Being that Art works at a grocery store, you would think our house would be well stocked with groceries at all times. On the contrary, we find our shelves bare and our refrigerator empty with a few undesireable exceptions. Art often comes home in the morning with a couple bags of groceries in an attempt to be helpful, but my contentment is often shattered when I see the contents of the bags consist of several boxes of Rice-a-Roni and nothing to go with it. I'm not sure where he got the idea that Rice-a-Roni is a meal-in-a-box, but I don't share this opinion. His faith in Rice-a-Roni is so firm, in fact, that he thinks it can be a side dish for anything like spaghetti. To Art, "eating is a waste of time" and he spends little time fretting about food combinations and will eat anything put in front of him with impressive speed. I, on the other hand, will break something the next time he comes home with frozen lasangna and NO VEGETABLES and NO FRENCH BREAD.
I derive very little pleasure from cooking, and I despise grocery shopping. This combination has led to a very nutritionaly empty and repititous menu at my house. I'm not a bad cook by any means, but normally the closest I get to "home made" is if I had to put it in the oven or warm it up on the stove. It is really quite pathetic and has gotten worse since I had the baby. Since Art doesn't care what I put on the table, I am a very picky eater, and neither of us have to watch what we eat, I really don't have much incentive to put significant effort into my cooking and we end up eating the same 5 things over and over. I just can't figure out how all you moms out there find the motivation, time, and energy to cook every day and have more than just Rice-a-Roni on the plate. Thus, I am asking you to tell me your secrets! How do you discipline yourself to grocery shop? Do you pick one day a week that you go? How do you find time to get meals on the table? Do you have any easy crock pot recipies- make ahead meals? Do you know of any good and simple crock pot recipe books or other recipe books? How do you work fruits and vegetables into your meals? Do you plan meals for the week or decide day by day? PLEASE- whatever advice, tips, and recipies you can offer would be absolutely appreciated. It's time to eliminate the grocery grumbles in my house! 
E-mail me by clicking my handy link to the right, or leave me a comment below.
Oh, and KATIE- if you ever get on here and read my blog... send me that recipe for that awesome Mexican soup/chili crock pot thing you made. It was SO GOOD! I aspire to cook like you.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Grocery Grumbles
Posted by Krysta Martinez at 9:10 AM
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
I plan 2 weeks in advance. Before a payday, I sit down with a calendar and I plan dinners for the next two weeks (from one payday to the next in our case). I scour allrecipes.com for things that have high ratings, and I swear by kraftfoods.com - if you sign up there, you can get a free magazine sent to yourself like 4 times per year and it's pretty good, has good ideas in it.
I also subscribe to a couple of other magazines - Taste of Home and Simple & Delicious are a couple of my favorites. Oh - and you know those little mini-books they sell by the checkstands in the grocery store? They are usually put out by like Pillsbury or Campbells or something. I buy those constantly.
I think the main thing I do that makes it easy for me is that I sit down before the payday and plan it all out. I write myself a big grocery list, round up coupons if I have any, and have my schedule all set up. And then I only have to grocery shop once. My little family is crazy about vegetables so it's not hard for me to get them in. We do salads or broccoli or asparagus or carrots or whatever. I buy a lot of things frozen and I freeze meats till it's time to use them. My freezer is almost always full.
As far as books - I love Rachel Ray and I couldn't live without the Better Homes & Gardens red plaid cookbook.
(http://www.amazon.com/Cook-Book-Better-Homes-Gardens/dp/0696225654/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1232588080&sr=8-1)
So... that's what we do! And it works. Although I actually do like cooking. I think planning it out though and only hitting the grocery store as needed is the key. I hate making 3,000 trips there every month. Especially with Amaris (and belly) in tow.
Hey, I can't help you with your meals, although I will send a couple of crock pot recipes in your e-mail. I just wanted to say Art is totally different than his Grandpa, as he hates Rice-a-roni and refuses to eat it when I make it, and that's the ONLY thing he doesn't eat. Weird how two men feel about the same food product huh?
Krysta! It's Caitlin from BabyCenter - I couldn't think of any other way to get ahold of you! Laurie and I have been talking about getting the girls together for a "playdate"... Would you be interested in joining us? You can email me at caitlin_frazier@yahoo.com
I am going to go with Kari I do the same thing she does. I look through the same websites she does. So far my husband and kids have only suffered through a few bad recipes off the net. I love planning it all out I normally ask my husband what he wants and he always says he doesn't care as long is it isnt an MRE. My only picky eater is Peyton she will turn her head at quite a few things. I love doing it though and sometimes I get the kids to help by letting them mix it and taste it and let them watch. I can't wait to move back to TX where I can do things in my routine at my husbands parents house they dont think about dinner till its dinner time and it drives me nuts. But to make you feel better I didnt really get into the whole cooking dinner thing till oh about a year ago I use to just get easy stuff to throw together. So I didnt start trying new things out till after my 2nd baby then I was just like well I save a little more if I buy the meat in bigger portions and so on and so forth. So you know dont fret it I mean you dont need to be Martha Stewart life with a first baby can be tiring especially since your working.
Hey Krysta! I will email the Taco Soup recipe. It is Robby's mom's recipe. We usually have like the same things every week too! We always have quesadilla night, and soup with grilled cheese night too. It is only when you guys come over that I actually cook something! It is hard to cook and come up with good nutritious meal ideas. I tried a new pasta recipe last night to be creative, and Charlie hated it. I had to threaten him just for him to eat anything. Oh well!
Post a Comment