to plan or not to plan

There is a crossroads you will come to when you start planning, shopping, and trying to be frugal.  Should you plan every meal, or should you wing it?  Is there a middle ground?

I’ve tried planning everything out 2 weeks in advance.  I had it planned where I could reuse leftovers, cook in one go, but use it for several meals, and accommodate flexibility for guests.  I’ve also done it day by day, with a very flexible idea of what our common meals are, and what should just always be in the pantry.

What I’ve learned is that plans often change.  You can meal plan a month at a time, but you will come to the point where it just doesn’t work anymore, or where you find that you are adjusting it more and more.  What happens?  Sometimes you get bored, sometimes you just don’t want what you scheduled for that day.  Sometimes Taco Casa is calling you, and whoops, there goes spaghetti night.

I like the idea of keeping a pantry stocked like a smaller grocery store.  The store has a lot of variety, but aren’t there just a few sections you always visit?  We are creatures of habit, so you will find yourself seeking out some of the same meals, even if there is a day you just don’t want hamburger helper for the third week in a row.  You like it though, so it should be available in your food closet for when you do crave it.

This is where the food closet comes in, and knowing what is a staple for you.  It requires a little attention to what your eating habits are, what your favorites are, and what you might want to start including in your diet, should you be concerned with that.

In my household, I have three roommates and a husband.  I am helping to feed 3 guys, as well as myself and another girl.  Two of those people together eat only as much as one person alone.  These are considerations you need to take when thinking about portions and amounts that you are buying.  After that comes any dietary considerations, and whether or not you care enough about the other people to adjust your meals to them.  Of course, if you are by yourself, you have only your own dietary concerns to care for.

Part of meal planning should be taken up with portions.  Dietary allowances for meat, veggies, fruits, grains, dairy, and desserts, are things you need to think about.  While we’re young, it may not matter as much, but if you start good habits now, your body will thank you later!  Do you like a lot of meat?  Are you considering integrating more veggies, but are afraid of which ones to try, or not liking them?  Are you, like me, a total dairy fiend?

Meat and potatoes.  They are the building blocks of a meal, right?  That’s because they contain our two basic energy sources.  Protein for long term energy stores, and carbs for immediate energy.  You need both in your meals if you are to be healthy and satisfied.  After that should come vegetables.

So let’s talk veggies.  Dark leafy greens are quite possibly the single most important carrier of vital minerals and vitamins.  Folic acid, B vitamins, vitamins that help your skin, hair, and eyes; these are all things that you might end up lacking should you skip your veggies.  I have found that very few people dislike green beans.  Fresh green beans can be blanched, then patted dry and packed away in the freezer in a sealed zip top bag.  From there you can do a lot with them: sautee, boil, casserole, stick them in soup... the possibilities are pretty wide.  You can also buy frozen or canned, and that guarantees less work, with almost as much freshness.

I have also found that many die hard veggie haters can still tolerate carrots, corn, or salad (use dark salad greens instead of iceberg).  While there are some of you out there who think anything with a chlorophyll count is disgusting, I’m betting your a small minority, and if you just give it a try (a few times) you’ll find something to like.  I hate turnips and radishes, but I was served some cheesey mashed turnips, and found it very likable.  Of course, if you put enough cheese on something, it’s probably going to end up being more likable to me anyways!

Now, since I know a lot of folks who need some shopping, budgeting, and cooking help are probably not concerned with “diets”, I don’t need to go on for too long about this.  However, I know that there is a lot of stuff out there today about how to “diet”.  How to cut this, that, and everything else that’s good.  No carbs, no meat, no sugars, no fruit, no desserts.  How’s a person supposed to enjoy food if they can’t even eat what they want, or what their body truly needs?  That’s because you can’t “go on a diet”.  Your diet is what you eat every day.  And if you really want to be healthy and possibly even lose some weight, you should always add to your diet, not take away!

Portion control and eating the right amount of variety will go a long way.  You start by cutting down portions to a reasonable amount.  Go ask someone on Weight Watchers what a real portion is, and you’ll be surprised!  Find a veggie you like, and try to make sure you get it at least once a day.  Remember “I shoulda had a V8”?  Did you ever wonder really what they were trying to say?  Veggies help boost your whole body’s function, so that it doesn’t have to try and get it all from those meat and potatoes you eat.

So when meal planning, try to be an adventurous eater, and eat something just once that you never thought you would like.  Find a fun way to bring it in to a meal, but give yourself plenty of other things that you know you’ll like, else you’ll find yourself snacking later!

Decide for yourself how much time you have to devote to it, and whether or not you want to will yourself to stay on schedule.

budgeting and shopping your pantry

Today is food stamp day.  For me, that means I get to spend a couple hours to myself, at various grocery stores.  It also means that sometime this week, or maybe this morning, I spent a couple hours online looking at stores’ circulars.  I have this time to spend, because right now I’m jobless, and helping to support the household by cooking, cleaning, dishes, etc.  I am the house mom, even though no one is really my child, and we’re all adults really.  But I enjoy it, and it frees up time for the rest of the house to do what they need to do, namely, work, and have time to relax in between work.

Part of what I’m trying to do for myself is build up a working pantry.  I’ve read time and again that you need to “shop your pantry” first.  To some of you, this might not make any sense at all.  First of all, what exactly is a pantry?  Without quoting you the Webster’s definition, a pantry really is just a closet for your food.  Now, when you need something to wear, do you go out and buy something new?  Or do you see what’s in the closet?

The same should apply for your food closet.  Of course, food cycles out much faster than clothes (or at least, it should) so you do need to refill it.  But what needs to happen is that you will fill your food closet with food that you call your staples.  Your basics, your little black dress or your good coat.  Those things that you find yourself needing again and again.  It’s different for everyone, but there are going to be some basic things suggested over and over.

Flour.  Sugar.  Some form of oil or shortening.  Rice.  Potatoes, whole or in flakey form.  Vegetables, either canned or frozen.  Pasta sauce.  Various types of pasta.  You see where I’m going?  With these, you have the basics for your meals.  A starch, a veggie or two.  Then when you add in the proteins, you can look at meats, beans, meat substitutes.

Some people feel the need to question the fats, the calories, of food.  I say there is no such thing as “going on a diet”.  Your diet is what you eat every day, every meal.  Your diet should have the widest variety of things you can stand to eat.  For instance, I don’t personally like peanut butter.  But I have a stash of those electric orange cheese and peanut butter crackers for a snack.

Why do I care?  Peanut butter is a great source of folic acid, something a lot of people don’t get.  Because where else is folic acid, also known as folate, found?  Well, in dark leafy greens.  Yes, those kinds of vegetables, the kind we hated as kids, the kind we can’t bring ourselves to eat as adults, even though we would probably like them now.  Of course, being the good Southern girl I am, I can put away some form of mixed collards or turnip greens, but not all of you do.  So peanut butter it is.

This is why it’s important to be more aware of the variety of your foods than it is the immediate singular amount of calories or fat they have.  Not to say you should try and go for things that are lower in sodium, or packed more naturally.  I myself have gone on a quest to cut out as much high fructose corn syrup as I can.  Thankfully, more and more companies are eschewing this questionable sugar source.  Because it is in some surprising things:  pasta sauce, ketchup, and even bread!  So when you are altering a diet like that, you have to make a decision: when you buy the more expensive bread because it has no HFCS, it’s got to come from somewhere else.  Or perhaps you really like Nutella, but it’s so pricey.

That’s what being frugal is about.  I don’t mean never buy name brand, or never let yourself splurge.  Sure, budgeting is about keeping every little thing as low as possible.  But don’t deny yourself!  Just balance it.

When I am on food stamps, I have a very hard line where I can and cannot spend.  In a way, this makes it easier to budget and not overspend.  But in another way, it makes it very difficult to imagine an entire month’s worth of meals and incidentals along the way.  This month, November, is always a challenge.  I like to host a small Thanksgiving dinner for my friends, and since most of them are already my roommates, I should in theory be able to just ask for immediate help at the store for shopping expenses.  Do I spend the food stamps on it, or do I depend on them being able to hand over cash, or use a card at the store?  That’s the sort of planning you need to think about.

Each month you need to know in your head about how often you think you are going to want to cook.  Every night?  Half the week?  Once or twice?  How many meals a month does that make?  And of those, how many will generate leftovers, or can be recycled?

There is an instance I like to use as an example.  Let’s say the my Winn-Dixie has a very good sale on rump roasts.  I like roast, but it’s much more frugal if I actually buy a bit more than I need.  That rump roast can be cooked all at once one night.  I can portion aside enough roast for dinner.  And from what’s left, I can portion out enough for beef stew, roast beef sandwiches, and probably even a bit of homemade beef stroganoff.

If you don’t find that you have the time to pre-shop, shop, prep, freeze, prep, and cook, then your concerns are a little different.  What you want to be looking for are deals that can help you make something really fast.  Individually quick frozen chicken breasts.  Premade hamburger patties.  Family size hamburger meat that you can quickly portion out, freeze, and leave for that night you’ve got an extra hour to defrost.  If you stick a foil wrapped chunk of hamburger in a bowl of water, you’ll get some pale meat that will otherwise do just fine in spaghetti or chili.  Or you can even portion it and go ahead and brown it when you have the time.  Browned meat freezes just fine, and can be tossed into that sauce when you need it.

Overall, while it takes a bit of prep, an extra hour if you’ve got it can make a big difference in whether or not your budget is successful for filling your pantry.

Intro

So.  You find yourself faced with a dilemma.  You are a college student/poor/on a budget.  We are in a recession, and you are working two part time jobs, and still can’t somehow make ends meet.  You are not alone.  In fact, you are probably part of a vast majority, and when you come face to face with someone else, you are looking at what is most likely your kindred soul.

What I mean is, we are all poor right now.  We’re all facing decisions, and often, those decisions mean zipping to McDonald’s because you just don’t have the time, the money, or the energy.

But you’re here, so that means maybe you’re tired of Taco Bell again and you just want one night out of seven to taste good, to be the product of your own hands.  So you want something you know will taste good, you want to impress someone, or you just want to try something different.

I’m not going to say that this blog is anything different.  It might be.  It might not be.  It really depends on how many food blogs or budget blogs that you’ve read, and chances are, if you’re like me… it’s a lot.  So why write this?  Why read this?  Well, maybe because you want just that one more resource, one more person who can you tell that you can do this.  That they’ve done it.  Because I have.

I have a husband, and no kids.  I have a few pets, and a few roommates.  I live on food stamp assistance right now, and should we have kids, I do predict we will probably end up on WIC for a little while.  I’m not a “welfare queen”.  I’m just like you, like everyone else around you.  I’m 20-something.  I’ve put college on hold because of money issues, and I have trouble finding jobs that pay a “living wage”, that mysterious goal of all working folks.  So we do what we can: we take odd jobs, we take seasonal jobs, temp jobs.  I’ve worked for the census bureau, he’s worked for his dad.

          So what I want to give you is the sense that there is no shame in living frugally.  It doesn’t have to mean Banquet TV dinners every night, or McDonald’s every day for lunch.  It doesn’t mean you have to live on food stamps, just that there is no shame in trying.  I want you to know that.