Mom plans meals for entire year to save $

[TheRatPack]

OT, Ratpack, your sig. picture always makes me smile!

Thank you.....

 

[TheRatPack]

Her menu selections are for the most part horrible! I hope someone has stepped in and taught her something about nutrition for her family before she planned out her menu's for 2010! I stopped reading after I got to the day they had BLT's, Macaroni & Cheese, & French Fries for dinner.

YUMMMMO, I haven't had a BLT in ages but they are soooooooo good. I grew up eating a lot of Southern food so my menus probably aren't very healthy looking to many. I guess I just cook what I know....we always smother our veggies in cheese or butter, our meats in gravy and our breads in honey, oils or thick sugary jams. We eat a lot of meat and our garden salads....well they don't even resemble healthy when we're through covering them in bacon, mayo and well....I'll stop there LOL Most of the meat we ate growing up was from our farm, as were all the veggies.

Still, I have tried over the years to incorporate more healthy choices in to our menus. We eat more steamed veggies and sometimes without cheese....<gasp>. LOL I don't use a lot of salt, but I guess I make up for that with all the sugar we put in our sweet tea.....ugghgh, I'm going to stop now, I think I'm working backwards LOL

It's still easier for me to plan for the month though....again just for the sanity of not going to the store every week and for another reason, I post the menu on the fridge and everyone knows what we're having so they can quit asking me

 

[TiffanyK]

I have been following the Eat At Home blog since the first weekly menu. THe site has a lot of great, easy recipes as well as weekly menus. My family loves the soups!! I am a big fan of recipes that don't use a ton of ingredients and are easy to make. I look forward to my Eat At Home emails every day!

Tiffany,
I just wanted to tell you I love your webpage and have taken many recipes off of it. Love, love, love the Baked Potato soup!!!

Back on topic, I couldn't do a year. I can do 2 or 3 weeks worth, but that's about it. And I do that many meals worth and plug them in where they work.

Thank you I'm going to be doing another "Fill Your Freezer" menu pretty soon. I cooked up about 10 meals to freeze before my surgery. We're still eating through those meals, but I'll start posting recipes and then I'll share the cooking process with a menu and grocery list.

Planning 10 meals at a time was about as much as I would want to do. A whole year would be crazy. I don't even know what we'll be eating for our Disney trip yet and it's only 4 months away

 

[allison443]

Her menu selections are for the most part horrible! I hope someone has stepped in and taught her something about nutrition for her family before she planned out her menu's for 2010! I stopped reading after I got to the day they had BLT's, Macaroni & Cheese, & French Fries for dinner.

I saw where Fritos were listed on the menu as a side dish

Anyway I think the planning meals for a year thing is kind of a gimmick. I mean, just plan two months and repeat it five more times, or four months and repeat it twice more.
I also don't see how this is a real moneysaver. To me you save more money by stocking up on sale items, and using those items to plan maybe a couple of weeks/a month ahead of time. Also, by having some premade meals in the freezer, and some go-to meals that you can keep the ingredients on hand, and prepare quickly. This eliminates going out to eat or picking up fast food because there's nothing to eat, or nothing to cook, or you're short on time.

 

[penn19]

Obviously your kids don't matter, if you don't care about them getting healthy food.

As for the blood see earlier post. Your statement showed ignorance re. meat products.

Just wow. Another mean spirited, holier than thou poster. I think we all know what she meant by the steak being "bloody". I am sure any one of us could look over your home situation, and things that you may or may not do and say "well, obviously you don't care about your kids" . People ALL have different ways of raising their kids. Just because you do or do not do something doesn't make your child raising any better than the rest of us. Don't get your panties in a bunch.

 

[Indiana Rose Lee]

Just wow. Another mean spirited, holier than thou poster. I think we all know what she meant by the steak being "bloody". I am sure any one of us could look over your home situation, and things that you may or may not do and say "well, obviously you don't care about your kids" . People ALL have different ways of raising their kids. Just because you do or do not do something doesn't make your child raising any better than the rest of us. Don't get your panties in a bunch.

You cannot care about your kids and not care about their health. Pure and simple. Nutrition counseling is a huge aspect with our clients. Feeding ony what kids want is lazy, selfish parenting. And people should be judgmental when kids are being hurt/cheated. They deserve healthy food. Including vegetables. Even if mommy doesn't like them.

 

[penn19]

You cannot care about your kids and not care about their health. Pure and simple. Nutrition counseling is a huge aspect with our clients. Feeding ony what kids want is lazy, selfish parenting. And people should be judgmental when kids are being hurt/cheated. They deserve healthy food. Including vegetables. Even if mommy doesn't like them.

I am not saying that you shouldn't feed your kids healthy. Them eating Hamburger Helper every once in awhile does not make you a lousy parent. NO one has cornered the market on being a perfect parent.

 

[neatokimmo]

I've been thinking about the year in advance planning. I think planning the main dish with a generic side like "green veggie" or "bread item" is so doable for a year.

You'd need to inventory your freezer/fridge/pantry and make some things off limits or you'd be constantly running to the store. You'd need to have a price book and stockpile the sales.

I totally like the idea but don't like her menu - I think I'll try to put one together myself

 

[mhsjax]

Wow, I just saw a samply of her menu from 2009. TERRIBLE, I have ever seen such junk, well not every night, but there were a lot of very unhealthy choices there. If I ate that menu, I would be huge, and I am big enough thankyou.

 

[TheRatPack]

Okay....I admit I haven't even looked at her menu and I've been chatting on this thread. I have to say I went back and either I'm looking at the wrong menu or I'm completely out of whack with what is healthy (which may be true...LOL). I saw on there where they were having chili pie and it listed Fritos....but chili pie is fritos with chili, onions, tomatoes, lettuce...etc on top. We call it haystacks where I live but still...same principle. So she's not using frito's as a side...more part of the chili.

We don't eat Hamburger Helper....but only because my ex-stepmother made that all the time and YUCK.....never again. I'm completely missing what is so unhealthy on that menu though....I'm only down to April or so on it....am I missing something.

I see Hotdogs maybe once a month, hamburgers and fries once a month, Tacos, a lot of fish meals, stir fry, grilled pork, sandwiches and some italian dishes.....are they really that bad for you?

I am home all day with my children, so when we plan a menu we do it for the month and I cook/make 3 meals a day, we usually have fast food once a month. For lunch we always have lighter stuff....but I still make it balanced with a veggie and a fruit, even if it is applesauce (yes I know....sugary applesauce). Still....I'm really shocked that her menus are seen as unhealthy.....I'm definitely in trouble then.

 

[TxRabbit]

I've been thinking about the year in advance planning. I think planning the main dish with a generic side like "green veggie" or "bread item" is so doable for a year.

You'd need to inventory your freezer/fridge/pantry and make some things off limits or you'd be constantly running to the store. You'd need to have a price book and stockpile the sales.

I totally like the idea but don't like her menu - I think I'll try to put one together myself

I've been thinking about it too, but incorporating information from the link Dawn provided earlier in this thread. If you managed the inventory in your pantry/freezer like a stock room, a knew the seasonal availability of produce, then you could have seasons of menus. You'd have to be a really good planner and be able to anticipate an approximation of usage of say canned tomatoes.

Then, in the season following the growing season of tomatoes, you would have lots of recipes that would incorporate the canned tomatoes that you had stocked your pantry with. You would be able to watch the farmer's markets or other local bulk source and buy your major bulk for canning at the right price and stock yourself up for the season following. This same principle would hold true for all food stuffs that your family enjoyed. Corn, beans, whatever, canning, freezing...

In this way, based on seasonally available foods, you could relate a collection of recipes to a season. Not that you would have to plan which food on which day, but you would have stocked yourself in the basic requirements so that you could draw from your own storehouse. You'd be meal planning based on what you had in the pantry and freezer. It'd be a whole big complicated thing to plan out for a year, but it seems like something that you'd expect from times like "Little House on the Prairie." Almost fun in a major planning obsessive kind of way...LOL

 

[delmar411]

Okay....I admit I haven't even looked at her menu and I've been chatting on this thread. I have to say I went back and either I'm looking at the wrong menu or I'm completely out of whack with what is healthy (which may be true...LOL). I saw on there where they were having chili pie and it listed Fritos....but chili pie is fritos with chili, onions, tomatoes, lettuce...etc on top. We call it haystacks where I live but still...same principle. So she's not using frito's as a side...more part of the chili.

We don't eat Hamburger Helper....but only because my ex-stepmother made that all the time and YUCK.....never again. I'm completely missing what is so unhealthy on that menu though....I'm only down to April or so on it....am I missing something.

I see Hotdogs maybe once a month, hamburgers and fries once a month, Tacos, a lot of fish meals, stir fry, grilled pork, sandwiches and some italian dishes.....are they really that bad for you?

I am home all day with my children, so when we plan a menu we do it for the month and I cook/make 3 meals a day, we usually have fast food once a month. For lunch we always have lighter stuff....but I still make it balanced with a veggie and a fruit, even if it is applesauce (yes I know....sugary applesauce). Still....I'm really shocked that her menus are seen as unhealthy.....I'm definitely in trouble then.

well there are few veggies, corn is a starch not a real veggie and potatoes are also a starch. lots of mayo/cream foods, lots of fried foods, lots of carbs as well. The fish dishes are good but it seems like those benefits get wiped out by things like hamburger helper, yk?

Maybe it's just how she lists out some of the meals but there seems to be way too much food being served as well.

Clearly they are not overweight but there is more to health than your weight.

And I'm not trying to be judgmental but she put the menu out there for folks to judge so I think it's ok to take a look at it and decide for themselves if something similar would work for them.

And of course everyone eats differently which is obvious based on the various responses here to her menu.

I should give her credit for eating fish though, I won't touch fish so I don't even bring it in the house since I can't even cook it w/o gagging.

 

[neatokimmo]

Almost fun in a major planning obsessive kind of way...LOL

OOHH Now I SO have to do it lol

I love my lists! lol

 

[deerhart]

For those who think her meals don't look all that healthy, can I ask what type of meals you make? I'm not being snarky but actually want to know what you cook. Any healthy recipes you'd care to share? Can you honestly say that you never pick up fast food or something similar when you are running short on time?

Its all about moderation. If your eating high sodium foods day in and day out, your going to retain a lot of fluids nad have other problems. Getting take out or having something "bad" every once in awhile isn't a big deal, its when you do it all the time.

This is what I made for the family last night

Chicken Ratatouille Stew
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut into 1- inch pieces
1 (28- to 30-oz.) jar spaghetti sauce
1 medium eggplant, peeled, coarsely chopped
2 tomatoes, coarsely chopped
2 small zucchini, sliced
1 green bell pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 large onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon dried basil leaves
1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves

all thrown in crock pot and left cooking on low for 8-10 hours.

Nutritional value
1 3/4 Cups: Calories 220 (Calories from Fat 45); Total Fat 5g (Saturated Fat 1g); Cholesterol 50mg; Sodium 630mg; Total Carbohydrate 21g (Dietary Fiber 5g, Sugars 4g); Protein 22g Percent Daily Value*: Vitamin A 25%; Vitamin C 45%; Calcium 8%; Iron 15% Exchanges: 1 Starch; 1 Other Carbohydrate; 1 Vegetable; 2 1/2 Very Lean Meat; 1/2 Fat

I did add in some salt to taste.

Also for things like broths, I buy the low sodium or when I can find it the sodium free version (especially when I make the chicken leek pie from Rose and Crown).

Another favorite is this
Pasta Margherita
* 1 pound penne pasta, cooked and drained
* 1 pound mozzarella cheese, cubed or shredded
* 4 ounces pepperoni, sliced or cubed (optional)
* 1/4 cup thinly sliced loosely packed fresh basil leaves
* 1 (26 ounce) jar Ragu® Old World Style® Margherita Smooth Pasta Sauce, heated (or any sauce you want)

toss all in bowl and serve! makes about 8 servings

nutritional value
Amount Per Serving Calories: 515 | Total Fat: 21.6g | Cholesterol: 60mg

I do use less cheese (since my kids don't like it as much) since I will buy 1 bag of mozzarella and a bag of pepperoni and have pizza one end of the week and this at the other end.

I will also do a crockpot meatloaf, chicken kiev, Parmesan chicken etc..

That's not to say my kids don't eat french fries (though I sometimes make them from scratch and deep fry them in canola oil), hot dogs, mac and cheese, potato chips (usually pringles or tortilla chips), but its not all the time. The staple of their diet is fruit and PB&J.

 

[deerhart]

what I can't figure out in the budget101 is the $200 budget for four people. She leaves $120 a month for veggies, fruits, flour, sugar, milk, egg cheese etc.. I would spend that on just fruit, veggies and maybe milk for a month

As for this lady's year long menu. Looking at it there are a lot of fried foods, a lot possible high sodium content foods etc.. Alot of it would be influenced by how its made, whether homemade or prepacked and WHICH foods are homemade or prepackaged. For example, if she's using re-fried beans from a can, premade taco mix, with store bought shells/tortillas, you have got an extremely high sodium content food. SHe also seems to stack the high sodium foods all up on one day or over a string of day. For example Hot Dogs, Chili, Fritos all on one day or stringing potato chips, onion rings, hamburger helper over three days

 

[busyshrew]

A real feat would be planning for a year, saving 50%, not requiring hours of prep, getting in appropriate servings of whole grains, vegetables and fruits every day, and keeping it flexible enough to work with seasonal sales/availability and the ever-changing family schedule.

 

[TxRabbit]

what I can't figure out in the budget101 is the $200 budget for four people. She leaves $120 a month for veggies, fruits, flour, sugar, milk, egg cheese etc.. I would spend that on just fruit, veggies and maybe milk for a month

I think someone mentioned earlier that the $200 might be more like $300 now. I just skimmed over the whole thing, but I think that she has a garden and is growing some of her own produce. And also, she isn't shopping in traditional grocery stores. She talks about farmer's markets. She may shop those early and late. And when she buys, she buys in BULK. I think she cans and/or freezes. She mentions getting a deal on a ton of zucchini because the farmer was going to have to throw it out or something. It's possible that she is getting eggs and milk from a local dairy or farmer's market also.

 

[TnTWalter]

going to make tonight.

Thanks!

 

[Zookeeperof4]

I printed the Budget101 Makes it easier to read at my own free time if I can throw it in my purse in a binder or folder then..LOL
I did look at the video and her sample menu. I do not have an issue with Hamburger Helper..I just would not make it more then once a week. Not by my choice....there are enough varieties it wouldnt get old here but my hubby likes more then a beef a roni type meal.
I did like some of her ideas, and while I wouldnt plan that far ahead I do think her ideas of stockpiling COULD work.

At least the kids are eating.....

For my own family..I have hide things..LOL...the more I stock pile the more they see and eat. I yell do you think I have stock with Walmart or something?? I would love to ton down my 600$+ bill each month and I will try any idea that you have.....

 

[kinntj]

Its all about moderation. If your eating high sodium foods day in and day out, your going to retain a lot of fluids nad have other problems. Getting take out or having something "bad" every once in awhile isn't a big deal, its when you do it all the time.

This is what I made for the family last night

Chicken Ratatouille Stew
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut into 1- inch pieces
1 (28- to 30-oz.) jar spaghetti sauce
1 medium eggplant, peeled, coarsely chopped
2 tomatoes, coarsely chopped
2 small zucchini, sliced
1 green bell pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 large onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon dried basil leaves
1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves

all thrown in crock pot and left cooking on low for 8-10 hours.

Nutritional value
1 3/4 Cups: Calories 220 (Calories from Fat 45); Total Fat 5g (Saturated Fat 1g); Cholesterol 50mg; Sodium 630mg; Total Carbohydrate 21g (Dietary Fiber 5g, Sugars 4g); Protein 22g Percent Daily Value*: Vitamin A 25%; Vitamin C 45%; Calcium 8%; Iron 15% Exchanges: 1 Starch; 1 Other Carbohydrate; 1 Vegetable; 2 1/2 Very Lean Meat; 1/2 Fat

I did add in some salt to taste.

Thank you! I'll put this on the menu for next week.