Explanation of recent posts

Now that the month is almost over and I have a little more time to put all of this on the blog, I will start sharing what I've learned and the spreadsheets I used to get ready for this month.

First of all, I spoke with everyone who lives here and got their input. Each person who was cooking - especially dinners - chose the meals they would prepare. I wanted to be sure everyone was on board with this.

Secondly, I started making my spreadsheets that I've just shared, getting exact amounts for each recipe and ingredient, and figuring out what I already had in stock. Then I moved on to putting my master shopping list together. This all took a lot longer than I anticipated, but now that it's done, I have it to refer to for the future (and so do you).

Because I have so much food storage already, I wasn't too concerned with running out of certain things - especially anything outside of the produce, meat and dairy categories. As you can see, I spent a lot on stocking up on those three categories just mentioned. I knew if there were complaints and feelings of shortage, it would land in one of those.

All in all, I'd call it a success; even though I got braces on a month earlier than anticipated, I've been able to enjoy meals with my family, get the veggies I need and help my family do the same.