Living out here on the farm far from town has really required me to fine tune my skills at meal planning. No quick runs to the store to get something for dinner! It’s a good thing I was already trying to limit my grocery shopping to once a week before moving out here.
There are several factors I have to think about when planning my meals: what type of farming or schooling (depends on the time of year) is going on this week, whose week it is to help cook, what food items on are sale, our weekly grocery budget of $100 for nine people, and what’s already in the freezer or in the garden.
Here’s a rundown of the process I typically go through. First I get out the calendar to see what activities we have going on that will interfere with mealtimes and make notes on my menu sheet. Some days are better suited to crockpot meals or quick cooking recipes while on other days we can take as much time as we want cooking. I also make note of any friends or extended family who may be around for mealtimes during the week.
As part of our chore chart system each child, even down to the three year old, gets a week in the kitchen cleaning, sweeping, mopping, and the best part cooking. The lucky girl whose turn it is to cook in the coming week sits down with me and we scan the ads writing down different meal ideas based on what we see that is on sale. It’s always their choice for the whole week but I guide them in making sure we have well-rounded, healthy meals.
Children love to help cook. I haven’t met a child yet who doesn’t at least like to help make cookies or frost cupcakes. It’s important to me that all of my children learn the skills of not only cooking but cleaning up when they are done, creating healthy menus, and spending money wisely. The simple process of “kitchen duty” at our house helps teach them these valuable skills. It does take longer – in the beginning – but I’m already seeing the rewards of impatiently patiently teaching my older children how to cook.
Anyway, back to my meal planning. I’m a big believer in doing things once, meaning when I cook something I cook a lot of it and use the leftovers to create a different dish later on in the week. The leftovers of a Sunday roast can be turned into fajitas, BBQ Beef Sandwiches, beef stroganoff, beef pot pie, etc. Baked potatoes can later be used as hashbrowns, the crust of a quiche (I promise to post the recipe soon Crab Apple Farms!), twice baked potatoes, funeral potatoes – well you get the idea.
I’ve also learned that making a lot of side dishes spreads out the main dish thus cutting down on the amount of costly meat typically used in the main dish. Think about those church potlucks when there are so many choices so you get a little bit of most things like everyone else but there are still leftovers. And breads. We love all types of bread at our house – breadsticks, tortillas, rolls, muffins, you name it! I typically bake 16 loaves of bread a week – 8 loaves of white bread and 8 loaves of whole wheat. Warm bread, dripping with melted butter and a little homemade strawberry jam…doesn’t get much better than that!
After creating our menu I make a list of the ingredients we need to get at the grocery store. I also stock up on pantry items if they happen to be on sale. I estimate how much it will all cost trying to keep it all under $100. Some weeks are better than others. The summertime is the best because of the fresh veggies we grow in the garden. I then rearrange my list according to how the store is set up. Believe me, when you have to go grocery shopping with seven kids in tow it’s much better to map out our route through the store before getting there. It also helps to cut down on those impulse buys.
So that’s how we meal plan at our house. It really only takes about 15 minutes, 30 minutes at the most to do. Sorry I don’t have any recipes except the bread ones to share. I promise to start taking pictures of our favorite dishes and post the recipes soon.
Other posts you may be interested in reading:
On the Menu…
Planning a Menu
A Well Stocked Pantry
That’s so wonderful that you let/make your kids help in that way! It must take a lot of patience (with the 3 year old especially). But after spending a week with my sister and her 5 kids I finally fully comprehend how helpful the older kids can be. Her 13 year old was so great! I can’t wait until I get one of those! But, as she pointed out, it took a lot of work to get that great 13 year old to be so great.
I hopped over from the Heart of the Matter and had to tell you that this is a GREAT post!!! I am so encouraged. And also in Awww of your grocery budget!!! I still haven’t figured out how to get my grocery budget down…. I’ll check out your older posts to see if you offer any tips. Again, a really great post!
Blessings,
Taryn
Great post, Cocoa – – I just love your blog and I swear, you teach me something new every day. I am working really hard on menu planning right now, and keeping to a grocery budget. I found a lot of helpful tips in your post (and older posts) that hadn’t occured to me.
Hope everyone in your household is on the mend, and that you and Mr. FR managed to stay healthy.
Great tips! I liked the earlier picture of your fridge full of milk.
One question though….how do you plan food that all your children will eat?
What do you plan or feed the few picky eaters?
Thanks
Mmmm… the fresh bread sounds delicious!
I’ve had a helper of the day but I never thought to extend it to a full week. That sounds like a fabulous idea– less time of forgetting in between and more opportunity to learn!
Amazing I don’t get away from the grocery store with out spending $175. It has been really difficult lately due to the rising prices. I am glad to hear that you are still able to follow your budget!! Yea for you!!!
You are an inspiration! I am going to try some of your ideas to cut back on my spending. I am very interested in your quiche with potatoe crust recipe – could you please post it or email me?
thanks. Laura
Mommymita,
I don’t plan for the picky eaters.It’d be too much work! The rule is they have to at least have one bite of everything then they can have as much as they want of what they do like. A plus with letting them all have their turn at cooking – they all get a chance to cook their favorite foods. It also helps them realize it pays to be nice after all the work that went into creating a meal.
Some days we do have a child who will opt out of eating a meal because they just don’t like what is offered. It’s their choice. But they know they aren’t allowed to eat anything until snack time or the next meal.
Wow! I am very impressed. I started reading your post thinking that we had a similar system, but your system goes way beyond mine! I’m going to have to read yours over again!
I love your post!!! Does the $100 include meat purchases?? Your amazing!! I go to Sam’s Club for bulk meats, while putting them away, I marinate, make burgers etc. That helps me out also!!
Glad to have met you and your awesome blog!!
Cocoa, I believe that you are perfect. Please don’t be mad at me for saying that, but I SO admire your homemaking skills. Thank you for sharing them with us. We’ve been trying to stay in our budget and this post has inspired me.
We also do meal planning in a similar manner. We’ve gotten lazy lately, though, and I can see the difference in our grocery bill because of it! We need to work on involving all the kids in the meal planning/ week set up phase and not just the cooking phase.
Thanks for the tips and I’m glad to hear everyone’s on the road to full recovery.
I’m setting a goal for September to get my grocery spending back in control. It isn’t too bad, but definitely not in control. My plan is to have a budget of $400 and whatever I don’t spend I get to save for a new sewing machine. =)
I’m super impressed! You mind posting one of your magical menus & shopping lists that allows you to feed 9 on $100?!?! I would have said that wasn’t possible… I can’t seem to feed 3 on that much. Of course, my husband doesn’t eat noodles, so that doesn’t help things! I’d also love to hear a bit more about what you do with your 3 year old in the kitchen!