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Big Family Food: How We Afford Fruits and Vegetables

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Curious how we afford fruits and vegetables?

How We Afford Fruits and Vegetables

People keep telling me that fruits and vegetables are SO EXPENSIVE. That they can’t afford them. That I’m really splurging when I buy so much fresh fruit every month.

I couldn’t figure out if I was in denial about this or if maybe I’m so used to buying so much produce that I don’t “see the expense” anymore. Or, is it possible that fruits and vegetables really are affordable but the first look at their price scares some people? I really wasn’t sure.

So I did some fruit and veggie math.

We’re currently feeding ten people three meals each day. Our three littlest are ages 2, 1, and 1. Our four oldest household members are adults, so it balances out. :)

Our monthly grocery budget is $1,200. Of that amount, I calculated and was shocked to learn that only about $300 is spent on fruits and vegetables. (I looked online at all my Sam’s, Costco, and Walmart receipts, so handy!) I truly thought it would add up to more than that since my produce purchases are so frequent and big.

So I did the math again to double-check.

Sure enough, only about a fourth of our overall monthly grocery budget goes toward these, and I don’t hold back:

  • Frozen green beans
  • Frozen peas
  • Frozen corn
  • Frozen fruit for smoothies
  • Frozen hashbrowns
  • Fresh spinach (we go through at least one pound every week)
  • Fresh spring mix (we go through two pounds every week)
  • Fresh carrots
  • Potatoes
  • Onions
  • Fresh broccoli
  • Apples
  • Bananas
  • Clementines
  • Berries ( strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries depending on the season)
  • Melons (cantaloupe, honey dew, and watermelon depending on the season)
  • Grapes
  • Kiwi
  • Pears
  • Canned pumpkin
  • Canned peaches
  • Canned pears
  • Canned mandarins
  • Applesauce (a ridiculous amount of applesauce)

Where I landed after doing the math:

Feeding my family a lot of fruits and veggies is not expensive.

I sort of apologize for my geekiness, but as it turns out, I’m pretty excited that I went back and added it all up! Now I feel like I have an actual answer to the “fruits and veggies so expensive” claim!

If I’m spending $300 of our monthly grocery budget on produce – for 10 people for 30 days? This breaks down to just:

$1/person/day.

Which is $0.33/meal.

This, to fill our bellies with lots of fresh, frozen, or canned fruits and vegetables in a big variety of forms. That’s actually incredible, I think! Especially when our plates look like this:

Steamed broccoli, corn, raspberries, and nectarine on spaghetti night;
and no, I don’t put sauce on our baby’s noodles because I don’t want the mess. :)

This was our 8-year-old’s first serving. He had seconds of all you see here:

Here’s Matt’s plate the evening we celebrated Asa’s birthday with
smoked chicken, alfredo, and steamed broccoli:

One Sunday lunch was spinach on tuna sandwiches, watermelon, and guacamole.
This was our 6-year-old’s plate. She’s a pretty small eater. Unless it’s cake. :)
(But now, of course, I’ve been putting spinach our the cake so…)

Our three year old asked for spinach on the side with ranch and watermelon with his tuna sandwich that day. Not pictures, his tuna sandwich as he gobbled it down already.

This is my plate filled with Overnight Beef Roast, pears, peas, and baked beans. (In case you need to know, I didn’t actually cook it overnight. I cooked it all day and it was perfect for dinnertime!)

Here’s my plate showing our salmon burger meal with steamed green beans, corn, sweet potato fries, and a tiny bit of asparagus from our garden! (We each only got a little bit of asparagus.) ;)

PSA: The Avocado Mash cups at Costco or Sam’s are worth their cost in that they stay fresh in the fridge for a long time and offer an awesome, easy snack or side dish for babies and adults alike. Our littlest girls LOVE these and will each eat an entire cup with their meal. We bigger people like to eat them with chips. So good!

In case you need to see a chubby baby hand a couple more times:

So, can I afford $10/day to feed 10 people fruits and vegetables?

Absolutely. I can spend a dollar a day on each family member to keep us all nourished. I am shocked that it costs so little to buy so many varieties of fruits and vegetables every month. Is it possible that this food category is what actually costs the least instead of the most as we are all led to believe??

One more veggie-kid photo as we wrap up; here’s Keith after finishing his smoothie (filled with frozen fruit, fresh spinach, yogurt, and milk):

You should try doing the math to see how much you spend on fruits and veggies! Challenge yourself to be sure you’re filling everyone up on all the good stuff – it’s much less expensive than we think!

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Big Family Food: Morning Meal Prep

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Want to see what my morning meal prep looks like?

I’ve always been a planner-aheader. This has been mostly good for me except that God has had to teach me to also live in the moment and not always be working on or thinking about whatever needs to be done next. :)

As I’ve learned to chill out and to let go of what can’t get done (and know that what needs to get done will and what doesn’t won’t) – I’ve truly been grateful that being efficient in the kitchen is a strength God gave me. I have found that I have to be very organized and that I have to keep everything as simple as possible so that I can get everyone fed (and clothed, but you don’t want to see what our laundry looks like).

Here’s our current kid breakdown:

  1. Asa, 25, married and living in Lincoln
  2. Justus, 22, getting married in July!
  3. Elias, 20, a college senior living at home and working this summer
  4. Malachi, 17, a high school senior with a growing video production business
  5. Brayden, 8, a 3rd grader
  6. Bonus Girl, 6, a 1st grader
  7. Keith, 3, a preschooler
  8. Bonus Bonus Girl, 2, fit thrower, little mommy, and snuggler
  9. Bonus Bonus Bonus Girl, 1, mess maker, giggle box, and book reader
  10. Bonus Bonus Bonus Bonus Girl, 1, observer, stair climber, and toothy grinner

Well, all that to say: Whenever possible, I spend five minutes or thirty minutes or an hour in the mornings getting food ready for the day in whatever form I can. I do this:

  • After my morning coffee time with my Bible, prayer, and journal
  • If possible, before all the kids are out of bed, or at least when most of them are eating breakfast or happily playing
  • Before Matt leaves for work
  • And/or after my friend Pam arrives to help (she comes every weekday morning for two hours, and she’s a huge reason I am still alive, bless her dear heart)

Morning Meal Prep

Here are a few pictures to give you an idea of what I might do during my morning meal prep time. Often it’s as simple as using the five minutes I have to unload and reload the dishwasher. Sometimes it involves cutting fruit or doing a quick clean-out of the fridge. Whatever it is, I find that if I have a minute to get something done, I need to take advantage of it!

One morning the three baby girls slept in until 8, which was amazing and unusual and I took advantage of it! I cut a watermelon and put it in the fridge for side dishes. I sliced kiwi for breakfast to have ready for all 6 littles. And I used up the avocados to make Guacomole to go with that night’s dinner.

Then, I put chicken thighs in a bag with dressing to marinade so that we could put it on our smoker that night for dinner.

Another morning I made a double batch of Peanut Butter Honey Rice Krispie Treats, which we enjoyed for breakfast the next two days. I also made a blender full of this smoothie so that Matt and I could just pour and drink as needed at lunchtime.

See the frost-covered ham in the above picture? Someone had given us that and I really needed to use it up! So I set it out to thaw so I could quickly slice and fry it for lunch later. Then I mixed up a crock pot full of Party Potatoes to cook while we were taking a walk and playing all morning.

I don’t usually make “big lunches” like ham and cheesy potatoes. But that day it just made sense and it wasn’t difficult, so I went with it. We were out taking a long walk all morning and got back just in time to be starving, so I was so glad to have this ready to go when we walked in!

We didn’t eat the entire hunk of ham, so while everyone was finishing lunch, I diced what was left and put it in the fridge for our next baked potato meal.

As it turns out, our baked potato meal was the next day.

Keith (3) was so eager to scrub potatoes, so I got a chair and put him to work the next morning. He was so proud!!

I let the potatoes sit, then turned the crockpot on high at lunchtime. They were cooked and ready for our baked potato dinner by 5:15!

I took advantage of a cooler morning and make some muffins and bread so we’d have easy breakfasts and snacks. With so many littles, having these bread items on hand is always very helpful!

I made a triple batch of Pumpkin Muffins (this recipe but without chocolate chips).

Then since I had a few more minutes and the ovens were already hot, I used our ripe bananas to make Banana Bread. See the loaf on the left? That was the pumpkin muffin batter that I had left after filling all my muffin pans!

One morning, we planned on walking and playing at a park all morning, so I planned ahead to have lunch ready to make right when we got home. I am so glad I did, as you’ll see a few pictures below. :)

I cracked a bunch of eggs into a bowl so we could quickly scramble them to go with pancakes at lunchtime.

I set out the pancake mix (a splurge from Sam’s, and it’s really good!), put the prepped eggs in the fridge, and put the skillets on the stove.

Well. It is a very good thing I had everything ready to cook when we got home from playing at the park. The kids were all beyond hungry (as was this mom) and the three baby girls completely melted down screaming at my feet while I scrambled eggs and flipped cakes. Poor dears.

Don’t believe one bit of sweetness you see in this picture. (I mean, they are super, super sweet. But in this picture they were also 100% unhappy.) Blondie Girl was throwing out lids as fast as she could and screaming with every throw. Brunette Girl, well, you can see her whole body was involved in the meltdown. And Baby Girl, oh she was banging that lid with all her might. Elias came home for his lunch break right then, shook his head with a grin, and grabbed the nearest screamer, bless him. We got lunch on the table quickly and then put everyone down for much-needed naps. Oy.

And that, my friends, is why I have to prep ahead in the mornings if at all possible. If I don’t, we still find something to eat, even if it’s stale cereal and mushy apples. Sometimes it’s cheese sticks and slices of turkey lunchmeat. Canned fruit is a lifesaver, so I buy it by the case.

But prepping anything I possibly can in the mornings makes our days a bit less stressful, so I do what I can when I can! :)

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Great Picnic Food Ideas

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My kids are constantly asking, “Can we eat outside today?” Turns out, a picnic can be made from just about anything. Here are some great picnic food ideas!

If we’re packing a picnic to take to a park, we tend to think about sandwiches and chips. But what if anything and everything can turn into “eat it outside” food? Especially when you just head outside to your own yard with your plate.

Two things about our life right now:

  1. With so many littles, our days can be lonnnnnnng. It can be tough to keep so many small people safe and occupied for so many hours. Yes, I am enjoying them. Meanwhile, our days with the kids start around 6:30am and are very intense until 8:00pm with our littles being 1, 1, 2, 3, 6, 8 – each with some level of special need or trauma. I have to be very intentional about staying on top of keeping our kids busy and occupied, otherwise the meltdowns and behaviors are pretty tough.
  2. So I tend to try to make something fun out of nothing and everything, just to make our days a little bit more enjoyable.

Like eating.

Sometimes food just needs to serve a purpose: to fill our bellies. But if there’s any way I can easily make food fun, the kids love it. Eating a “picnic” outside in our yard always makes them so excited!

Matt was out of town one weekend so the kids and I blew up our tiny baby pool and all seven babes had fun splashing around. (We had seven littles that weekend instead of our normal six because a half-brother/former foster son was visiting us!)

As we toweled off, I had our 6 and 8-year-olds drag our little picnic tables around so we could eat outside after playing. They loved the idea the same as if I’d offered to take them to Disneyland. They sat there loving life and lunch, soggy diapers and all.

I have found that most foods that work well to feed children inside work just as well to feed children outside for a “picnic.” Think beyond sandwiches and hotdogs and simply make any meal a picnic!

Like enchiladas. Weird idea? Well, one evening, Matt was painting a gutter on our house. The kids loved the “show” so as dinnertime approached and I had a pan of these enchiladas in the oven, I simply scooped some onto paper plates and carried them outside for the kids to eat on the trampoline. Again, they thought it was better than Disneyland. (Also, they’ve never been to Disneyland, so…)

Great Picnic Food Ideas

Here are some foods we’ve eaten outside lately:

Bean and Cheese Quesadillas, which I cut into triangles so that the kids could all grab them easily. I washed strawberries and we carried them outside to the table as-is. Then I squirted ranch into a bowl and dumped in some carrots for a community bowl of carrots with dip!

Another day when I was on my own with all the littles, I made a bunch of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in the morning before the babies got up and covered the plate to grab at lunchtime. I put a can of mandarins and a can of peaches into the fridge to chill. I was so thankful I’d prepped ahead because our morning was full! When we were ready to eat, we took the prepped sandwiches, cold fruit, a jar of pickles, and some avocado cups outside and feasted. :)

We have a fire pit in our backyard, and the kids LOVE it when Daddy gets a fire going. We only do this when Elias and Malachi (our 20 and 17-year-olds) are around because it’s a bit intense to keep so many little ones safe when we’re trying to cook hotdogs and feed littles and oh yes, did I mention that Elias got a dog who tries to eat children? (Just kidding. But she does like hotdogs.)

I shared here about how we pack food to eat on a blanket when we go to our older boys’ games. Hamburgers, hotdogs, pizza, chicken sandwiches, burritos – even a container full of hot chicken nuggets! Get more details —>

I didn’t get a picture of any of us eating this particular time, but one spring soccer game day, I made a big batch of Omelet Muffins for the kids to eat while they watched Malachi play. It was easy to transport these and all of us loved them!

Chicken Salad with rolls, croissants, bread, or crackers is easy to take outside or take to a park. Here’s more info about what we took to a fun family picnic when we had time with all of our kids from oldest to youngest this spring.

Snacks to Eat Outside

And how about picnic-y snacks too? If we are outside playing, I often run inside and grab something for the kids to eat outside if I can tell they are getting hungry and need something to hold them over. Eating snacks on the porch is – you guessed it – more fun than going to Disneyland. :)

Apples and cheese fly off the plate when I take them outside.
Why does everything taste better outside?

Here are three of the kids sharing a little bowl of fruit:

We go through a lot of Mudballs at our house, and these are super easy to grab and take outside for kids to eat while they play.

The best thing about eating muffins outside during snack time? All the crumbs fall to the ground instead of under our kitchen table. Here’s a huge list of muffin recipes that I reference all the time.

It’s super easy to grab a container of washed berries or grapes to take outside to eat. Or grab a cutie for everyone and let them peel and eat it as they play.

Sometimes I take out small bowls of frozen veggies or frozen fruit for babies to munch on if it’s hot outside.

Once again I’ll say: If they can eat it inside, they can eat it outside. And if it makes the day more fun with little to no extra effort? I say it’s a win!

Here’s a quick list to reference for easy to grab food to take outside to eat:

What are your favorite foods to feed your family outside?

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Quick Crock Pot Spicy Pasta Dinner

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This Quick Crock Pot Spicy Pasta Dinner came about on a day I was cleaning out leftovers. Therefore, this recipe is a winner that happened by accident!

Have you made my Cream Cheese Salsa Dip? It’s incredible, super easy, and our entire family loves it!

However, one of the recent times I made the dip, it somehow got shoved to the back of the fridge and forgotten. I’d just gotten back from a big grocery run, so I was in major “make lunch with whatever food I find tucked away” so that I could make room for all the fresh food.

And there I found Cream Cheese Salsa Dip.

Aha, thought I. This is going to somehow turn into our lunch.

I was just about ready to take our littles out for a long walk, so I dumped some pasta and this dip into the crock pot to see what would happen while we were gone. Sure enough, the results were just like I’d imagined. The pasta was soft and ready to eat in just three hours without any effort from me! I added a shot of cream and stirred in some cooked meat, and we had our meal!

Here’s the easy recipe:

Quick Crock Pot Spicy Pasta DinnerYum

Quick Crock Pot Spicy Pasta Dinner
 
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Author:
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 10-ounces uncooked pasta, any variety
  • 8-ounces softened cream cheese
  • 32-ounces salsa
  • ½ cup heavy whipping cream
  • 1 pound cubed ham or cooked hamburger meat (optional)
Instructions
  1. Empty package of uncooked pasta into a crock pot.
  2. In a blender, whip together cream cheese and salsa until smooth.
  3. Pour salsa mixture over the pasta in the crock pot.
  4. Cook on low heat for 3 hours.
  5. Stir in heavy whipping cream and meat if desired.
  6. Serve.

Using up leftovers to create new meals is one of my favorite ways to be efficient in the kitchen!

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Simple Snack Recipe: 5 Minute Mousse

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We all need this 5 Minute Mousse in our lives. I bet after we’ve made it a dozen times, we can knock our record down to make it in just 4 minutes, yes?

I used to make this all the time when I was young and only had two kids. Then I forgot about it as other fun recipes became more prominent. Also, I have a few more than two kids now.

I recently dug this recipe out again and wow is it a hit with our current tribe!

Here’s a fun photo our almost daughter-in-law snapped one day of me surrounded by five of our current ten kids. Life is a party, and that party calls for 5 Minute Mousse!

5 Minute MousseYum

Simple Snack Recipe: 5 Minute Mousse
 
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Author:
Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • 2 cups heavy whipping cream
  • 3 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
  • ¼ cup sugar or honey
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
  1. Whip all ingredients together in a high power blender or with a hand mixer until thick and smooth.
  2. Chill for at least one hour before serving.

 

Usually, I don’t take the time to scoop this into individual serving dishes before I put it into the fridge to chill. I’ve found that a large pyrex bowl with a lid works best. Then I scoop the mousse into small bowls and hand them out.

This dessert is brought to you by the mom who now needs to offer dessert every night.

Why? Because we’ve found that our six and eight-year-olds need some special incentives to eat healthy foods. “No veggies equals no dessert.” They also need reinforcement to be sweet. “If you aren’t sweet you don’t get sweets.”

So I’ve been coming up with desserts a little more regularly to help us as we train this new set of kids. :)

And of course, I add spinach to our cake, so they get to earn their cake and it comes with a full-on salad. That’s a mom-win! :)

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How to Save Money on Meat

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Want to save money on meat? Here’s what I’m figuring out!

How to Save Money on Meat

1. Look for meat mark-downs.

We’ve been doing this all along right? But now it seems more important than ever! I avoid marked-down meat if the color looks “off.” But otherwise, I’ve found that waiting for meat to be marked down for quick sale has saved me all kinds of money!

When I bring it home, I freeze it right away or cook it to eat that night.

Recently, I found pork roasts marked down to $1.79/pound! I bought two and put them into the freezer for a night we host a large crowd. This is a GREAT price per pound of meat. My $13 roasts will either feed my big family several meals or it will feed Matt’s entire soccer team during pre-season. :)

2. Eat less beef.

This one is tough for me as I’m a beef-loving girl! But in my neck of the woods, pork and chicken are significantly less expensive per pound compared to beef. Quality ground beef is over $6.00/pound while chicken legs can be found under $2.00/pound. The pork roast I mentioned above was marked down to $1.79/pound. I got pork chops that same day for $1.59/pound – while there sat the beef for $7.00/pound. Long live the cow.

3. Eat less meat overall.

This one is also tough for me. The men in our family do love their meat too. However, I’ve been skipping meat in some meals lately, and no one has noticed or said anything. I’ve been able to get away with making burritos with just black beans, rice, salsa, and corn (skipping the meat) and an entire meal based on these bean and cheese quesadillas. We’re all satisfied and our grocery budget has been saved.

4. Buy directly from farmers.

We’ve done this for years, buying a quarter to a half a cow at a time. We’ll likely do this again in the future, as it does save money on high-quality meat. But for now, I’m finding that buying discounted meat at the store is saving me more overall since we have so many mouths to feed.

5. Buy chicken from Costco or Sam’s.

The last time I priced boneless chicken thighs at our local grocery store, they were over $7.00/pound – ouch! But when I picked up a big package of boneless thights at Costco, I got them for just over $3.00/pound – much better! I also got some marked down at Sam’s, which was a fun find!

Have you found some ways to save money on meat?

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How We Avoid Eating Out (And What We Eat Instead)

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We try to avoid eating out if at all possible. I’ll share why we do it and how we do it!

First, why do we try to avoid eating out?

  1. The cost. For our large family, eating out, even at a fast-food restaurant, can cost $60+. It just doesn’t feel worth it to drop that much money for one meal.
  2. The mess. Maybe it sounds silly, but with six littles, all the wrappers, dips and drippy burgers are a huge hassle. Also, can you imagine what it would look like if we took alllll of our babies to a restaurant? I’m not sure there are enough high chairs in any facility to accommodate us, ha.
  3. The gut. We know occasional eating out won’t hurt us since we try to eat well at home. But eating out frequently makes our bellies bloat. :)
  4. The treat. We like to keep restaurant food as a special treat for our family. So when we do go out or grab fast food on a road trip, it’s super fun for all of us!

When do we eat out?

Here are some examples of times we enjoy restaurant food:

  1. Matt and I occasionally go out for a meal and have adult conversation. Yes, we often talk about the kids when we’re out. There are ten of them; how can we not?
  2. Our teen/adult kids grab food with their friends, of course. Malachi has the McDonald’s app so he finds reasons all the time to “get a good deal on McD’s.” It’s his hard earned money, so… ;)
  3. When we are on a road trip, I usually pack food for our first meal or two (see details below). But after that runs out, we do something like grab a bunch of nuggets and fries for everyone to share in the van or at a park.
  4. Matt’s folks give us a sweet gift at Christmastime to use for a meal out with our family. We save this to use when all of our kids are together, and it is such a fun treat!
  5. Sometimes we order pizza if we find good deals. We do this sometimes when all of us are together so we can enjoy our family time. Or we might do it sometime if Matt is out of town and we want a special pizza/movie night to help us miss Daddy a little less.
  6. We have a traditional “Back to School” meal at our local Runza. We’ve been doing this since our big boys were little – back when they earned free kids meals from the library during the summer reading program! While there are no more free kids meals, we have had fun treating our family to a Runza meal right before we all settle into a new school year. (This year we just did a big to-go order because again, can you imagine taking this crew into find seating? And ketchup? Oy.)

What We Eat Instead

Just because we almost never eat out doesn’t mean we don’t have fun treats at home. Also, as much as I love cooking, I need breaks too! Here are some our tricks. Maybe you can steal some of these ideas for your family!

  1. We kind of like that we can get a couple of cartons of ice cream at the store for $3 each – spending $6 total for our entire family to have ice cream – instead of spending $40 for everyone to get a cup or cone.
  2. When I grocery shop, I intentionally buy convenience foods that I can make on days I don’t have time to cook. I’ll share some ideas below!
  3. We pack food to take to ball games and on road trips. This saves money, but honestly, I most appreciate that it helps us avoid messes and hassles. I have all of our food in a big cooler bag, we spread out on a blanket, and we eat. Yes, I have to do prep-work at home before we leave. But I find that this is SO MUCH EASIER than messing with a drive-thru or trekking back and forth to a concession stand with so many little ones. Here are some great ideas of different foods I’ve packed for us to eat at games and on the road.

Convenience Foods I Buy to Feed Our Family Instead of Eating Out

While shopping, I sometimes hesitate about a boxed/prepared item because it costs more than homemade food. But then I consider the comparison to how much it costs for our family to eat out.

For instance, spending $15 for a package of really tasty frozen tostadas at Costco feels like a big splurge to me. But then I remember that I’ll have them in the freezer to use on an extra busy night. So the $15 convenience food suddenly turns into a money-saver compared to the $40 I’d pay for ordering pizza.

With that in mind, now when I’m at Costco or Sam’s I pick up four or five ready-to-warm up items to keep in our freezer on our “no time to cook” or “don’t feel like cooking” nights. Here are some examples:

Frozen Pizza

Costco frozen pizza for the win. Am I right?

Five Cheese Tortelloni

Our entire family loves these and they cook in just a few minutes. I dump sauce into a pan to warm and eat with them. We eat whatever veggie and fruit we have ready to grab. It’s such a fast meal!

Frozen Meatballs

Our kids love these! I often put them in a crockpot with barbecue sauce to warm all afternoon for a fast meal at night. Or I’ll cook some to eat with spaghetti, which the kids think is fancy. ;)

Orange Chicken

We get this at Sam’s, heat it in our air fryer, and serve it with packages of quinoa/rice we get at Costco. Eat it with salad or leftover veggies, and our meal is fast and fun!

French Fry Friday

Often on Friday nights I make nuggets and fries in our Air Fryer and we put in a movie for the kids. They LOVE this!

I think the main key for me is to always keep our meals simple. If I regularly made complicated meals, I’d burn out quickly and want to resort to take-out. But Simple Meals and easy recipes help keep me sane in the kitchen as I feed our large crew!

When do you like to eat out as a family? What are some of your tricks for eating at home more often?

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One Week of Summer Fun Food Ideas

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After my most recent stock-up day at Sam’s, I made a complete one-week meal plan full of summer fun food!

You can read here to get the specifics of what I bought at Sam’s in May. We ate through much of this pretty quickly as there are a lot of us (currently 10) eating three meals a day at our house.

Then after a week or so, once the kids were out of school, I decided to make a complete list of meal ideas based on what I had on hand. (This proves what I talked about here about how I shop first, then meal plan.)

One Week of Summer Fun Food Ideas

I decided to share my plans with you because you might just find that this list comes in handy for your summer days too. This list includes seven breakfast plans, seven lunch plans, seven evening plans, and seven make-ahead snack ideas. :)

Let us know your email address here so we can send you the list. It includes recipe links too, and almost everything can be made ahead of time so that you can go outside and enjoy your summer with your kids!

 

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Meal Plan First? Or Shop First Then Plan?

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Someone recently asked: Do you make a meal plan first and then shop? Or do you shop for food and plan your meals around what you have? What saves the most time and money?

I certainly can’t speak for everyone as to what saves the most time and money. And you know I highly recommend that you subscribe to receive our Simple Meals plans so that you don’t have to think as hard and work as hard. :)

What I have found to work best for me right now is this:

  1. Shop. Buy all the food. Buy more food. We need so much food.
  2. Try to stay organized. Have an entire grocery store inside my house if possible.
  3. Each morning, consider what the day holds. Meetings, appointments, court for the kids, Matt’s schedule, kids’ events, and so on. Once I think through what the evening will look like, I plan our evening meal accordingly.
  4. Along with that, I work with what we have on hand. I look through our fridge, freezers, and pantry. Then I decide on an evening meal that works!

This shelf sits in my kitchen, so I can look and get ideas with a quick glance. Pizza sauce and olives? I have crusts in the freezer so I could make pizza tonight. However, that is a meal I like to make on a night we have games or other outings. So I nix that idea and decide to make a burrito bar since I have plenty of tortillas and all the fixings on hand.

My meal planning decision is also dependent on how many people we’ll be feeding that night. Will it just be Matt, me, with the six littles? Or will all the bigs be home too? With their gals join us? Any other friends? We feed anywhere from 8 to 18 depending on the night. So I always get a feel for who will be around for dinner as I’m making our nightly plan.

Isn’t it harder this way?

This current method means that I’m coming up with a meal plan every single morning. But because of our very full house and so many coming and going, I am finding that planning day by day works so much better than planning ahead for the week and then reshuffling it because of what each weekday holds.

What saves the most money?

Again, I can’t speak for everyone. But for me, right now, I believe that shopping first and meal planning later is saving me more money.

When I’m shopping, I can pick up meat that has been marked down – then I make meals based on the discounted meat I’ve found. I can take advantage of sale items, then make meals based on the deals I’ve found. I can pick up staples to keep on hand so that I can always make basic, easy meals with no effort.

This works well for me and saves money too!

What is working best for you right now as you plan meals?

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May 2022 Grocery Spending (Big Family Food)

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Currently, there are 10 of us at home for the summer. Here’s a look at the groceries I bought and how much I spent in May.

I’ve been surprised this month by how little I was able to spend to keep us all fed!

May 2022 Grocery Spending

Walmart Pick-Up 

Sorry I forgot to take pictures before putting Walmart groceries away!! :) But here are lists of what I got:

May 7 –

  • Onion
  • Cilantro
  • Strawberries
  • Blueberries
  • Lunch meat for kids’ field trips
  • Juice bottles for kids’ field trips
  • Avocados
  • Bananas
  • Yogurt for these smoothies
  • Frozen strawberries and bananas
  • Mixed greens
  • Spinach x2
  • Ice cream x4
  • Crackers

Total: $74

May 23 –

  • Apples (3 pounds)
  • Strawberries (4 pounds)
  • Avocados
  • Bananas
  • Spring Mix
  • Spinach x2
  • Milk x3
  • Cream
  • Half and Half
  • Ice Cream x4
  • Cake Mix x4
  • Canned Pears x6
  • Canned Pumpkin x6

Total: $97

Sam’s Club

You may recall that I have both a Costco and Sam’s membership. I love them both for different reasons. During May, I was only able to shop at Grand Island (instead of Lincoln) so I did the majority of my shopping at Sam’s.

My favorite Sam’s feature: Scan & Go!!!!! Oh my goodness, this is such a fantastic option! My shopping trips look like this:

I love that I simply scan each item into the app on my phone as I’m filling my cart. Then all I do is “swipe to pay,” show the exit worker the code on my phone, then head out to my van. It is sooooo easy and saves me so much time compared to having to take everything out and repack it as I go through a checkout line!

This Sam’s trip I got:

  • Chicken thighs x2
  • Hamburger patties (which I won’t buy again because while they tasted good, they were pretty pricey for only 8 patties)
  • Popcorn chicken
  • Beef hotdogs
  • Sausage links
  • Bagels
  • Rolls (for sliders!)
  • Hotdog buns
  • Hamburger buns
  • Pizza kit
  • Tortilla chips
  • Cases of canned pineapple, peaches, and mandarin oranges
  • Case of applesauce squeezies
  • Case of yogurt
  • Corndogs
  • Taquitos
  • Orange Chicken
  • 1/2 and 1/2 x2
  • Heavy whipping cream
  • Cottage cheese
  • Avocado mash for baby girls
  • 3 pack of Applesauce jars
  • Watermelon
  • Apples
  • Kiwi
  • Strawberries x2
  • Raspberries
  • Blueberries x2
  • Spinach
  • Mixed greens
  • Goldfish crackers (we baggie these up to take in the diaper bag for church snacks)
  • Cheese and peanut butter sandwich crackers to take on walks this summer
  • Oatmeal
  • Coffee x2
  • Coffee creamer for our boys and for guests
  • Dressing for marinating chicken
  • Colby jack cheese slices
  • Cream cheese
  • Butter
  • Mayo
  • Mac and cheese
  • Turkey lunch meat
  • Apple juice

Total: $572

Other

  • Local Grocery Store: $45
  • Farm Milk: $50

Grand total for all our May groceries: $838

This was way under budget, so that felt good! I didn’t skimp, but I have been focused on making meals that are less expensive overall. I believe the main reason for coming in so far under budget is that I have been intentional about making meals with what we have on hand instead of putting in frequent Walmart pickup orders.

So there you have it. I’ll be starting my June shopping in just a few days, and I plan to keep track of what I get and how much I spend so I can share with you!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!