Summer 2014

It's uncanny how everything changes!

Lately, I've been eating for weight loss. I eat my daily salad for breakfast these days (which I love) and I've found that I just LOVE eating a salad for dinner, too! I totally would not do this if I didn't like it, but I love both salads so much I take every opportunity!


So, I've been cooking fewer family meals since I've been eating salad for dinner and my husband has been enjoying salad for dinner, too. That makes cooking for the kids easy...I'm just in a loose place right now.

I am very dependent on my Tuesday meal planning and Wednesday grocery shopping. It is the backbone of my care for my family and I love it! We don't shop on Wednesday night anymore, but in the afternoon and since we go to Costco, we often eat pizza for lunch. The kids select a favorite frozen meal to have on Wednesday night (and the parents eat salad) which makes a nice easy night after a few hours out shopping.


Recently my Mom gave us her barbeque grill and I can't express how much we are LOVING IT! This has also made my life even better in the meal department! My husband is willing to grill Saturday and Sunday nights, so we have marinated chicken one night and hamburgers/hot dogs on the other night. Two more nights I'm not cooking! I never would have guessed! I've done some experimenting with marinades which has been fun and trying to find combinations the kids like. My son is a tough nut, but last week we finally put some cheese on his hamburger (DUH!) along with some Montreal Steak Seasoning and he really enjoyed his burger-yay! My daughter loves meat and eats it all!

I'm handling the changes in our meal routines with ease and don't freak out when I notice a new trend. I've tweaked my worksheets and use them every week to plan meals. I feel like I have a "fluid mastery" of this area of my life! I like to document every now and then on this blog because I enjoy looking back over my process!

Current favorite meals:
grilled chicken tenders
grilled hamburgers and hot dogs
packaged Southwest salad
dinner salad: butter lettuce/Costco quinoa salad/egg/crans/sun seeds/dressing
cheesy chicken casserole

Family Grocery Shopping

It's kinda funny how nothing stays the same...that shows up a lot for me in how we grocery shop!

On March 1st, we moved into a new house, which has turned my routines upside down. Now that we're getting settled, we're shopping on Wednesdays again-together!

I am LOVING this! We meet Dad at Costco on Wednesday nights, do a quick shop before they close and then head over to our regular grocery store which is in the same parking lot (LOVE)!

Cooking just keeps getting better and better and easier and easier. I've really streamlined my planning and my grocery list...I actually look forward to planning now (!!!) because it brings so much peace knowing what we're going to do for dinners each day. WOW, what a change!

Disney Shopping Bags

I found the PERFECT solution!

I purchased ten of these bags at the Disney store for $2.50 EACH!

They have a big wide base and aren't too tall. I'm loving these!

We have really gotten our shopping down! Since we fill a cart when we go, right before checkout, my son grabs a second cart (empty) and we push it through to the checker. Then we unload our cart and she has an empty cart to load (like Costco does). Then she doesn't have to stack all the bags on her shelf, waiting for us to unload. It is streamlined!

We keep our shopping bags in the backseat of the van. Then on shopping day, move them to the front seat so I don't forget to take them in. What a huge convenience and I feel good about reusing them. It makes hauling the groceries inside a lot easier, too.

UPDATE: 01/16/2013...I need to put "grocery bags" on the top of my shopping list so I don't forget to take them into the store!

Mrs. Grocery Shopper

It is official. After five years, I have taken over the grocery shopping from my husband. He kinda came out of the blue and suggested it. I've been telling him for about a year that it would be okay for me to do it.

The first couple times was really difficult because I hadn't been grocery shopping for YEARS and I didn't remember where anything was. It has been a couple weeks and I'm doing really well! It doesn't take as long to get through the store, but I need to improve on our bag issue. I was thinking collapsible crates might work instead of shopping bags. I'm still thinking on that. The kids are a huge help and it looks like we've been going every six days or so.

UPDATE: 11/21/2012 I found the best solution for reusable grocery bags!

Morning Shopping

So much has changed since my last post. One of the big things is that I'm eating more salad! The other is that I am doing the shopping now...and in the MORNING, no less!

I've been really bored lately with the menu, so I've been getting some recipe books from the library to spice things up a bit. My son ASKED for me to make meatloaf this weekend, yay!

New Shopping Day

Grocery shopping on Sunday evenings just haven't been happening the past two months...it worked fine over the summer but with darker evenings, we just aren't getting John off to the store. So we're trying something new...Monday and Thursday nights.

I'm still using my same planning but I admit, I need some new recipes! Or maybe just high carb, high fat, high calorie meals would be more tasty!