Dinner

Post 2 of the day.

If you haven't noticed, I have a lot to learn about basically everything.  One area I have learned a lot about in the past couple of years is food.  I am still, however, trying to reconcile the food I now purchase with a budget that I'm satisfied with.

This isn't to say I don't have my success stories, but I just haven't found the right formula that fits our budget, our tastes and our health.  It's easier having a husband who is not training for a triathlon, as he generally will eat all of my healthy options now instead of insisting I provide him with "his" food. 

I also have a new desire to have more recipes at my disposal, and fun, exotic ones.  Things that my mom probably wouldn't have made.  I know that no one really knows me as a good cook, as I rarely bring things to share at family fellowship meals and everyone else that reads this knew me when I was in high school and had no skills of any kind in anything.  But I love to cook and I hope I don't sound too arrogant when I say I don't stink at it, either.

So here are a few things I've done.  If you have more tips, I would LOVE them.  I really am looking for this perfect balance that so many other people seem to just have. 

1. I make a monthly meal plan.  I try to arrange meals by ingredients. For instance, if something has spinach, I will try to use the rest of the spinach during the same week so it doesn't go bad.

2. I check the grocery stores for sales.

3. I only buy what's on the list... or at least I try to (I'm guilty of the "ooo... that looks too good not to buy" statement, too).

4. I buy meat for once a week.  Instead of buying a lot of chicken, I buy a whole chicken, prepare it for Sunday lunch and use the leftovers for the meals all week.  To split up the meat I have vegetarian meals or something with frozen shrimp.  I do the same with turkeys and roasts.  I was amazed at how fast dinner prep became when my meat was already cooked.   This will probably only work while we are a two person household.

5. I buy in bulk or buy when on sale and freeze.  Not a lot, though.  For things I like to keep on hand, like peppers and hamburger, I will buy in bulk once every few months.  I don't really like buying in bulk all the time. 

6.  To keep things different, I ocassionally invest in a Cooking Light Magazine, or a BH&G Low Calorie Magazine.

Tonight, I made Moroccan Spiced Grapes and Chicken from the April issue of cooking light.  I didn't have all the ingredients and picked up the wrong color of grapes (shoot me, I like green better than red!), but it still turned out really well.  I used leftover chicken from a chicken I roasted Saturday.

 I now officially love heated grapes.  I didn't really follow the instructions for the recipe, either.  I'm just too lazy to make that many dishes.  But it still turned out really well.

Anyone have any tips for grocery shopping for me?