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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Are you cooking using specific recipes, where you go out and buy all the required ingredients for the specific things you want to make, or are you more of an improvisational cook who uses what is on hand?

Becoming the later made a big difference in our grocery bill. I can buy whatever is on sale in terms of produce  and patch together dinners for much less than when I was trying to make specific recipes (the ingredients for which may or may not have been on sale). I'm not organized enough to do a lot of menu planning ahead of time, but we stock up on grains and beans at Costco (and some frozen seafood), have eggs and cheese in the fridge, herbs in the garden, and basic vinegars, oils and spices on-hand. I basically force myself to cook with whatever is there, and it's worked out surprisingly well and kept us from spending extra money. I do all of our shopping on the weekend, and unless we're having friends over or run out of milk, I don't let myself go back to the store until the following weekend. Those small trips add up!

If you're not used to cooking much, it might take a little while to get to the point where you can just throw things together easily, but it will come. [/quote]

That's what I used to do and was why we ate out so much.  I'd end up looking in the fridge and the cupboards and the freezer and not feel inspired.  I am a good cook but I never planned enough to work out what I needed in advance.  So I'd throw things together and sometimes they'd be good and sometimes they'd be quick to make and other times they'd take forever or they would need a little extra X with X being something I was out of.  I also found that I frequently ended up throwing away veggies because they would go off before I remembered to use them all.  Another downside would be that I'd come home and have to decide what to cook while completely exhausted and without a ton of choices and with my head stuck in the 5-10 meals that I made regularly because they worked well for our family.  Hence way more than often I'd either turn to something from the freezer (not ready made meals, but meal that are at least partially processed) or we'd go out.  With two kids under 3 and a full time job it was making me exhausted and miserable.

We now meal plan using thefresh20.com and, it's a bit corny to say it, but it's changed my life.  I look forward to making dinner.  Not every meal is a hit but most are.  It's got me out of my cooking rut.  We're trying tons of new things and they all taste really fresh.  In fact, now I prefer to eat at home because the food is better.  the one area that it's failed me on though, is saving money.  I was convinced that we'd reduce our bills but it just hasn't happened.  Most of the produce I buy for these meals is not expensive.  (With the exception of the volume of olive oil used!)  So it's really the extras that are adding up.  I think I'll take the PPs advice and try to coupon for things like paper products, cat litter, shampoo etc.  Now, if only I can persuade my husband and kids to eat healthier cereal that I can buy in bulk![/quote]

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