I was speaking to a group the other day, and they said that the hardest part about cooking and eating at home was deciding what to fix on a daily basis.  Then, if they made the effort  and decided what to fix for dinner, they often didn’t have the ingredients on hand, and would end up going for fast food anyway.  There is a specific plan I have used for years that makes all your decisions on one day of the wee, and insures you have what you need on hand. 

Most communities have a specific day of the week when the newspaper puts all the grocery ads in the paper.  Here it is Wednesday, and the “food day” paper is free.  If yours is not free, most stores have the circulars available in the stores, or have their weekly sales on line.  In very small communities, there may be no sales flyers at all, but you can still use the essence of the plan.  We shop early on Saturday morning, and I sit down on Thursday or Friday evening and plan the following week’s menus based on what’s on sale in the stores.  I’ll select two or three of the meats that are on sale, and  add on fruits, vegetables and other side dish items, writing down each day’s menu and my shopping list at the same time.  I’m not a coupon user any longer, but if you clip coupons, you can attach any appropriate coupons to your grocery list.  We love pizza and pasta, so I make sure that we have what we need on hand for at least one of these dishes.  I also plan for leftovers.  (I’ll talk more about how to use leftovers so they don’t seem like leftovers tomorrow.)

Finally, my grocery list includes stocking up on any items that are priced very low.  For example this week one of our stores has whole fryer chickens on sale for 69 cents a pound with a limit of three.  I’ll buy three and freeze 2 of them for use later. 

I seldom include prepared or convenience foods on my list.  Instant oatmeal packets cost about 33 cents an ounce and the big round box costs 9 ½ cents an ounce.  3 servings a week for two kids would save you just over $100 during the school year if you bought the round box instead of the convenience packets.  It really doesn’t take any more time to make it either.  Both need boiling water or the same time in the microwave.  So, we are talking just a few seconds of difference in prep time.  If you do the math, you’ll find the same kinds of savings in the prepared bags of lettuce, hamburger helpers, slow cooker meals in a bag, and other convenience foods comparing them to making from scratch.