One of the ways that we save money is to coordinate our food shopping around a planned menu based on what we already have on hand in our pantry, and what is on sale that week at the supermarket.  In other words if canned tomatoes are on sale I might make a large pot of Spaghetti Sauce, a mess of Vegetarian Chili, or a batch of Cream of Tomato Soup.  Or, if my pantry is long on lentils and beans I might make some Kosheri, or some Stewed Tomatoes & Beans to serve over Cheesy Corn Pancakes.

In a typical week, I work 40 hours, staying 30 minutes late each day Monday through Thursday so that I can leave at 2pm on Friday. This allows us to get all our food shopping done (sometimes hitting as many as 4 stores) and to be home in time to deal with dinner with time to spare.

Saturdays find me in the kitchen for anywhere from 4 to 8 hours (depending on the menu). Accolan helps by doing some of the prep work (i.e. chopping onions), baking the bread in our machine, and keeping up with all the dirty dishes that get created.  Is it exhausting?  Yes.  Is it tedious?  Sure.  Is it worth it?  Yupper doodle boys and girls!!!!

During the bulk of the year I make 3 double batches of meals – enough to serve as dinner for the 5 of us on 6 nights – such as stew, soup, casserole, etc. The seventh night is generally a leftover night, where everyone either eats what they liked best, or has a little bit of everything.

During the summer, when our focus is food on the grill, I am more likely to make 2 or three large side-dishes (ex. baked beans, macaroni salad, potato salad, tomato salad), par boil some chicken (and toss it with some dry rub), marinate some steak, and perhaps some vegetarian taco filling, or something similar, to fill in the gaps.

In the limited time between when I come home from work and when I want food on the table (as well as Tae Kwon Do classes three nights a week as well as Dr. appointments at least twice a month) it is so much easier to come home and be able to fix something fast that is healthy and wholesome rather than (due to a lack of time) order in a pizza or fill up on prepackaged, convenience type foods. This way, for the most part, dinner time is a simple matter of heating up the main course and preparing a base (like rice or pasta) and/or sides (fruit or vegetables as appropriate). It has the added benefit of also being is much cheaper over the course of any given month.

I was originally inspired to cook this way by the book Once a Month Cooking by Mary Beth Lagerborg.  As I lack the blessing of an extra ‘fridge or a chest freezer it would be impossible for me to cook that way.  So, instead, I spend one day a week filling my house with food and occasionally make a little extra of something to throw in the freezer if I know of a weekend in the near future that I will be unable to cook.

Have you ever tried cooking this way?  What are your experiences?

Blessings

Jia

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