. Grocery stores play the soothing music and count on you to take your time perusing the shelves, meandering up and down every aisle, and picking up more than you really need. The key is to have a list that is complete so that you can get what you need and get out without spending an arm and a leg. I’m not saying that you’ll never make that extra trip, but you’ll make them a lot less often. By only buying what you need, plus reducing the number of times you make extra trips to the store, you save a lot of money. Make sure you know which aisles to navigate, then skip the ones you don’t need to visit, and voila! – you’ll smile when you see the total savings on your receipt!

So there you have it. One of my little secrets to saving money on groceries. I recently told my sister about it, and she laughed, telling me that I was “so completely organized it’s unbelievable”. Well, I can’t afford NOT to be organized and shopper savvy. LOL 😉

Oh! And if you want to save even more money . . . have a snack or a meal before you go to the grocery store so that you’re not hungry when you’re looking at all that luscious food! Confession: I once looked at register receipts from two trips to the store – one when I was hungry and one when I wasn’t – and was completely flabbergasted to find that I’d spent almost $60 more than I needed to just because I was hungry! Oh, ugh!

Tuesday’s Tip: Muffle the Menu Moaning

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Too much whine with dinner? Tired of “What’s for dinner?” and the groaning that accompanies your response? Or have you gone completely insane trying to please everyone by making a few different things each night? Ugh. There’s a better way, my friend. A better way . . .

When I was growing up there were two options for dinner: Take it or Leave it.

Yeah . . . that didn’t work in my house.

So, I came up with a different plan: I asked my family what they wanted to eat.

I will admit, dinner in our house used to be a stressful power struggle. I hated dinnertime. Nothing I cooked made anyone happy. That is, until I began including everyone in planning the meals. Thankfully, our kids like vegetables and fruit, plus all the other stuff that most everyone likes – and even a few things out of the ordinary. So when I asked them for meal ideas, they all chimed in with their favorites. Over the past few years or so, they’ve taken an active part in planning dinners for the upcoming week and we posted the menu on a whiteboard attached to our fridge so that everyone could see it. I’ve also taken some time to peruse the 100 unused cookbooks in my cabinet and proposed some different things based on what they enjoy. Some were added to the ‘favorites’ list, others weren’t. But we encouraged our kids to at least try something new and they ended up developing a taste for some interesting recipes . . . and dinnertime has become much more harmonious.

So, if you’re looking to remove some of the stress and aggravation from family meals, try asking your family what they would like to eat. Put the plate in front the them and ask them to fill it. In doing so, you’re not only taking some of the pressure off of yourself by having to create the menu all the time, but you’re taking away their opportunity to complain. If they choose what to eat, then they can’t complain about what’s being served.

Tuesday’s Tip: Holiday Feasts

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One of my favorite things to do during the holidays is EAT! I make meals or goodies that I don’t normally make . . . friends and family do the same . . . and whenever we get together to celebrate the holidays, sometimes we end up acting more like grazing cows than humans. Don’t get me wrong. Our family Christmas feast is a full-on, sit-down, stuff-your-face event with all of our favorite foods. But other social gatherings offer a help-yourself-as-many-times-as-you-can selection of foods and before you know it, you’ve filled your plate five times in one evening. Oh well. It doesn’t happen very often, right? Right?!

So, what does eating have to do with saving money? Well, as anyone can tell you, preparing for a holiday feast can get pretty expensive, not to mention stressful, especially if it’s left up to one or two people. Everyone knows someone who insists on taking care of absolutely everything, while others don’t seem to mind letting everyone else do all the work. So, for those of us that fall somewhere in the middle, it helps to share the responsibilities of preparing the meal. If you’d like to try divvying up all the work among family or friends, but don’t know exactly how to go about doing it, here are a couple of strategies that might work for you.

First, let each family or guest make their own favorite dish or two to bring to the table. Or, if you’re like my family and you already know who-likes-what, simply count up the number of different favorites and then split them up evenly among everyone. Then again, there’s my dad who insists on buying the shrimp, but doesn’t want to cook it! LOL (Love you, Dad!)

Second, try letting each family pick a part of a multi-course meal: appetizer, main dish, dessert, or drinks. For example, we have something called “Neighbor Night” and four families get together on a somewhat regular basis. Well, at least we try. And we’ve agreed to rotate responsibilities whenever we get together. For instance, whoever is hosting the party at their house provides all the drinks. The other three families then supply the rest, and it changes with every party. That way no one is stuck with the same thing every time.

With the economy the way it is right now, I don’t know too many people who can foot the entire bill on a huge holiday gathering. But then again there’s just something fun, exciting, and comforting about sharing a meal with the people we love and sharing our favorite things with them all. It’s not only easier on the wallet, but also less stressful knowing it’s not all on our shoulders. And who knows, you just might discover something new about yourself, your family, friends, and oh yeah . . . food!

Yum!