| If you are like me, feeding the family good, nutritious | | | | started putting things away I would discover (no big |
| food is a priority. However, things are getting really | | | | surprise) that I already had a lot of the stuff I had just |
| expensive and that sometimes seems a daunting | | | | purchased. Consequently, I ended up wasting a lot of |
| chore! I think it is common to think that saving on food | | | | food that was never used and was no longer edible. |
| means sacrificing quality and nutrients. Well, it does not | | | | Wasted food = $$$ in the garbage! Who knows how |
| have to be. | | | | much money I have thrown out in the past! |
| When I was growing up, once a week my mother | | | | Well, as things got harder and times changed I realized |
| would sit all of us down and ask for our input on what | | | | I needed to take a deep, hard look at my bad habits |
| we wanted to eat the following week. We would go | | | | and correct them. I went back to basics, I guess one |
| food shopping on Saturday so this was generally done | | | | could say I turned into my mother, and started planning |
| on Thursday or Friday. We would all tell her what we | | | | and getting organized. What a difference this has |
| wanted to eat and she would compile a weekly menu. | | | | made! I am now spending 50% less on my groceries. |
| Then, while she made up a grocery list she had us go | | | | 50%! That is a lot of savings. |
| through the pantry and fridge and tell her what we had | | | | Getting Organized: |
| left over from the week before. We also made an | | | | Although, creating a menu and a grocery list seems to |
| inventory of bulk products i.e. toilet paper, granulated | | | | be a drag and sometimes overwhelming it is not that |
| sugar, flour, etc. By the end of our meeting my mother | | | | hard. If you have family members like mine who |
| had a solid grocery list from which she never, ever | | | | cannot answer a simple "what would you like me to |
| steered. The weekly menu would be posted on the | | | | cook for you?" ("Anything is fine. . . . .") you are going to |
| fridge with a magnet and we all knew what to expect. | | | | have to resort to memory, your friends, cook books or |
| My mother never threw unused, rotted food away. | | | | even the internet. However, if you have a super |
| Never. | | | | cooperative bunch kudos to you! Sit them down and |
| As time went by, I lost that valuable habit. I got involved | | | | compile your list of wanted meals! |
| in my own adult life and just did not take the time to | | | | Make up a list and start your menu. Go through your |
| plan ahead. Two consistent things happened due to | | | | pantry and fridge and decide what things you need to |
| my lack of discipline. First, I would invariably start | | | | purchase thus creating a grocery list. Make a promise |
| thinking about what to feed the family on my way | | | | to yourself that you will keep true to your list even if |
| home from work. I love to cook so that was not the | | | | you stumble upon the most beautiful display of |
| problem. The problem was I would create these | | | | ingredients that make your creative juices flow! |
| wonderful dishes in my mind and stop at the | | | | I promise you that you will see a huge difference in |
| supermarket for ingredients. Exhaustion and hunger | | | | your grocery bill every week if you follow this basic |
| prevailing, I would enter with a mental list of 3 things | | | | and simple plan. It will eliminate the tendency of over |
| tops and come out with a full cart. How do I manage | | | | purchasing products you will never use. |
| to do that? Second, as soon as I got home and | | | | |