{"id":8385,"date":"2011-04-05T13:37:59","date_gmt":"2011-04-05T18:37:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/crankymouse.com\/?p=8385"},"modified":"2011-04-05T13:37:59","modified_gmt":"2011-04-05T18:37:59","slug":"eat-well-spend-less-menus-and-meal-planning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crankymouse.com\/index.php\/2011\/04\/05\/eat-well-spend-less-menus-and-meal-planning\/","title":{"rendered":"Eat Well, Spend Less: Menus and Meal Planning"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to Week 1 in the Eat Well, Spend Less series<\/a>. This week I’m focusing on how meal and menu planning can save you money, including where to start and what to think about as you’re planning for the most financial benefit. <\/em>
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\nFood prices seem to be soaring. When I look back and think of the early days of my family’s grocery budgeting, I’m amazed at how much we could do with so very little. The dollars stretched on forever, and the sale prices were just that much lower<\/strong>. This seems incredibly true of just the last few months, too.
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It’s the grocery receipts in those last months that brought a group of us together to discuss how we all make the budget come together while still eating real food and providing our families with healthy options. Whether you want to change the types of food you eat now still sticking to your budget or you’re looking for ways to make eating whole foods work for you, I hope you’ll join us for the Eat Well, Spend Less series the next three weeks.
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The Way We Eat<\/h2>\n

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\nIt’s no secret that organic foods cost more. A stroll through any grocery store aisle can confirm that. It really is common sense when you break it down. Not only do you get smaller yields when you aren’t pumping plants full of pesticides, but you also have to pay to be licensed as organic and to label the food as organic.
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Add to that this increasing culture where suddenly eating whole foods is elitist, and you have a perfect opportunity to jack up the price of foods that are less processed. Less processed, meaning there is less manpower needed to get those foods out to consumers. Suddenly, organic whole foods are a commodity that you’ll pay a pretty penny for.
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If you’re a regular reader, then you’ve seen the menu go up every week<\/a>, and perhaps you even view it as the most boring post I do each week. Boring as it may seem, those menus are integral to how I feed my family and make it work for us. They allow us the ability to eat well and still have money to allow us to celebrate now and then with pricier cuts of meat and a good bottle of wine.
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Basic Meal Planning<\/h2>\n

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