Ok So I had a plan.....

My family are creatures of habit I guess you can say. Our menu is not often varied we have a few staples that we have weekly.
Tacos-I never had them until I met Erik. We weren't big Mexican dish family being the Polish Irish American's growing up it was really meat and potatoes. When I had them I thought wow what have I been missing? So every week we have Taco night and we LOVE it!
Spaghetti, Garlic Bread and Meat Sauce or Alfredo Sauce for the kids. This is a nod to my Grandma I suppose. Every Friday Lent or no Lent no meat was eaten in her house on Friday. They ate plan marinara sauce no meat. We didn't have garlic bread but my Grandpa loves his brown beans with his spaghetti. I haven't tried that with my family Erik might think I am crazy.
Pork Chops-So I don't know how this came to be but we do serve this once a week in our house as well either with rice and green beans or mac and cheese and green beans. The kids believe it is chicken so they eat it. A few times I have slipped and said Pork Chops and they refuse to eat it....really you ate it last week no problem! Zoe has taken to eating Ketchup with a side of Pork Chops LOL. But hey if it gets her to eat it we will do it.
Chicken-Either baked, nuggets, breasts, legs or whatever else we do this once a week too. Nuggets if it is crazy night and we just don't have time I like to pop them into the microwave and made a side dish and veggie. Most times though I make chicken breast with cream of chicken and put it in the oven. Erik loves it like this. I make a rice dish and a veggie.

So this was my plan We know we are going to need a veggie with each meal, mac and cheese, rice, garlic bread, pasta, prego sauce (our fav), taco kits, and the meat for tacos and pasta sauce in advance for 6 months to a year in advance. I wanted to stockpile these items when they went on sale BUT SOMETHING HAPPENED.

Today I cleaned out the pantries, my master closet stockpile of bath items, and the closet of cleaning and laundry items. I am in shock at how much stuff I bought in these 3 months. Seriously I think that when you coupon and find good deals you need to take inventory once a month. I never did a inventory of everything. So let me just put it this way we don't need for another year:
Deodorant, Razors for Erik, Shaving Cream for me or Erik, Shampoo, Conditioner, Body Wash, Fabric Softener, Stain removers for clothes, red hot sauce, mustard, hamburger helper (I got these for almost free so I got a lot find out my family doesn't like them....these are being donated but I am just hesitant because they will need to purchase the meat for them), dish soap, dishwasher tablets I am good for the next 2-3 years LOL
I am good for the next 6 months on:
Toothpaste, Laundry Detergent, and toothbrushes

My plan will be downsized. I am going to try to work in 3 month time frames. That way I have the space for everything and I can go ahead and plan a menu and watch for items going on sale. I also don't want anything to go bad so I need to pay attention to expiration dates.

The main reason too for doing this is it will lower our monthly food budget. I plan on being able to get the grocery bill down to 200 a month or less for my family of 6. This stockpile will allow me to do this. I will have put out money up front with this but I feel the lower monthly payment will be better for my family. I think of this as a jump start.
Here are some pics!

A photo slideshow by Smilebox