Tuesday, October 2, 2012

How Do You Make Balanced Meals From This?

These comments inspired me to write this post:

"It's not hard to feed a family on $50 a week with no meat -- but strangely, although no meat appears on her grocery list (total $48.32) that next week she manages to prepare a roast beef dinner and a baked chicken. I found the grocery lists unrealistic for the meals she apparently provided from them -- some ingredients simply weren't there. "  Amazon comment about a book by Rhonda Barfield

"My question is how do you have dinners when there is only the one meat purchase?"
                                                                              Comment from the Grocery Cart Challenge website



When people look at the list of groceries bought each week, they don't see how you can make balanced meals with the things bought that week.  Keep in mind, that each week there is food that is leftover or frozen or can carry over from another week.  For example, I didn't buy any meat this week.  But, I did have meat in the freezer from a month ago that I am still using.  Even though you don't see the meat for the week, and wonder how I can make a meat dish if I didn't buy meat that week, I already have it on hand.  By stocking up on things and having extra, you can make balanced meals even if you only buy sale items or fresh produce that week.



I bought 8 grain hot cereal and a rice hot cereal this week.  They won't last the whole week because I only bought enough for one meal.  I also bought oat bran which will be used to make bread for toast the rest of the week.  I already have flour, yeast and sugar on hand.  So, even though it doesn't look like I have enough food to feed us breakfast for the week, I really do.  Do that make sense?  When you see posts about shopping trips, don't assume that the only food they have to work with is what they bought that week. 

1 comment:

  1. I totally get it because that is how I shop. I buy meat as it goes on sale or is on markdown and put it away in the freezer. Some months I don't buy meat at all. If I buy meat I buy less fresh produce or canned goods. When I don't buy meat I buy more produce and canned goods. No brainer.

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