I hate dropping a couple of hundred dollars at the grocery store only to realize, a few days later, that I have nothing to cook for dinner. Blech. Where did that food go?
I can’t help it if you have five hungry teenage boys in your house – that’s a different story – but here are a few things I do to stretch the grocery budget and still produce a filling, healthy meal.

P.S. One option I didn’t list here is “don’t cook anything for dinner”; you will save money on your grocery bill but eventually the troops will revolt. You can only serve cold cereal for dinner so many times… (Our personal limit is 3x in a week. Not that I’ve tested that… um… often.)

1. Make a menu.

Basic, I know. Don’t believe me? Check it out:

• OrgJunkie’s Menu Plan Monday & whole section of Menu Planning Resources
• Hillbilly Housewife says you should and you’ll save lots of time.
• SimpleMom says it helps you use coupons and cook seasonally.
• CookingLight has six simple steps for menu planning.
• Even Iowa State Extension is in on the menu planning thing. C’mon, you can’t argue with Iowa State.

2. Shop sales on meat.

Meat is usually the most expensive (single) item on the grocery list. Plan your menu around the meat sales so you’re getting the best deals on meat for the week. Compare prices at a couple of different stores in your area, too. You might find one offers consistently better prices on meat. Shop there.

3. Add a fresh, healthy side to every meal.

Salad, for example, which does not have to be expensive. It will be if you purchase organic baby greens and 27 different gourmet salad add-ons plus one of those $5 bottles of salad dressing. Simplify your salad: make your base a nice mix of romaine, spinach, and iceberg.

I know, I know, iceberg has no nutritional value, blah blah blah. It’s hefty and crunchy and I like it in my salad, so there… not to mention it’s super cheap. I wouldn’t recommend a salad composed entirely of iceberg, but hey, if that’s your thing…

4. Have a leftover night.

Otherwise you’ll have 7 Tupperware containers of aging food that you end up throwing out a few days later. That’s a waste. Leftover night means you save money and it also means you don’t have to cook. Wheeee!

5. Eat vegetarian once or twice a week.

Our vegetarian meal this week is spinach-stuffed shells, a recipe from this lovely lady, and I can’t wait to eat it. There’s nothing wrong with a vegetable soup, meatless pasta, or big bowl of spicy black beans and rice. In fact, those are some of my favorite meals. They work great as leftovers for lunch, too.

6. Try some ethnic recipes.

The point being to branch out into recipes from cultures in which meat (a huge hunk of it for every meal) has not been so readily accessible. Thus, the cookbook from “Cattle Ranchers of Australia” probably won’t help you out here, even if they do include a genuine aboriginal side dish or two.

Think of dishes like stirfries and curries, which can incorporate meat but in small amounts. I love Jeffrey …. cookbook for a great selection of doable ethnic dishes that you won’t think to search for on the Internet.

7. Double the veggies, halve the meat.

You’re making spinach lasagna, say, which calls for 1.5 pounds of ground beef and 8 ounces of spinach. Switcheroo: 16 ounces of spinach and more like 3/4 of a pound of ground beef. Spinach is cheaper than beef. The trick is to watch your proportions, overall. Keep enough meat so you get the flavor and texture, then amp up the other stuff. You’ll be healthier, too.

Our Menu This Week:

• Monday: garlicky chicken soup, homemade crescent rolls, big green salad
• Tuesday: spinach stuffed shells, big green salad
• Wednesday: bacon-chicken mac & cheese, asian red cabbage salad
• Thursday: Leftovers! Wheeee!
• Friday: mozzarella meatloaf, mashed potatoes, fresh fruit
• Saturday: Soup of some sort, egg salad & chicken salad sandwiches
• Sunday: lasagna, spinach salad

I should probably throw a dessert in there sometime… makes my husband happy.

This post is linked up with OrgJunkie’s Menu Plan Monday. Go there for lots of great menus and recipe links.

Image courtesy of  stevendepolo.

Deprive Yourself of Deprivation

See, I’m not good with deprivation. If I just focus on cutting out bad stuff (ice cream, say, or double stuff oreos, or pasta with cream sauce…) then I’ll just feel deprived. I will last for about a week. I love food. I don’t like feeling deprived of it. So instead of letting that be a weakness, I’m making it a strength: I love stuff that’s bad for me, yes, but I also love stuff that’s good for me. Fresh fruit: pineapple, raspberries, grapes, kiwi, apples, plums… (I’m addicted to frozen grapes right now. Amazing.) Fresh vegetables: mushrooms, spinach, crunchy carrots, artichokes, cauliflower.

Instead of focusing on cutting bad stuff out, I’m just focusing on getting more good stuff into what we eat. I don’t feel deprived; quite the opposite, in fact. I love having a refrigerator full of good stuff to munch on or cook with. And if I want something that’s “bad,” well, I have some. Just some. I figure if the bulk of what I eat is fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and other good stuff, then my body can handle that other stuff. Maybe that’s simplistic, but I like simple.

The 16-Week No Soda Challenge

One exception: I’m joining my mother-in-law on a 16-week “NO SODA” pledge. Starts May 10… Ah, soda, goodbye… You’ve been no good for me. Anyone up for joining in the challenge? Pop in a comment below and we can start keeping each other accountable. I need it. I drink water, mostly, but I sure like a cold dr. pepper now and then… I’m thinking the first few weeks will be the most difficult.

In keeping with our new food/fitness goals, this is our week’s menu:

Visit the host of Menu Plan Monday!

Monday: Ham, Mushroom, & Swiss Quiche; Salad; Green Beans; Kiwi & Grapes

Tuesday: Chicken Curry; Fresh Pineapple; Salad

Wednesday: (finger foods; we have a picnic-meal on Wednesday nights between work and church) Steak Sandwiches; Baked Corn Chips; Apples

Thursday: Citrus-Marinated Tilapia; Potato Salad; Fresh Spinach Salad

Friday: Chicken Caesar Salad; Lemon Garlic Pasta; whatever fruit we still have!

I don’t have any recipes up yet; shoot me an email or leave a comment if there’s one you want.