How to organize your coupons, QUICKLY.

This is a picture of the 'before' mess. Maybe it doesn't look too bad, but that drawer is stuffed full of inserts that I didn't have time to deal with this summer because I was too busy being nauseated. It happens. BUT it only took about an hour to get everything organized and back on track.

I don't do it often enough, but I'm actually pretty great at organizing. Maybe it's my Type A side, maybe it's because, as I tell the Hubster often to tease him, I'm just spacialy gifted. Whatever it is, I feel comfortable telling you that this is the EASIEST, BEST, MOST EFFICIENT WAY to organize your coupon stash. I have tried many methods, this is by far the best.

Menu Planning for Specialty Diets

This past year has seen a lot of health challenges for my family in Vermont, and they just seem to keep piling up. My Aunt is now taking care of three family members day to day, and the rest of the family is looking for ways to help without being in the way.

Two weeks ago my poor Aunt drove three people to 22 different doctor's appointments. Last week she had 4-5 appointments scheduled each day, plus the dog got sick. As you can imagine, this doesn't leave much time for menu planning or cooking. (And I thought I was busy.)My parents who live in New Hampshire are planning to visit once a month to help out until things settle down, and my Dad was brainstorming about how to prep food for my Grandparents for the days in between visits.I can't do too much to help from Pennsylvania, but I DO now how to menu plan and shop for extended periods of time!So here we go.

Once a month: May 2013

So for those of you who want meal ideas, and for my own future reference, I thought I would try to post my monthly meal plan and shopping list. I am not going to go all out like I did on the first once a month series because it's too draining. Groceries are not super exciting, and I am exhausted after a day spent shopping and prepping, but I am happy to report that dinner for the next five weeks is

D-O-N-E

done, done, done.

Serious Sides

 

 

 

 

 

We froze some entrees, yes. But that is not all we can do, oh no that is not all...

Prep your way to happiness, part deux.

As I write this, it has been a week since my grocery trip, and I finally have some room in the freezer to stash a lasagne. Since lasagne from scratch is time consuming, I made two. One for the meal of the day, and one for the freezer.

One thing that makes me happy, and makes my life easier, is this chalk board I painted on the door to our basement. I write the menu for the week so I know just what needs to happen each morning without having to think. Because, let's face it, thinking in the morning is HARD.

There is even room at the bottom for my personal assistant to make some notations about things and stuff. Keeps him busy occasionally.

Prep your way to happiness

My grandfather used to have us play this party game he called "Pop your way to happiness." You would pop a balloon to get a number, and the number determined the prize you got. It was great fun unless you were the girl with the balloons pinned to you. Once a month cooking is kinda like that. It's awesome when you get the prize (no cooking for the rest of the month!) but it's a little tricky when you have all those balloons pinned to you. Still, I much prefer it to cooking every night.

How to plan a once a month grocery trip.

As I promised, here is a step by step illustrated guide to my version of once a month shopping. Get ready to save some money!

A case for once a month shopping

A few months ago I took over the grocery shopping for my hubby. He'd been doing it for six years and was due for a break. It only took a few weeks to figure out why. It was awful! I hated it! I made a menu plan, went shopping, came home and put it all away, only to find I'd forgotten stuff. Then, when Saturday rolled around I was stuck doing it all over again. Ugh.