Over the last few years I have seen my grocery bill go up… a combination of things costing more and us adding to the family and those additions growing up and eating more…
I have been making meal plans for a few years now and try not to buy too much extra… but I find it crazy that before we had kids a large trip to the grocery store was 80$ and now I have trouble getting out of there with less than 125$… I can only guess how much more that would be if I didn’t make as many things from scratch including many snacks, desserts and of course bread!
I roasted a chicken the other day and served it with roasted potatoes. It was a medium sized chicken (2 Kg) and in the past was enough to feed us and have some left over for a sandwich or two… but now the bones are cleaned, the potatoes are gone and the boys are asking for more… and then I offer dessert just to complete the supper because there is nothing left…
Of course it depends on the meal I make and how much they like it, but it is amazing to see how fast food can dissipate with three kids around… making sandwiches takes up a whole loaf of bread, an omlette for just the boys is at least 8 eggs, I need to make a triple batch of pancakes to have enough, when we order pizza we need two X-larges.. When I make Annie’s Mac and Cheese I need to make 2 boxes and even then they are asking for more!
Costco is seriously a great place to shop now… though I already bought a few things in bulk, the family sizes of certain products are well worth it… I was needing to buy peanut butter every week or two before, and the organic PB at the local grocery store is about 5$ for a small jar (250g)… whereas at Costco I can get a 2kg jar of organic PB for about 9$… I would have never thought that we would get through such a jar without it going bad, but with the boys and with recipes etc, after a month I need to head back for another… It is also great place for that Annie’s Mac and Cheese that I mentionned above which is a great easy lunch, especially when Simon is with the boys and there are so many other things that really are worth the trip.
I can’t just imagine when they are teens… or actually… I don’t think I want to right now…
Proud mini-van owner myself. Great post! Love your point of view.
I hear you on the double and even triple batch thing. We do that whenever we can.
Mornings are when those frozen leftover pancakes really come in handy. Pancakes are the go-to food in our house. At Whole Foods the other day my son snuck a can of Batter Blaster into the cart and I didn’t notice till we got home! Little stinker. They’re organic pancakes in a can (!), you just spray them on the griddle. Well since we had them we might as well use them and what do you know – not bad. THey might even make another appearance in the cart this time on purpose!
What will they think of next. Wait – don’t answer. I don’t wanna know …..
Sue we have also tried the Batter Blaster pancakes although we bought our can on purpose!
THey are not as good as scratch and I’m not crazy about them myself BUT they are perfect for crazy school mornings. The kids really do eat them up and they are organic so we feel good about that. Better than frozen waffles that’s for sure and that was our other “go-to breakfast item.”
Best,
S