For the love (and cost) of food...

Guys, I'm doing it. I'm currently making a meal out of my head only using just what we have on hand. I just substituted oil and red wine vinegar with salad dressing. This is a new leaf! I'm shopping my own pantry! (My 9th grade self is so embarrassed that I'm excited about this). What prompted this? I took out the cash amount of what I'd budgeted for the month for groceries. And that money ran out yesterday. As in, there are still 11 days left in the month (a.k.a. 1/3) and the money. is. gone. I even took out the "max" I thought we'd need.

You know how life sometimes just costs more than you'd like and you have to have a "come to Jesus" moment with yourself? This is that moment. Now, this has been a goal of mine for some time that I've done nothing about. Nothing. I haven't learned to coupon like amazing friends of mine, I haven't subscribed to online meal planning that helps to shop the sales, no. I have been stubborn and proud thinking, "I can't do that, I don't have time for that!", or "I do so well at other things, it's okay to not do well in this area." Ha! I would argue that food savings are probably the biggest savings you can find and the most important. If I have enough time to spend the money, then I certainly have enough time to sit down and try to save some. And, let's face it.. it's my job right now to run our household and figure out just how to do this. So, I'm working on it and I'm starting with food. I have this intense desire to feed my family good food. Not intense enough to start a garden of my own or drive an hour away to buy raw milk, but intense enough that I spend a bit too much on good ingredients. Our son is on a high calorie diet and if I can't figure out how to feed him good food on a budget when he's a toddler, then how will I ever feed him when he's a teenager!? News flash: He turns three in two weeks, so "according to my research", he'll be a teenager in just a few years... (does anybody else remember the Magic School Bus?)

Here are a few of the simple things I've started...

1. Organize the food! I know there are some crazy amazing people out there who organize to the point of labeling and container-ing and matching everything in their pantry (like this), but that's not what I'm getting at here. (Although, I sure do love that IHeartOrganizing blog and I've been quite inspired to get my life in order since keeping up with it. See what I did there?). I am just talking about knowing what you have, which is easiest to do when you have everything organized. I used baskets, shelves, and a set of shelves on the inside of the pantry).

This is an improvement, if you can believe it! But I can easily find what I need and find what we have!

I organized our freezer, fridge, and pantry and found things I had no idea we had. I also threw out a lot of old stuff, which leads me to my next point...

2. Calm down. I am infamous around these parts, okay maybe only to my incredibly patient husband, for buying LOTS of the same type of things and then throwing them out because they're rotten or stale. The produce aisle gets me every time. "Purple potatoes!? Let's try them! But wait, I just saw a great recipe for cooked carrots! And I love peaches, and nectarines, and oranges, and I should probably buy some limes to have on hand, but who has limes without lemons? And, I should make kale smoothies to be healthier, but that means I need some apples too..." See how that happens? It's like Twister in there. So, I am going to shop for what's in season and buy one type of produce each week. This week it was plums (last week I got free peaches from a friend's tree!) and next week I'll move onto something else that's a) on sale and b) in season. And, if I decide to pick up my smoothie habit again, I'm going to buy more frozen fruit and substitute out coffee for smoothies, to do a little expense replacement.

3. Get smart about meal planning.  When I meal plan, I scour the internet for new recipes I want to try. I make a list of the ingredients I will need and go to one maybe two stores and buy everything I'll need and spend a crapload of money. Next week, repeat! Instead of shopping my own pantry for ingredients I already have, or *gasp* repeating a meal in a month's time, I try to outdo ... myself??... and make weird and new recipes constantly. So, I'm making a two week meal plan with one day left open for trying new recipes. That means twice a month I get to try something new and buy some weird ingredient. I need a little more routine in the food department, and I think this is a good way to start.

p.s. A dear friend of mine moved here about a year and a half ago, and she and I cook for each other every other Tuesday. Today is my day to cook for her family, then next week she'll cook for mine. It works out really well because our families eat at about the same time and are the same size and we live within walking distance from each other. I highly suggest this, you have no idea how nice it is to not have to worry about cooking for a day every other week. And, when it's our turn to cook, we just make double of what we're having. We've even dropped off dinner a day early and taken care of dinner for husbands when we're out of town, and all sorts of wonderful. It would be a great thing to start with a neighbor, they can even come and get their meal!

I have also just found a blog of a woman who I'm pretty sure would be one of my best friends if she lived near me. Well, maybe I'd just want her to be? Anyway, I've spent the last few days really scouring her blog and she had these great tips about saving money on groceries.

So, wish me luck. And, tell me, what's your secret to spending less on food? Buying in bulk, couponing, shopping sales, or are you like me and in major need of reform?