Meal Planning.

I never technically meal planned. It seemed like too much work, and I've always come from a family where we had pretty much everything in the fridge, and if we didn't, we lived less than a mile from the grocery store. Even now, Sean and I live .6 miles (a 5 minute, round trip drive) from Hyvee. It's not a big deal if we don't have something, because we can just hop out and get it - faster than the beef can thaw in the microwave.

And then my schedule changed at work.

Now, I don't get home until 7 (on a good night). I don't want to swing by the grocery store on my way home, and if I don't have something in mind for dinner, we usually just have sandwiches. Which is kinda unfulfilling and, well, boring. Plus, it doesn't leave me left overs to take for lunch the next day. And so I will start to meal plan - in my own way. Basically, I'm going to have set options for meals. 4 or 5 options a week, and we'll just make them as we go. That way, if I don't get a crock pot meal on before I leave for work, I can whip something quicker up when I get home that evening. I think it'll work for us.

Today, I spent $108.00 at the grocery store. Keep in mind, there was a meat sale, so I bought over 5 lbs of ground beef to freeze, plus I stocked up on chicken broth, pasta, bacon, and coffee. But, in addition to that, I have food for the following meals:

-Stuffed shells and meat sauce
-turkey and cheese sliders with honey-dijion glaze
-tacos
-hawaiian bbq chicken
-spaghetti
-empanadas

Plus, a few hot pockets for those "I don't wanna cook" days. Aaaand because I spent over $100, I get 10 cents off my next 20 gallons of gas! I love PriceChopper.

It's the first major grocery trip I've taken in over a month, and hopefully I'll only need to pick up a few perishables for the next couple of weeks (I certainly won't have to buy meat or sides though!). We shall see - hopefully I can keep going and save myself some money!