He and I have a lot in common then!

I ran the idea of theme night by my husband but he didn’t seem to be a big fan. Bummer because that does seem like it would make it a whole lot easier to plan meals. I do like the idea of setting up a calendar on the fridge though and picking meals in advance. It seems if it’s right in front of my face I should be able to follow through with it 🙂

Meal planning is one of those things like budgeting I guess that people push back against. But it’s so helpful for us.

We use a calendar in the kitchen and write meal ideas on it for the month. My husband grew up with theme nights and although I pushed back against that idea it’s worked out pretty well for us. So Monday is breakfast for dinner, Friday is pizza night, etc.

Not a very exciting process, but it takes me 5-10 minutes a month now and there’s no more “what’s for dinner” talk.

I think meal planning is probably the ticket to saving, but for some reason I hate the idea of doing it. I know it would solve the never ending problem of what-on-earth am I going to make for dinner tonight, so I really should buckle down and give it a try. If I can save money and stress less over dinner then why am I so hesitant? Any suggestions for starting this process?

I’m so glad you let me know about your experience. We tend to aim for organic products as well and I once used Peapod in the past to stock up on twenty packs of Nature’s Promise chicken. I like the idea of searching for the organic products that are on sale and then filling in the remaining items from there. Like you my goal would be to shop online every two weeks and make certain we have enough to get us through that time period. I could probably push it to every three weeks with the exception of produce. Thankfully my son is a huge fruit and veggie eater so we clean out the bins quite quickly. In fact, I’ve recently started buying fruits like oranges and apples that tend to last a whole lot longer than pineapple and berries just to get us through an extra couple of days.

Congratulations on your pregnancy! Since my son started preschool I began grocery shopping while he’s in school. He attends twice a week. I am not looking forward to shopping with a little one in tow again, which is definitely swaying me towards a food delivery service!

If I don’t do this, I usually go to Trader Joes, Wegmans, or Whole Foods and tend to completely overspend, mostly because it’s tougher to keep track of how much the total will be as I shop. Also, by having things delivered, it does cut down on the impulse buys and multiple trips. I try to limit my deliveries to every two weeks and make sure that I have enough for my actual meals for that time period. We usually do more fresh produce the first week and rely more on frozen the second (and soups). The only downside is that there still are a few things that I just simply can’t get at Peapod but those things are getting fewer and fewer as they add more organic, gluten free, specialty type things.

Lastly, like you I’m also expecting a baby soon so having groceries delivered is a really nice perk these days 🙂 I first tried the service back when I didn’t have a car, so it felt totally justified. Then, when I did have a car, it felt like a silly indulgence. But, once I realized how I could use the system to my advantage, I came to the conclusion that it’s an overall time and money saver for me, personally.

Good luck with the mouse!

My suggestion would be to meal plan. Check your pantry to see what you already have. Make a list of what you’ll need. Check the flyer before you go to the store. Figure out if you want to stock up on anything on sale and add how much you want to shop to your list. Then shop.

Boring and tedious, but going through all the steps helps me when I’ve started to stock up on too much or started to buy way too much junk. (which happens basically whenever I don’t follow the steps. I’m weak)