The Art of a Home Cooked Meal - who me?

One of my family's biggest expenses is groceries. We spend more money every month on groceries than I do for any of our other expenses, our mortgage included. Which tells me that I am spending too much on groceries. Our food budget is one of our very few variable expenses, and I need to get better at managing those expenses - especially because the more money I can save on groceries the more money I will have to spend on other things - like maybe baby expenses??? (Hint, Hint Husband...)

I spend a lot of money on groceries because I like to buy as much organic produce and other grocery items as possible. I also spend a lot of money because I make essentially nothing from scratch. So I decided to try and change that.I planned out a two week menu (b/c shopping for groceries is something I can only stand to do every 2 weeks), purchased a BJ's wholesale membership, and scoured my dusty cookbooks for recipes that I felt I could handle. To force myself to stay within my new food budget I only took cash to the grocery store and left my check book at home - talk about scary! 

I had decided when I planned out my menu that I was going to try and cook from scratch as many dinners as I could, and to actually save the left over food each night (instead of throwing it away as was normal in my house) and have a 'left over' dinner one night a week. This is what I have cooked so far:

 

Chicken Marsala with Mashed Potatoes, Salad, Green Beans

Pesto (homemade) Pasta, Broccoli, Salad

Eggplant (crock pot meal) with Pasta, Salad

Pot Roast with Potatoes, Veggies, Homemade (I know, right!!!) Bread

I have the next week and a half planned out with similar meals. Since I am a vegan I have planned out vegan dishes to go along with main menu.

Now, I am very proud of cooking all of these items because I am the world's worst cook (or so I thought) which is why I have never given real cooking much attention. I feel like my whole family (mom, dad, sister, brother, aunts, grandma, you know, just about everybody but me) can bake or cook, but I can not, and so I never really gave it too much of a shot. I never in a million years thought I could make Pesto or Chicken Marsala or, my favorite, homemade French Bread. To some of you, this might seem so ridiculous because all of these items are so simple to cook/bake, but to those of you stuck in the 'I can't cook/bake to save my life', I know YOU get where I am coming from.

It feels GREAT to be able to cook for my family from scratch. I never thought something as simple as pulling warm, lightly browned bread out of the oven would give me such utter pleasure - in fact I was surprised by how good it felt. There is something amazing and triumphant about knowing EXACTLY what is in my food because I made it, and I alone put all of the ingredients together. It feels so primal.

I have spent more time in my kitchen lately baking pies, cookies, brownies, and other treats all from scratch than I have spent in the past 5 years, but it has felt great. I have also saved money too which was the point of all of this to begin with.

I am excited that I am finding such joy in feeding my family. I look forward to where this path will lead me.