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!