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Food logistics for an army (WFMW)Over the years I have gone down many avenues with my food procurement and preparation.These are the main methods: 1) Go to the store and buy stuff, then go home and cook it. This is the method used by most of America. You basically realize that you need to go to the store, so you grab the keys and your pocketbook. When you arrive at the store, all you know is that you're hungry, and that is what the grocer is counting on. Every display is meant to entice you into spending your money on things that look yummy for the moment, but don't feed you well or for very long. This is the least efficient way to satisfy your family. 2) Plan-ahead meals. This is the most popular of organized methods, one that is recommended by numerous homemakers. It gives you some predictability and allows you to go to the store armed with a detailed list that will hopefully keep you from falling prey to the flash of all of the display, among other things. However, it does have its drawbacks and limitations. For instance, I have had trouble with planning the right meal for the right day, since it doesn't allow for much flexibility, and our lives can get pretty "interesting". For another thing, it keeps you from taking advantage of sale items that may not be on your "meals list"--keeping your budget from stretching as far as it could. Besides this, I found myself, no matter how carefully I tried to plan, running out of some key ingredients for my meals towards the end of the month, causing me to have to be spontaneous anyway. 3) Once A Month Cooking--or OAMC. This is a plan in which you cook ahead as much as you can and freeze your meals. I have done this in the past, and it was quite a fun and convenient thing for me, back when I had fewer and younger children! I can remember the good feeling of a freezer full of ready-made French bread pizzas, casseroles, etc., and there are great budget benefits to this, as well. However, there are even drawbacks to this one--especially for a larger-than-average family. As we have grown, both in number and in each child's size, it has become increasingly difficult to quadruple a recipe that I already had to quadruple, and then find enough casseroles, etc. to keep everything in! By the time we would prepare enough for everyone for 30 days, it was already the next month (just a little exaggeration there for effect). Besides this, it has been my experience that most prepared meals, although not all, tend to lose their flavor after being re-heated. 4) The "Pantry Principle", as Amy Dacyczyn, of Tightwad Gazette fame, has called it seems to be the one that fits for me. It helps if you keep a price book, which helps you determine where to find certain items at the cheapest price, or when to buy them at the cheapest according to the store's regular sales. Next, you compile a pantry list of staples that you would need on hand to prepare meals for your family (I will be posting an example list so that you can begin to think in this line). It helps to keep in mind the types of things your family likes to eat. Of course, these days a pantry includes a freezer, which no big family in America can afford to be without! After keeping my pantry stocked, I always have enough of my monthly budget set aside for milk and fresh produce that I will buy while out on errands at our neighborhood grocery store. Then, as I go along, I plan our meals by pulling out what I already have on hand, along with the fresh in-season items that I buy each week. At this point I can even make up a "possible" meals list that will jog my thinking on those days when I am not "running on all thrusters". Of course, my budget does not allow for many of the high-priced health foods--I tried to keep my meals as "organic" as possible for a few months, and we were hungry so much that I gave it up. It occured to me that Paul told us that what we receive with thankfulness is blessed, so until I find myself with an "organic" budget, we will be blessed with some good-old traditional American cuisine! I have already grown up a few healthy adults on this sort of diet, so I don't feel the necessity to fix something that "ain't broke", although I try to insure my children eat whole grains, fresh fruit and vegetables daily. I have found this to be just what we need--flexibility combined with frugality! There are numerous meals you can prepare by using the staples in your cupboard--and in future posts I will be sharing some of these recipes as well. Leave a Comment { Last Page } { Page 54 of 84 } { Next Page } |
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