Weekly Meal Planning

Each Saturday in our household, I am in charge of coming up with our weekly menu and grocery list. Occasionally, Hal will contribute to the list, usually just informing me of the staples that have run out. Other than that, he doesn't usually add any unusual items to the list since he's pretty easy to please, eating almost anything I make for him.

When I cook, I usually use recipes I find in my ample collection of cookbooks, on Pinterest, or in my Cooking Light or Food Network magazines. I used to subscribe to the Rachael Ray magazine, but noticed that I was hardly ever cooking anything from it; therefore, I found it no longer necessary. By far, my favorite recipes come from Cooking Light, whether they be from the magazine, their website, or the many cookbooks they've published (The Essential Dinner Tonight Cookbook is my favorite). The recipes tend to be easy, flavorful, and healthy, and they generally don't use a ton of ingredients, which saves on our shopping bill. I know it sounds like they would be paying me to say all this, but I genuinely love their products.

For the last couple weeks, I've had Hal choose a random cookbook from which I can choose recipes for the week. After I vetoed his first couple of choices, he chose Cooking Light 5 Ingredients 15 Minute Cookbook, which looks like this:

Sounds great, right? Well, maybe not so much, but I thought I'd give it a try. What could go wrong with recipes that used very few ingredients and also required such little time in the kitchen? The only real problem with this cookbook is that it uses so few fresh ingredients. Over the past year, I've tried my hardest to make sure that we shop from the outside areas of the grocery store (fresh veggies and fruit, meats, and dairy) instead of the inner aisles of the store (mostly processed foods). I do make exceptions for some food items such as pasta and rice, as well as canned tomatoes. I'll also use frozen vegetables instead of fresh, if fresh aren't in season. Because this cookbook rarely uses fresh ingredients (which makes sense when you only have 5 ingredients to use in 15 minutes), I'm not sure how often I'll be using it in the future, but for this week, we'll be giving it a try to see if it actually produces good meals. I'll try to give an update next week about this week's menu.

On a slightly separate note, I have a couple of grocery shopping recommendations. Now I don't get coupons in the mail because we don't subscribe to the paper, and I'm not too keen on printing out and clipping coupons from the internet. Instead of these two options, I've found a third option that fits what I'm willing to do to save money on grocery trips: I use apps. They usually only require a picture of the receipt and/or a scan of the product barcode. The following are the ones I use (the links are my referral links, which allow me to save more money if people join, but no pressure):

1. Ibotta - this is probably my favorite app because I can save on normal items I buy such as milk, eggs, bread, paper towels, toilet paper, etc, as well as some items I can stock up on even though they aren't on my weekly menu that particular week. You can also redeem coupons for non-grocery items. You redeem your saved money through PayPal or Venmo, or you can transfer it to a gift card. 
2. Snap! by GroupOn - I only use this on occasion due to the random restrictions they have on redeeming items, as well as the fact that the coupons are often gone by the time I get to my grocery shopping. This app allows  you to redeem your money once you get $20 in savings.
3. Checkout 51 - this app has the same problem that I have with Snap! I don't buy the majority of the products on their offers list, but I figure that even if I save a mere quarter on the bunch of bananas, it's worth the minimal effort it requires. You can redeem your savings once you earn $20. 

We probably save anywhere from three to five dollars every week, which does add up over time. I just wanted to share in case anyone was looking for ways to save a few dollars here or there. 

Scripture of the day (taken from the sermon this morning, but I love the story anyway): 1 Kings 17, which tells the story of how God provides for Elijah, and the faith of a Gentile woman despite her desperate circumstances.