Once a Month Mom

There is one thing that has kept me from thinking that I can really keep my new healthy eating lifestyle, and that is the cost of food.  Since January, Chris and I have been spending AT LEAST $100 a week on groceries, usually closer to $150 and even getting as high as $200.  A Week.  For two people.  That's freaking ridiculous! Plus having to cook every night, which takes 1-2 hours, then cleaning up the kitchen.  It's a huge strain on time and money, and while I love eating natural, healthy foods, I really don't see it being possible to do in the long term, especially once we have kids.  That is why I was SO EXCITED to find the website onceamonthmom.com on Pinterest (Thanks Andi!!!).  It's a blog by a mom who had the same problems we've been having- she wants to feed her family wholesome homemade food, but doesn't have the time to prepare the meals every day.  Instead, she has created a system where you only cook ONCE A MONTH and freeze everything.  This includes  breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  She gives you printable recipe cards and a grocery list for everything you need, and you can adjust the number of people you are cooking for and it automatically adjusts the amounts.  She gives you directions for how to cook everything on your day of cooking in order to stay organized and maximize your time.  She tells you how to freeze your foods, and how to do it if you have a small freezer (like we do).  She even gives you printable labels to put on your meals that say what it is, how to thaw it, and how to cook/reheat it.  It is the most organized system I have ever seen for meal planning.  And all of the info and printables are FREE!!!!!!

So, we decided to do it.  My amazing husband printed everything we need and organized it into a binder, complete with page protectors so the recipes don't get food on them while we are cooking (he's so organized, according to my grandma, because he's a Capricorn).  We took our printed grocery list to the store, and not even using coupons or shopping for sales, we spent... are you ready... $183.16 on a month's worth of groceries.  I was so excited I think I weirded out the cashier, talking all high pitched about how much money we saved and jumping up and down a bit (I even got a little teary eyed, but that might have been from the sappy country song they were playing and my emotionalism (yes I made that up, and yes this is a parenthesis within a parenthesis, but this is my blog and I can do what I want!)).  That included buying freezer bags, 8x8 foil casserole dishes, a box of cereal, and some yogurt that wasn't on the list.  

Saturday we are going to cook.  I'll let you know how it goes.  My only concern is that the portions will be too small to fill us up, or it'll be gross.  But the recipes sound yummy, and we are supposed to eat smaller portions anyways, right?  If anything we can supplement with healthy snacks and side dishes.  But right now, if it works out as planned, we will be saving up to $500 a month, and 48 hours of cooking a month.  And that is totally worth the planning, the 2 hour shopping trip, and giving up a day for cooking.

P.S. We are doing the March 2012 Diet menu.  There were too many things we don't like on the April diet menu.  There are several menus, including vegetarian, dairy/gluten free, and even on for baby food.