stretching it.....

As the financial manager of the family (sounds important, right?), I budget a set amount of money for grocery shopping that is done every 2 weeks. Occasionally, there is the breakthrough mini-shopping trip that may need to be done between the big trips, but I have been working on eliminating that in order to really keep on a budget. I find that the little in between stops here and there are the demise of all of my hard work and planning, I end up picking up all sorts of fun things that just aren't needed.
The last few months, I have been doing well with the bi-monthly food stock ups. I will buy both fresh and frozen produce, using the fresh for the 1st week and frozen during the 2nd week. I stock up on sales and have an extra freezer for poultry, pork, fish and various other freezable foods. I know how to gauge the food and ration out what is needed to keep our family satisfied for 2 weeks....it took some effort, but it is pretty natural now.

Today, was my day to shop. I took some time to get the coupons together and planned to go after Chris was done doing some work in the basement.
The work went longer than expected, so I figured that I would go after dinner....by then, I just didn't want to go out because:

1. it was so cold out
2. it was so dark out
3. I was so tired!

So, I started taking inventory of what I have in the pantry, fridge and freezers and made meal plans for the week. I was able to figure out all meals and packed lunches for the week!

I am challenging myself to put off the shopping for one more week and use up the food we have.....although, most of the goodies are gone, so I may have to do some baking......not my strong point!