The Store

Every week I dread preping for this trip. We try to do it only once a week, and that one time usually is enough for me! Sometimes I think about what it was like when we first got married. It was just the two of us and we only cooked a few times a week. We would just run to HyVee whenever the mood hit and we needed some groceries. Now, it's a different story.

I usually start planning this trip on Wednesday when all the store ads come out in the paper. From here, I start planning a menu. This might seem like a simple task, but it is much more difficult when you have 5 (sometimes 6 including Grandma) different people needing and wanting different meals. Annie is the easiest! She eats pretty much anything we put in front of her. Stevie eats NOTHING! He is very picky and keeps asking me why I keep making him "BAD DINNERS to eat" ~ so sorry Steve! He will eat 2 things very well ~ breakfast for dinner, and cheese pizza! Then there is Rob. He like a lot of stuff, but he may like something one day and then not again the next. Brett and I try to eat meals that are healthy, yet good tasting. Sometimes that is a challenge.

So, I plan the menu for the whole week and then I work on finding what ingredients we have and which ones we still need. Not only do I have do this, but I also have to figure out what we will be needing for the next weeks breakfasts, lunches, and overall household needs. (Last week we were under a toilet paper emergency!) Then I make the list. This is the easy part. After the list is finished, I go back to the coupon drawer and see if there are any corresponding coupons for the items on the list.

Then comes Saturday morning, the day of the actual trip to the store. If I have done all of the planning then this part is usually pretty easy (unless I go to Wal-Mart ~ and that is never easy!) I get some time to myself out of the house and come back home bearing gifts of food for the hungry monkeys that I live with. Most of the time the monkeys meet me at the car to help carry in the bags so that they can then rummage through them to see if there are any surprises. Brett usually then unpacks and puts everything away for me. I appreciate this, because it is my least favorite of tasks. It leads to that other job I don't like ~ cleaning out the fridge!

So here it is the menu for next week ~ What do you think?
Mon ~ Blackend Tilapia w/ beans and rice
Tue ~ Dinner out for our Anniversary
Wed ~ BLT's w/ pasta salad
Thur ~ Taco salad
Fri ~ Ravioli and salad
Sat ~ Shrimp Scampi w/ tomatoes and cucubers
Sun ~ Pizza night!