Advertisement

Budget Food Shopping

These big kids, they think they're so smart.

In an effort to stick to my family food budget, I have been going for longer stretches of time between grocery shopping trips. Shopping a couple of times a week wastes gas, time, and money, I have found. Shopping just once a week, though, requires a bit of planning. And some getting used to.

In the final days of the week before I go shopping, food choices get a little ... creative around here. And apparently some of the kids have noticed.

Last week, at lunchtime on the day before my weekly shopping trip, I found a typed notice attached to the nearly empty refrigerator. It read suspiciously like my oldest daughter’s recent mealtime complaints. Here’s what it said:

Mama’s Ole’ Diner

Today’s Lunch Special: Turkey Sausage Pasta Surprise!
Leftover, cold, super whole grain pasta with a turkey sausage and tomato sauce topping. It was made last night, of course. Or was it the night before?

Other Good for You Lunchtime Choices:

Peanut Butter Sandwiches
Peanut Butter spread on a burger roll or between two slices of bird seed bread (sorry, all bread must be toasted—it is currently frozen).

Garbanzo Beans
Wonderfully good for you, these are canned, mushy, white, strange looking beans. But you definitely should eat them, though, because they are very nutritious and you are lucky to have them.

Tuna Melts
Make them yourself! With low fat mayonnaise! But don’t you dare make a tuna juice mess on the counter, or you will be in for it!

Mac & Cheese
We have just one box left of the good stuff, so you better hurry up and grab it before somebody else does. You have to share with at least one other person.

Desserts
As a special today, we have ... no desserts of any kind! Unless you can find a long forgotten package of cookies buried somewhere in the pantry.


Comments

 
1. Posted by Ryan [website] on Monday, Jul 21, 2008 2:46 PM (EST):

Ha! Well done. Looks like someone has inherited someone’s sense of humor.

 
2. Posted by Ryan [website] on Monday, Jul 21, 2008 2:48 PM (EST):

Oops—I’m not a mom. Hope I can comment here anyway.  grin

 
3. Posted by mary [website] on Monday, Jul 21, 2008 3:01 PM (EST):

Too cute, Ryan. I’m thinking you could just toss on an aporn and no one will say anything.  ~~~mary

 
4. Posted by Maryan [website] on Monday, Jul 21, 2008 3:17 PM (EST):

love love love—“you’re lucky to have it.” LOL!

 
5. Posted by Cathy [website] on Monday, Jul 21, 2008 3:26 PM (EST):

LOL! I do shopping once a week and I know just what you mean.

 
6. Posted by joann10 [website] on Monday, Jul 21, 2008 3:26 PM (EST):

Sounds alot like my house!! LOL

 
7. Posted by Wendy P [website] on Monday, Jul 21, 2008 3:50 PM (EST):

But she’s so RIGHT about the garbanzo beans… They sound like a muppet.

 
8. Posted by TracyE on Monday, Jul 21, 2008 6:06 PM (EST):

UH oh, I just told my boys to come up with their own dinner menus since they are so “tired” of the same old, same old...better watch what I wish for!  On a similar note, I just read a great book with lots of tips: “1/2 price living” by Ellie Kay..Enjoy!

 
9. Posted by Christy Thomas on Monday, Jul 21, 2008 7:49 PM (EST):

Ha!  Thanks for the laughter.

 
10. Posted by ju on Monday, Jul 21, 2008 8:29 PM (EST):

And here I was wondering if I could shop every TWO weeks once I got a new freezer.  How brave am I?

 
11. Posted by Salome Ellen [website] on Monday, Jul 21, 2008 8:34 PM (EST):

As a mom of 6, now mostly grown, I confirm that you CAN shop every two weeks.  I’ve been doing it for decades, with a milk-and-produce pickup trip on the off week.  Buy sale meat and freeze it, and you never pay full price for meat once you have a stockpile.

 
12. Posted by Jennifer on Monday, Jul 21, 2008 8:56 PM (EST):

I laughed so hard that I cried.  Thanks.

 
13. Posted by Christine Hebert [website] on Tuesday, Jul 22, 2008 9:49 AM (EST):

Oh my.  We shop less frequently than once a week, although my DH does pick up odds and ends when he is working near the supermarket.  I can’t keep meat in my freezer....teen aged boys eat like vaccuum cleaners!

 
14. Posted by Jenn Davis [website] on Tuesday, Jul 22, 2008 11:15 AM (EST):

How cute… what a sense of humor!

 
15. Posted by Catherine [website] on Tuesday, Jul 22, 2008 3:29 PM (EST):

We love canned garbanzo beans--I use them for hummus and my kids eat them straight!

 
16. Posted by bobbi on Thursday, Jul 24, 2008 12:56 PM (EST):

I shop once a week unless we run out of milk or produce.  But I shop at multiple stores.  I find it helps to make out a weekly menu.  I have three children at home all day, so I have to include lunch items as well.  This helps to limit the “impulse” purchases.

 
17. Posted by Jennifer [website] on Monday, Jul 28, 2008 12:30 PM (EST):

We are a family of almost 7 (2 weeks and counting).  I do one gigantic shopping once a month, except for milk and fresh fruit which need to be bought each week.  My kids, too, laugh at their lunch plates at the end of the month.  But it is amazing to me just how many meals I can make out of nothing when I have to.

 
18. Posted by Maureen Griffin on Monday, Jul 28, 2008 2:25 PM (EST):

I usually shop weekly but every few months we go on a pantry clear-out and only buy perishables for a few weeks.  We refer to those dregs of the pantry meals as “dumps” as in dump whatever’s left into a pot and heat it up.


Post a Comment

By submitting this form, you give Faith And Family Magazine permission to publish this comment. Comments will be published at our discretion, and may be edited for clarity and length. For best formatting, please limit your response to one paragraph and don't hit "enter" to force line breaks.

Name:

Email:

Website:

Write your comment:

     

Remember my personal information.

Notify me of follow-up comments.

 
 

Faith & Family Live!

P1030783 Our daily blog is where everyday moms offer one another inspiration, support, and encouragement in Catholic living. Any mom grappling with the meaning of life or the cleaning of laundry is welcome here. Meet our bloggers, check out our magazine, learn more about our mission and consider supporting us, and come on in! READ MORE

 
RSS Feeds  
Advertisement
Advertisement
 

Weekly Reader Poll

Archives

 
 
 
Last 7 Days |  30 Days |  All Time
 
Last 7 Days |  30 Days |  All Time
 

Recent Comments

 

Get our FREE Daily Digest

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

 

Blogroll

 

Top Tags

prayer (76) | family (53) | humor (41) | books (32) | kids (31) | photos (34) | babies (30) | shopping (26) | children (32) | teens (24) | toddlers (27) | boys (30) | fun (24) | benedict (24) | parenting (23) | advice (18) | mothers (25) | pro-life (23) | giveaway (24) | faith (18) | love (22) | blogging (21) | christmas (11) | gospel (22) | saints (18) | marriage (15) | support (20) | feasts (16) | overheard (20) | contest (19) | food (15) | baking (18) | music (15) | discussion (18) | politics (17) | bible (16) | school (14) | advent (14) | play (12) | liturgical year (10) | gifts (9) | election (14) | travel (13) | abortion (12) | pope (11) | money (6) | television (13) | magazine (11) | podcast (13) | health (12) | pregnancy (12) | women (12) | nutrition (9) | mary (11) | news (12) | recipes (12) | birthdays (10) | thanksgiving (11) | cooking (8) | movies (9) | bishops (11) | writing (10) | nature (9) | religious education (10) | video (10) | cleaning (10) | reviews (6) | reading (9) | church (6) | education (9) | grace (6) | fitness (9) | sports (9) | moms (8) | life (8) | science (8) | cute kids (7) | winning (7) | sleep (5) | fall (7) | laundry (7) | learning (6) | halloween (7) | charity (6) | friends (7) | balance (5) | mass (5) | gratitude (7) | outdoors (7) | joy (6) | winner (7) | bargains (6) | voting (5) | homemaking (4) | daily (6) | audience (6) | toys (4) | baby (6) | fashion (2) | grandparents (5) |

 
 

Partners