Once-A-Month Cooking: Installment 2

Grocery Shopping Trip(s):

On Saturday, A.R. and I ventured out to buy the groceries needed on the list provided in the Once-A-Month Cooking book for Meal Plan E. We hit up Sam's Club to buy items needed in bulk especially the meat, produce, and frozen foods needed. I was going to purchase all the canned goods there as well, but the cans actually were too large and I worried about my ability to safely store any leftover food in a can that has already been opened. Our second stop was a local grocery store we frequent for smaller quantities of items including canned goods, frozen foods, and fresh produce.

Our Sam's shopping cart...not too bad, right?

The total shopping trip took us about 3 hours total both in-store and driving times and I was exhausted afterwards. I definitely have to consider the fact I'm in my 9th month of pregnancy this time around. I'm planning on figuring out if this new way of cooking will actually save us money or not. I'm thinking it will, but only if we actually eat the meals that I've pre-made and do not go out to eat or order take-out!! :) Here is the break down of costs so far (I've eliminated any household items like toilet paper, paper towels, etc. that we bought at the same time):




Sam's Club: $256.88
Local Grocery Store: 141.51 (includes spices I was missing & freezer storage containers)
Total Cost of food: $398.39

If you divide the total $398.39 by 30 meals in a month the total would be $13.28/meal, but since most of the recipes I have are for a family of 4 I think that I'll be able to make more like 40 meals which would be $9.96/meal. Not too shabby considering we'll probably even have leftovers that can be eaten as lunches, too. If we stick to the meal plan and don't eat out as much, there definitely will be some great cost savings to us each month.

Local Grocery Store Shopping Cart...

On the shopping trip I actually ended up eliminating two of the meals on the menu because A.R. informed me he hated ham. I thought I could trick him into trying it in a recipe, but he caught me red-handed. DOH! On those two nights we can heat up something else like a frozen pizza or a Bertolli's pre-made pasta dinner instead. I have already cooked one of the recipes in the book using my crock pot over night on Saturday. I made the French's Stew recipe and it's labeled and frozen in our freezer ready to go! It smelled DELICIOUS!

My counter with the canned goods ready for cooking

Next Installment: The cooking begins!