I think my month long meal planning served me well. I ended the month with about 6 or so meals we didn't use (they carried over to November). However, I ended up throwing out more food than I would have thought. I did do a deep clean of the fridge, which I managed to find some old tupperwares.
Food We Tossed:
3 mini blueberry muffins = $0.40
1/4 container of cruellers = $0.75
fridge clean out #1 = $3.12
strawberries = $0.98
pancake batter (too much salt) = $0.64
5 hot dog buns = $0.83
4 peppers = $2.99
1 orange = $0.11
2 pieces of garlic toast = $0.50
whole cantoloupe = $1.24
Fridge clean out #2 = $7.21 ($4 of which was chinese food)
shallots = $1.99
Monthly Amount:
$20.76
Highest it's been in months. The 2 fridge clean outs, peppers, shallots, and cantolope were the big items this month. Not impressed with this total.
Year to Date:
$169.34
Average Monthly Total:
$16.93
Estimated Waste for a Year:
$203.20
I have $30.66 over the next 2 months before I break the $200 mark. I need to focus on getting left overs eaten and using fruits and veggies before the go bad.
I did do another month long meal planning for Novemeber. I planned for 4 less days than I needed meals for, which has already come in handy. I have a hard time not cooking a planned meal on the night it's penciled in for; I'm not sure what to do. Move onto the next meal or bump everything a night. I need to figure out these little details to perfect my plan.
when i actually tried to plan out a week's meals the other week i thought i was doing soooo good... i thawed out all the meat i would need and had all the ingredients.. and then something came up one night (i can't remember now..), then my husband's grandma died so we were at family's houses all weekend for supper and then we got sick so it was all messed up.. lol! i learned my lesson that winging it just works better for me. :)
ReplyDeleteThat's the downside, unexpected things come up. I wish I could "wing" it, but that usually results in me going "crap" at 3:30
DeleteThis is so incredible. Each month you break this out, I am in awe. I think you are doing a great job...it makes me think about what my family is wasting. Best of luck making it through the next 2 months without exceeding your $200.
ReplyDeleteThanks Amy. It's been hard, frustrating, but I have learned a lot. I think I'm going to do it again next year and see if I can improve
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