This month is my first try at once-a-month cooking (OAMC), and we headed to Kroger yesterday to stock up on what I would need to pull this off. Before I share my picture with you, let me add a little disclaimer. We don’t usually have a second table sitting upright behind our table. We just happen to be in the middle of replacing our bathtub, and there’s a new bathtub – and lots of tools – sitting in my kitchen where my table usually is. So we’re using the one in our dining room — complete with the kitchen table disassembled and propped up behind the table we’re using. *sigh* This too shall pass……..
But on to the shopping trip….. Here’s what we ended up with. (Click the image to enlarge.)
Fortunately, I knew that this trip would cost a bit more than our usual shopping trips, so my jaw didn’t hit the floor when the cashier gave me my total. We didn’t have a ton of food in our pantry/freezer, and I needed to gather ingredients for the 25 meals that I had planned. All in all, I paid $132.00 for everything you see here. That’s two week’s worth of grocery money for us, but once these meals are made, I only plan on buying what’s on great sales for the next month. I should still be able to stay within our regular grocery budget by not having to buy dinner items for the rest of the month. This is great, because it will allow me to buy items for next month’s dinners while they’re on rock-bottom price sales.
Now my fridge and pantry are busting at the seams, just waiting for me to put it all together. I’ll keep you posted on the assembly and our reaction to once-a-month cooking!
Do you cook once a month? If you do, how do you handle the larger expense when you’re buying the month’s dinner items? Do you shop ahead? Or do you just save some grocery money each week and use it for a big shopping trip?
This post is linked to:
:: Friday Finals hosted by Southern Savers
:: Super Savings Saturday hosted by Money Saving Mom
wow, nice haul jennifer..i dont have the freezer or fridge space right now for monthly meals but i do weekly meals as much as possible..i do soups/meat stews/hamburger meat/ and freeze those..i actually used a bag of the tomatoes i froze end of last summer for the soup i made this past week…we just finished that up today..i like cooking a weeks worth but nto sure about a months worth..but good luck and keep us posted..thanks for all your hard work..love your site!!
Oh, Rose, I may have bitten off more than I can chew! We’ll see! I probably should have started with two weeks worth of meals, but you know me…. I like to dive in with both feet. We’ll see if I swim! 🙂
I’ve done the freezer cooking thing several times. I seem to do better during the winter months than the warmer months. One particular store near me really marks down their meats to a level that makes it a fantastic bargain. Usually I wait until they have a big sale on something I want like ground chuck or Perdue chicken and then I visit the store at a certain time of morning when the ones they need to sell that day are on even deeper discount (sale price plus discounted price!). Then I rack up. Granted, I have to make sure I have the day cleared so I can cook all that stuff right away, but it saves me a bundle (hundreds of dollars) on groceries.
Looks like you got a nice haul. Can’t wait to see what you think of bulk cooking.
I would LOVE to get that kind of deal on meat! That’s the most expensive part of this endeavor. But I figure getting 25 meals for $132 means that it’s just over $5 per meal. And that $132 included things other than dinner-making ingredients (dog food, yogurt, etc.). I think this will be a huge savings. I’m hoping to block out some time on Wednesday to get it done!
Oh, I started to try this this week too! Except, it didn’t go so well for me! The shopping part went fine, but I certainly need to be WAY more organized to do it! I got a couple of meals made, but then frustration overtook me! Please let me know how you do!!!
My goal is to spend a couple of hours on Wednesday morning while my daughter is at preschool. Right now there’s an empty bathtub in my kitchen…. looks like of like an inverted island! Once that’s installed in the bathroom – hopefully tomorrow! – I’ll have room to move. Wednesday’s my only day off this week, so the pressure is ON! 🙂 I just know it’s going to be worthwhile!
Try not to be too frustrated though, Alli. I figure it this way — Whatever I can get done ahead of time is less work for me later in the month, right?