I feel guilty for not blogging more this month, but other things have taken up my brain cells, so just a quick update on the attempts to empty the food stores in my home...
This menu thing (March Madess) is working better than I hoped. Having already been one of those moms who planned her menus for the week, I thought using everything on hand would be easy. Just throw everything into a spreadsheet, match up the main dishes, side dishes, and whatever frozen veggies I had on hand, and presto! A month of dinners.
Then the reality. I'm embarassed to admit this, but with a few family events on the calendar where dinner'll be served, we've got enough meals to get us through not 31 days, but six weeks. Wow!
The menu has eliminated most of the arguing over what's for dinner, and putting it on the family calendar allowed me to see the nights where crockpot dinners would work best versus the nights I had a lot more prep time. Some days even got switched around this week as the kids were getting the horrible spring cold going around, and soup and sandwiches on Friday's menu worked better on Thursday.
So far, one and a half shelves out of five in the pantry are empty, and one shelf in the freezer is bare. More impressive are the savings to date. With the $25 amount is working so far, we've saved over $300, and we're all having fun talking about where we'll go for our big dinner out.
The hidden benefit? I don't know if it was jumpstarted by the two days' walks I've gotten in, the stress from the "Mean Moms" situation, or the menu planning that eliminates last-minute and potentially diet-destroying food choices, but I'm down almost 10 pounds in 2 weeks! Whoo-whoo!
Is anyone else finding themselves doing a similar eating out of the pantry and freezer? What's the oddest item you found? What's the oldest product you have on hand?
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