Week 1 of the Great Meal Plan - it's a go!

This whole meal planning project has been enormous. I know that when it's all finished I will be a much, much happier person. Until that day (when my originals of everything are all printed out and sorted in a three ring binder), I will be a nutcase. I sat down on Thursday last week, my one day of sanity left between moving into/setting up my new classroom and the official back-to-work date set by my school district, to finish my weekly menus. I had already painstakingly typed up my own versions of recipes found in cookbooks along with the necessary ingredients for my weekly shopping lists for weeks 2, 4, and 1. Why that order? I have no idea. But they were finished and I was ready to type up weeks 3, 5, and 6.

Or so I thought.

My laptop gobbled up my recipes for Week 1 AND Week 4, particularly upsetting because Week 1 included, among no-brainer recipes for spaghetti and hamburgers, a detailed recipe for delicious Pulled Pork and a really long recipe with instructions for making pizza dough!

I was in a tizzy, to say the least. So I did what any logical girl would do. I started over. Now, I have, for the moment, skipped the recipes I know by heart. I will add them back later. But it was imperative that I get my grocery list together so that I could shop on Sunday.  The result was more than incredible.

I made a chart for my recipes that included several columns. One for each of the 3 stores near my home (so I can put aisle numbers in later - helpful when asking my hubby to run to the store for me), one for checking off when I actually have the item in my house at the moment (helpful in not having hubby upset that I bought things we already have), one for when I've put it in my cart at the store, and another for the Sale Price/Location when I have the time to check on those things beforehand. Today, I did not. But I did all of the above today before I ventured out to the store.

Since I had already determined my ingredients list, all that I needed to do was alphabetize and put them into my chart.  On my chart, I left room for a few extra items that we need around the house.

Following the sorting, I printed my list and went to the kitchen to check on what we already have. From my list of 23 ingredients, I only needed to buy 8. EIGHT!!! The hubster and I added 8 more before I left. I highlighted the 8 original items and their blanks so I'd be sure to check them off when I went. Highlighting gave me greater focus.

While there, I cut down greatly on impulse buys and focused instead on items on the list or items that would easily supplement our planned meals. I picked up some Capri Suns for our lunches this week and some peaches for our snacks. This means we're healthier and hopefully happier.

I also managed to cut down our grocery bill from $125 to $67 by buying the items I needed that were on sale instead of buying items just because they were on sale. Buying items just because they were on sale in the past led the V household to throw away items that weren't actually used.

I still haven't told you the BEST part, though! My actual in-store time was 30 minute. That includes having the butcher cut out the bone in my pork shoulder, the wait as the cashier rang up my items, and asking the customer service clerk about whether or not they have a store map/list of items by aisle (I was at Tom Thumb today - they don't have these at my store anymore)!

I am so happy knowing that now I have an entire week's worth of meals ready to go and can't wait to see how much easier my year is going to be now that I have a plan.

Happy eating, everybody!