Happy Saturday, Purse readers! On the heels of some great conversation about keeping grocery costs down in the comment section of Home Ec No. 52, we have some new insights from another mom on how she does it in today’s Meal Plan.
Our featured writer somehow juggles a full-time job and feeding four boys under the age of 15. Her strategy? A rotation of simple crowd pleasers and plenty of Costco-sized snacks.
Interested in submitting your own Meal Plan? You can do so here! And don’t forget to check out our last edition:
Alicia Adamczyk
Today, a public sector operations manager and mother of four boys in Minnesota discusses how she feeds a full house.
Age: 42
Location: Twin Cities, Minnesota
Household size: 6: My husband and I are both 42 and we have four boys ages 14, 12, 6, and 4.
Household income: $250,000
Professions: I am an operations manager with a state agency, and my husband works for the Minneapolis Police Department.
Monthly grocery spend: $1,500 (but trying to reduce)
Where do you shop for groceries? Costco, Aldi, and Target.
How did you start meal planning? Has it changed over time?
My husband and I started meal planning when we were broke college students and have continued it out of sheer necessity now that we have four boys ranging in age from four to 14.
We’ve simplified recipes we started making in our 20s and made them more kid-friendly while still keeping the elements that originally made them our favorites. Our meals have definitely gotten simpler and incorporate shortcuts and convenience foods. Our older boys have huge appetites, and our younger ones are picky eaters, so I’ve created “base versions” of meals that we can customize.
Can you walk us through how and when you prep?
Within a day of grocery shopping, I prep and freeze any meats I won’t use right away. This past week, we bought a family-size pack of chicken breasts, and I trimmed them up, portioned them out, and froze what I wasn’t going to use immediately. I also chop up and prep fruits to make them easy for the boys to grab; otherwise they tend to go bad.
On Saturday or Sunday—whichever day is most open—I might prep some items so that I can throw them together for a meal. For example, if I were going to make the chicken wild rice casserole on a weeknight, I’d pre-cook the chicken ahead of time. I also prep grain bases like quinoa that I’ll have in my lunches for the week.
But I honestly don’t do a ton of intensive prep and tend to rely on meals that can be made easily or that incorporate convenience options, like 90-second microwave rice versus rice on the stove.
Our weekly dinner breakdown usually looks like this:
- Two nights per week: super simple options. My husband and I have full-time jobs, and I’m in the office 50% of the time with a long (one hour) commute, so I always choose the quickest, simplest dinner options for the days I’m in office. Those are usually our spaghetti/garlic bread or taco nights! We try to mix up the sauces, toppings, etc., so everyone can customize.
- One night: crockpot meal. I try to do at least one crockpot meal per week. This can be a soup, a chicken dish, or pot roast. My rule is that the prep needs to be easy. In the summer I crockpot a lot less and rely more on staples from our recipe binder.
- Two to three nights: staples from our recipe binder. These are often things like spicy penne pasta with goat cheese or another pasta variation, a sheet pan meal (chicken/sausage with various spices) with roasted potatoes and veggies.
- One night: something new
- Sunday night: carryout pizza picnic. This is our Sunday tradition. It’s nice to not have a lot of cleanup at the end of the weekend, and the boys get excited because we put down blankets in the living room, eat on the floor, and all watch a movie together.
What groceries did you need to buy this week?
I bought ingredients for the chicken wild rice casserole and penne goat cheese. I also bought a family size pack of chicken breasts, so I could divide them and freeze for future meals. We also stocked up on paneer at Costco, buying two packages, which is enough for four meals. Paneer freezes well, so I’ll usually portion the packages out right away and freeze what I won’t use immediately.
Also at Costco, we stocked up on chicken nuggets (a kid favorite for snacks and lunches), other bulk cheeses, apple juice and applesauce pouches, mac-and-cheese cups for quick on-the-go snacks, bulk Goldfish, oats, and cilantro lime rice 90-second pouches for taco night.
We divide grocery shopping between Target and Aldi based on what’s cheapest. Sometimes the costs fluctuate, so I always double-check items like milk and look for where fruits and veggies are on sale.
How much did they cost?
