September was our first time trying the month of cooking. It wasn't so bad. We had a few mistakes, but overall it went great. We had to remove a recipe or 2 for this month. One of the family favorites has been making me sick, so we won't be having it in October. I am hoping to get to the doctor soon to see what exactly the issue is with my tummy. Needless to say that by shop day, the freezer, cabinets, and fridge were bare.
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| Empty! |
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| My list |
A week before shopping day I started talking to everyone about their likes and dislikes from this month. Mostly no one had issues. Kids didn't like the frozen pancakes and asked for more PB&Js, muffins, and go to snacks. So this month there are no pancakes and I made a lot more muffins. I wrote a calendar on paper and filled it in with meals I wanted to make. This is easy. Every Sunday is gumbo and every Tuesday is taco/fajita night. We also have a few events this month that I will be bringing food to. I found that I need to shop once a week for some things. Milk, fresh lettuce and tomatoes, and bananas for hubby's lunch. I made sure and wrote that down too. I am still working on counting the amount of meat needed. Last month I had to buy more ground meat. This month, I may have bought to little chicken. Last month I didn't buy enough sugar for the month. We are a sweet tea family. So I made sure this month I did!
I took the list from last month and created an Excel file that had prices for each item on it. I then put the number of items I needed. This gave me an estimated total for my bill. This is only an estimate since stores often have price changes and sales. But it was a good start.
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| Two baskets later |
We went to the store on an early Saturday morning. The two older kids had an event they were working at, so I dropped them and headed to the store with Alicia and Louella in tow. Two hours later, we headed to the register. I use reusable bags, so I tried to find a cashier I knew would work with me. She scanned and I bagged. I love reusable bags. You can pack so much more into them and kids can carry them better too. I did find onions on sale so I bought a lot. I will chop them and freeze them. I also was able to cut a few things from my list that we had in the pantry already. When we got home, I sat down to nurse and think of my plan. Even though most "month" cookers take only one day to prepare and freeze, I need like 3 maybe 4. I have 8 kids at home, 2 work and 1 nurses. So I will have to break up my prep.
I made meatloaf for freezer, 3 of them. There were 100 PB&Js, 500+ muffins, 15 breakfast bowls, 30 breakfast burritos, cooked and bagged chopped chicken for gumbo, sliced and bagged gumbo sausage, cooked and bagged chili, chopped lbs and lbs of onions and bell peppers, seasoned and bagged fajita meat. I figured it was only a few days until I cooked tacos so I just over cooked a lot that night and bagged it into 2 bags after dinner that night.
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| Some of the Burritos |
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| 2 meatloaves |
I would say the hardest part has been stopping kids from eating things that are not meant to be eaten so soon. I used to go to the store every other day. This has also stopped the purchasing of snacks constantly. That has saved money and calories.
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| Better labeling this month |
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| Bell peppers on top freezing separate before I bag so they won't stick |
We also have several events in October to which we have to bring a dessert or other dish to. I incorporated this into my list although salad stuff needs to be purchased the day before the event. I also need to go back and get candy for all Saints event at the Barn. Now to get to sewing and writing the blog about this years all Saints party.
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