Thursday, April 4, 2019

Project: Use the Food

Can I make some confessions?

I overspend on groceries. I know I'm not alone - it's a very easy area to go over budget, especially if you fall prey to impulse buying (Who? Me? Never!


Some of the reasons I overspend are:

1. I grocery shop to escape

I use grocery shopping as a coping mechanism. If things are stressful or if I can't stand the thought of staying home for one more minute, I convince myself that I need to go grocery shopping. After all, grocery shopping is a way of serving my family, right? I have to feed them! So I can ignore other necessary tasks by completing the noble assignment of grocery shopping!

2. If I'm dragging kids into the store for one item, I feel like I should make it worth my while and come out with ten

It never feels worth it to buy just the gallon of milk. Perhaps I can save myself a future trip to the store by grabbing mayonnaise, apples, and ibuprofen.

3.  If I have the money, I'll spend it whether I need to or not

There are weeks where I could get by with $10-20 for milk and produce, but I always end up spending my entire budget and then some just because I know I can.

Then there's my other problem... going out to eat. 

I go out to eat way too often (especially on the days I grocery shop because I'm so exhausted from buying food). 

I also obsessively meal prep and then never eat the food. Several weeks ago I marinated 10 lbs of chicken, grilled it, then froze it for quick lunches. Haven't touched it since. 

The other day I made a pan of mac and cheese and a batch of tomato bisque to freeze. Who knows when I'll get around to eating any of that since I made a double batch of fajita meat that my kids won't come within five feet of. Now I have chicken fajitas coming out my ears! And it doesn't help that I went crazy tonight and had to leave the house, and I ended up at Zupas. 

Darn that pesto chicken sandwich! Such a temptress!

I have so much food in my house, yet I still went grocery shopping today, so it's time for me to implement Project: Use the Food as way to, um... use the food. 

I've been trying to chill out on the grocery hoarding for weeks, but I haven't made myself accountable, so that's where the blog comes in. It's such a great accountability tool! 

So here's what I'm going to do - for a minimum of two weeks, I am going to post a run down of what I fed my family and what I bought at the grocery store each week (I'm actually hoping for four weeks, but I'm not ready to make that commitment yet). 

With this project, my goals are to:
  • Save some money to put toward an upcoming trip
  • Use what I have
  • Free up some space in my freezer (there isn't a free inch of space in there)
  • Spend less than $20 on groceries each week
  • EAT AT HOME!!!
Now, in regards to eating out, my aim is to only eat out if there is a purpose. So girls night next week? Yes, I'm eating out. But random Wednesday when I'm feeling lazy and don't want to cook? Stay home and make PB&J. 

The fun begins... now!






3 comments:

JJ said...

I’m digging this. I like seeing what other people have for dinner.

Shirley Smith said...

Your humor and honestly are so refreshing and entertaining, Britt!! Maybe we can team up on the whole food prep thing. You cook, I clean? 😂

Mama B said...

I get what you mean by grocery shopping to escape. I do it too.