Shopping List!!

So I have decided to start meal planning ahead of time to keep things organized and orderly in my household. Basically you have to start with what you have in the house (your fridge, freezer and pantry) and go from there. CHECK DATES ON ALL FOODS!!! I can not stress that enough. You don't want to be eating or drinking foods that are past their expiration date.

Start off with checking all food dates, toss anything that is expired. This also goes for leftovers as well. If you do not eat them within 5 days of putting them in the fridge, get rid of it. Every Sunday night I would recommend doing this. Keep things fresh. If you have opened boxes of items such as granola bars, crisps, snack foods, and items like that pull them out of the box (if there is only like one or two left) and put all of them in a small bin or container that you can easily grab the items from quickly. This will make space in your pantry and cabinets and get rid of all those half empty boxes that are just sitting there. 

Next try to plan out the week's meals with what you already have in your home. Try to focus your meal planning around your proteins. And always make sure that you keep a vegetable in mind when planning out your meals. Try to avoid processed foods as much as possible. Also, when meal planning think about proportion sizes as well, especially if you are dieting or trying to lose weight.

Now on to the shopping list. I have been looking up new recipes and I am trying to try at least one new recipe AND one new food each week. But you have to keep an open mind when trying new foods. It takes about 15 tries for a person to actually say if they like something or not (unless it makes them sick then they probably will never try it again). So try to pick a recipe out that you want to try during the week and check to see if you have the ingredients already. If not make a list of the ingredients that you would need to go get. And if you are wanting to make certain things at home but do not have the ingredients you need jot them down as well.

Next look at your produce, do you have any fruit? What about vegetables? Fresh not canned! Some canned fruits and veggies are okay but if you really think about it they add so much stuff to your canned foods it's crazy! Read the labels. trust me they will make you turn and run for the hills. Remember, you can always freeze fruits and veggies! Just when freezing veggies make sure to blanch them and let them cool first before freezing them.

Meal planning can take some time and if you have a large family it's best to sit down with them and discuss the meal planning. Try to stick to this! Try to avoid eating out or ordering in. It will save you money in the long run. If you don't believe me, write up a little notebook each time you go out and eat and order in. Keep track of how much you spend. Then, write out how much you spend on groceries a month. Then compare the two totals and I can almost guarentee you'll be happier that you bought in bulk the healthy items and did away with the eating out and dining in.

I tried spinach this week and I really liked it surprisingly. And next week I will be trying Veal as my one food a week to try. Let's just see how this all turns out!