I have been working on figuring out what I use in a month so I could try to buy in bulk once a month and save more money. I like to use coupons each week and at least pick up what ends up a few cents or free but I want to buy the majority once a month. I see that alot of people come up with a master list when they shop once a month but so far I have not found one that works quite right for me so I am going to make one that does. I figure out the most say, flour I would use in a week (I use as much as 8 lbs so I would just go with 10) and multiply times four and that would be how much flour I would want to make sure I keep in my pantry. So when I make my list called "Monthly Stock-up List" I will list Flour (40 lbs) because thats how much I want to make sure I have in my pantry I might not use that much every month but I want to keep the upside of what I might use. I make all my own hotdog and hamburg buns and all my bread not to mention crusts, rolls, cinnamon rolls, etc. I will post the list when I get it done. I want to find a co-op and then compare to if I shop at say Sams Club or Aldi's and see what will be cheaper.
I am also working on a plan of attack for a monthly menu. I do not mean this meal has to be on this day and this meal on this day because I don't know what I want till I get up and decide what sounds good. We do not go out to eat hardly ever but my family loves food from say "Olive Garden or Logans" so I decided instead of doing what some do with Mexican night and Italian night I am going to have "Olive Garden night, Logans night, Cracker Barrel night, Subway night and make a meal from whichever restaurant is that night. You can go online and find copycat recipes for just about anything you want and then adjust it to how you like it and even make it frugal by substituting off brands. I will post what I come up with and as I make the recipes I will post them and pix!
Tomorrow (since Monday is when I love to do large amounts of cooking) I am going to work on getting a bunch of meal starters in the freezer. I don't know how many times I went to the fridge this weekend looking for something quick and we are just out of the quick fix stuff. My plan is to make 24 hot dog buns, 24 hamburg buns, 2 loaves of bread, cinnamon rolls, pancakes, waffles, dough for pizza, fried bread or elephant ears, ( I boiled my ham bone from Friday's ham) bean soup, 2 quiche with ham and cheese, cookie dough of some sort to freeze in rolls, and last but not least a double batch of chocolate syrup. I am looking forward to getting started. I will be freezing all but the bean soup because that is dinner. Going to freeze all in freezer bags and label and stack in plastic baskets in freezer. Busy but so satisfying to see it all in the freezer when done.
Well better force myself to shut off so I have some energy for tomorrow. Sweet Dreams!
