Pantry Overhaul

Before


I'm in the process of learning to menu plan, cook, and feed my family frugally. It's been a long time coming and something that I feel is long overdue. I feel I owe an apology to my husband for not fulfilling this duty especially since I'm home throughout the week. I soon hope to have a meal waiting for him each evening when he arrives home from work and it will be great to have this family time together every night.

So today I did some grocery shopping. I used my grocery list that I had created and first off looked through our goods to cross off the items I already have available, quite a few more than I realized! Then I went shopping at Aldi which is a private label, no-frill, budget friendly grocery store. With items I already have on hand and shopping there I was able to buy enough for 8 meals (including leftovers), and a few desserts for less than $65. I am super excited about this and plan to try each week to decrease my budget by a couple of dollars. I would eventually like to meal plan for $50 a week, including breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. I feel this is definitely possible with a little work!

So now that I am home and needing to unload the grocery sacks, I realize my pantry is a mess! I am about to do a major overhaul and get this part of my life in order and toss out the chaos. I also plan to create an inventory of the items I have on hand so that I can easily figure out what I need and what I have for future meals. It will take some time, but it will be well worth it once I have this accomplished!

After