Am I The Only One Choking On "inventory"?
Decorating By CakeDiva73 Updated 20 Oct 2006 , 4:00pm by KHalstead
menu planning....what's that? LOL.......I seriously do not mind cooking, what I absolutely HATE is trying to figure out what to cook...and seriously if I look at a recipe that takes 15 ingredients...I just head for the hills! My poor hubby gets a steady menu of about 10 dishes (I rotate the order...you know to keep it fresh---hahaha like theres hope for that)......course I do have my 10 "winter" dishes and about 10 "summer" dishes...but I just hate the figuring out what to make!!!!
My mother says it serves me right for avoiding the kitchen at all costs growing up....am I the only girl who took shop instead of home ec? Heck I am not even sure how that is supposed to be spelled!
[quote="mkerton"]menu planning....what's that? LOL.......I seriously do not mind cooking, what I absolutely HATE is trying to figure out what to cook...and seriously if I look at a recipe that takes 15 ingredients...I just head for the hills! My poor hubby gets a steady menu of about 10 dishes (I rotate the order...you know to keep it fresh---hahaha like theres hope for that)......quote]
I know exactly what you're saying. I too *hate* figuring it all out!! It's such a pain and everything I make is either grilled, shake and bake, wings or spaghetti. I don't even think I have 10 different meals. I don't use it enough but I love my crockpot, all you have to do is throw everything in in the morning and forget about dinner.
Hey y'all. Hope you don't mind if I add my 2 cents to the topic.
First - I plan my menu a month in advance and have a really simple way of doing it that works for all the people I've shown it too. I'll start a new topic and post it there.
Second - I just moved 3000 miles across country. We did it with 11 days notice and no money. We only brought what could fit in a tiny trailer and be towed across country by our 2001 Oldsmobile Alero. In that trailer I brought 45 cake mixes, 50 lbs of powdered sugar and all the other cake tools and items I needed - and my husband supported me in this!
As for organizing what I buy and when, I do my inventory shopping 1 time a month. I look at my calendar and see what cakes I have on the books, I always do one or two practice cakes a week, and then I make a grocery list for what I need to have on hand to accomplish all that. If I'm making some that needs perishable ingredients - like a lemon curd - I buy that as needed. The only other cake items I buy each week I shop is for last minute or short notice cakes.
When I have a business, I will have a pantry that I fill from the back and will have labeled spots. That way when I need to grocery shop, I open up the cabinets, see how many slots are open for let's say Sweetened Condensed Milk and that's how much I"ll buy.
Rachel
Well I am from a long line of southern cooks....my food is not perfect (not like good ole moms) but I think quite tasty and the only schooling in this subject is from my mom and grandma. My meals rotate. But like I said...it doesn't pay for me to plan anything out...they never eat the darn same meals...I was told fix it...if they don't eat it....it's their problem...but I just can't see my kids or my husband who works his a$$ off not being able to eat because of their funny quirks...I to rotate the same things...but hey that's life and I would say 95 percent of us do that...we don't have chef's experience....and oh by the way...once spaghetti rolls around (and this is homemade sauce and meatballs) the good ole family rolls their eyes...I don't know if their is anything different at this point....sigh.... 
I just don't bother. My hubby just fends for himself! LOL That's what he was used to when he was growing up so we just carry on the tradition 
Lazy_Susan
Well..lets just say this...I fixed hotdogs last night..kids were all at their Nina's .....and he laughed at me...I can't help it...sometimes us mom's are tired to! lol I just told him...wait till friday..might be peanut butter than..he quit laughing then lol
Well..lets just say this...I fixed hotdogs last night..kids were all at their Nina's .....and he laughed at me...I can't help it...sometimes us mom's are tired to! lol I just told him...wait till friday..might be peanut butter than..he quit laughing then lol
The standing joke in my house is "He's married to a caterer.....so of COURSE we live on fast food!" I told my 14 year old once how she'll be able to tell her kids that she had cookies in her house the whole time she was growing up. She replied, "Yeah, but I'm not allowed to EAT any of 'em!" Whenever I fire up the oven, she's always asking "I dont' suppose those are for US are they?" 
Reading this post, I never realized how fortunate I have it. There's a Walmart right behind my house (I send my 14 year old over there when I'm short a mix or some eggs....she just climbs the fence!). I'm 10 minutes one direction and 20 minutes the other direction from 2 Sam's Clubs. I'm 10 minutes from a GFS store. I'm 30 minutes from Sysco where I do pick-ups. I'm in Walmart every single night.....the greeters all know me by name and the cashiers have stopped making jokes when the "cake-n-cookie" lady comes thru the line with 24 cake mixes (although I've had other customer in line say, "Ok.....I HAVE to ask....!")
I can only work one week ahead at a time.....On Sunday night, I pull all the orders for the next week and make the master list of what I need to get, and need to order for pickup. Heck and even THAT'S not a guarantee! I keep telling hubby that this darn day job is in my way! (43 more working days to go!)
But I still have 3 commercial shelving units: One in my kitchen holding all the cookie supplies, one in my family room holding cardboards, boxes, and catering equipment, one in my front room/meeting room/office area holding....well, whatever I can cram into it! Plus the 8ft table I've got set up in the family room where I store equipment under it and on it.
My family lives on fast food and lives in a warehouse. They can't WAIT for mom to get her shop open so she can get her sh** outta there!
Wow! I have stuff on top of cabinets..hidden in baskets....I have stuff everywhere...except bedrooms...I haven't had that to happen yet..The good thing is though..when I buy something new hubby doesn't know if it is new or not lol. And thats funny...my kids are always saying the same thing (kids-includes my DH), "Is that for us?" and my four year old..have to watch her...she's ready to swipe her finger in the frosting regardless! lol
I have started baking a little cake or large cupcakes every time I bake and put them in the freezer. That way, my 4yr old can have his OWN cake to decorate when I'm doing mine. I wouldn't recommend eating it. He has his own bowl of frosting-one swipe for his mouth, one for the cake, and so on!!
I only wish I had a pantry that looked like Melvira's!! I have quite a stock, but nowhere near that. I happen to know the area she lives in and she has no choice but to stock up!! Most of us can run a mile or two and hit a grocery store of some kind. Not everyone is that fortunate. When I was growing up (in Iowa) we didn't even have a grocery store in town. Not even one that charged triple!! Indiana wasn't much better. I couldn't have found any good deals near town and the closest Walmart that I knew of was 45 miles away.
Now I live in a great place with many different stores and 4 Walmarts within 15 miles-one in every direction, so I simply take my pick. I can only hope to own a cool cake pantry someday!! Right now I have to settle for a small cupboard that's completely overloaded!!
Oh, and hats off to those of you feeding large families on such a modest budget! You are heroes in my eyes! KHalstead, what you said about money for produce is the truth. We love fruit and fresh veggies and it's always the most expensive part of the shopping trip.
It takes a little extra time but you would be surprised how much money you save by making a menu and grocery list ahead of time. In the long run you actually save time cause you already know what you are going to make for each meal. I always make make an extra serving of dinner so I can pack for my honey's lunch for work or freeze a dinner for an emergency.
I do the same exact thing.........I actually make sure there are some leftovers.....and after two days in the fridge with nobody eating them I pack them up into those ziploc plates (they are plastic plates with lids that lock on) and we freeze them for our own homemade tv dinners! My kids love it........at any given time we'll have like 6-10 of those in the freezer, it's also great for nights I don't feel like cooking........I have stickers on them labelling them. Also sometimes that plate meal consists of a couple nights leftovers.....we might have a stuffed pepper left over one night and some corn and mashed potatoes left over the next night......I just throw em all in together and create a whole new meal. Also some nights when there are NO leftovers my DH will just grab a plate out of the freezer to take to work for lunch. Believe me, if we had extra money I wouldn't bother with this method! LOL
KHalstead, what you said about money for produce is the truth. We love fruit and fresh veggies and it's always the most expensive part of the shopping trip.
I actually luck out living in the Garden State! LOL we have a produce market less than a mile away.....actually about 4 less than a mile away....the one on our street sells at wholesale prices to the public.......I get 3 lbs. of green peppers for 1.50 3 lbs. of green apples for 1.50........5 lbs. of potatoes for .99 it's super cheap.......but we eat tons of fresh fruits and veggies!! I make a lot of soup and stews too....which cuts down on the cost.....I make chicken soup with dumplings enough to feed my whole family with a ton of leftovers and only use 1 chicken breast LOL Nobody notices there isn't a whole LOT of chicken because of all the noodles and dumplings and veggies!
That's one place where I am blessed... the store may be out of the way, but everyone around here has a garden! We have a HUGE yard, and I have black raspberries, red raspberries, asparagus, all kinds of fun stuff. The garden went by the wayside when baby came, but next summer I plan to plant more again because he will be able to go out and play in the dirt with mommy! But our neighbor grows the most beautiful tomatoes known to man!! 5 huge 'maters for a dollar. 
Oh yah... BLT's in the summer. Mmmmmmmm
The only inventory I am ahamed of having is mustard. Bottles and bottles of mustard. Since you can't make a cake with it don't ask why I have so much??? My cakes are limited to two white and two chocolate and a big box of pudding to go with each. Powdered sugar I keep three bags on hand. That is enough for someone's "emergency" cake fix. Guess I don't have the room yet... 
$100 a week for a family of 6??? OmG!!!
I shop once a week and spend about $150 - $200 a week (which includes cat food/litter and any paper products too) for a family of 4. We eat or take all our meals. Maybe it's what I buy, but I buy generic canned goods (just tomat products) but I buy only organic cage free eggs and organic milk and the equivalent in organic in meats. I buy lots of fresh veggies, but only those that are on sale and good quality and in summer, from the farmer's market.
We don't eat hot dogs or the like because crap in is crap out. I think the stuff that gets us are the snacks. I buy high protein nutrition bars, graham crackers, wheat thins, and the like. Plus, I always buy nice whole grain bread.
I guess food is the one area I'm not willing (nor is DH) to sacrifice. We don't got out to eat more than once a month, we take our meals to work/school, and I buy clothes and the like Marshalls or the like and consignment shops or ebay.
I was so pumped to buy baking pans 50% off at AC moore today! yay!
I will have to find a way to organize my baking supplies because they are beginning to take over my kitchen island which drives DH nuts!
melissa
And I WISH I had a pantry. When we bought our townhouse I thought we had a really nice kitchen that was recently updated. Granite counter tops and a stove that wasn't a gazillion years old.
Well, upon closer inspection, the upper cabinets were only 24 inches high!!!! What!?!?!? Standard is 30 for apartments. So, I researched a lot and was able to find matching upper cabinets and ran them up to the ceiling. The old cabinets we put in the study and storage area in the basement. Then, we went to ikea and assembled a 6 foot long kitchen island with a 3 foot wide top so we can sit at it for breakfasts.
Well, since I had so much space now, I didn't organize my stuff very well and now, two years later, I'm out of space, but not for appliances and such, but I have no pantry space. I only gave myself one double cabinet, one half of a single cabinet and a single drawer (for spices) for ALL goods. I have HUGE cannisters on the island that can hold 5lbs of stuff, but if I have a second bag of flour??? It has no home. So, I have the remaining space for paper products, pots, pans, rubbermaid stuff and appliances... time to reorganize. If I have more than one bag of powered sugar, it gets thrown on top of the baking pans or sits on top of the cannisters on the island - way inefficient.
So... maybe that will be my project today!
Melissa
ok, I'm ashamed to admit this but my grocery bill is at least $600 - $750 a month for a family of 6. This includes diapers for my son, pull-ups for my daughter, perscriptions, cleaning supplies and a little bit for stocking up shelves for when $$ is too tight to go to the store. I usually try to have at LEAST 1 of everything on hand since my DH doesn't write on the list when things run out and need to be bought but tells me WHEN I GET HOME from the store. I shop at Aldi, Wal-mart, Kroger ....anywhere I can get a deal.
I think the only overindulgence I have in my pantry is cookbooks. Oy. At one time I had well over 150. I culled and sold a lot of them in a garage sale, but I've been slowly collecting others. It's a sickness, I tell ya.
I try and keep 3 of each cake mix - yellow, white and chocolate. And then one to two cans of Crisco. And powdered sugar, whatever I've got.
At the moment, I'm stocking up on marshmallows because they're $1 a bag. (Campfire brand no less!)
I have too much cereal from feeding the 6'4" 18 year old son. It takes up a lot of room in the pantry! LOL
And I need to seriously clean out my spice cabinet. There's old stuff in there that could go bye bye.
Melvira, your pantry is impressive!
I think the only overindulgence I have in my pantry is cookbooks. Oy. At one time I had well over 150. I culled and sold a lot of them in a garage sale, but I've been slowly collecting others. It's a sickness, I tell ya.
I try and keep 3 of each cake mix - yellow, white and chocolate. And then one to two cans of Crisco. And powdered sugar, whatever I've got.
At the moment, I'm stocking up on marshmallows because they're $1 a bag. (Campfire brand no less!)
I have too much cereal from feeding the 6'4" 18 year old son. It takes up a lot of room in the pantry! LOL
Melvira, your pantry is impressive!
$100 a week for a family of 6??? OmG!!!
I shop once a week and spend about $150 - $200 a week (which includes cat food/litter and any paper products too) for a family of 4. We eat or take all our meals. Maybe it's what I buy, but I buy generic canned goods (just tomat products) but I buy only organic cage free eggs and organic milk and the equivalent in organic in meats. I buy lots of fresh veggies, but only those that are on sale and good quality and in summer, from the farmer's market.
We don't eat hot dogs or the like because crap in is crap out. I think the stuff that gets us are the snacks. I buy high protein nutrition bars, graham crackers, wheat thins, and the like. Plus, I always buy nice whole grain bread.
I guess food is the one area I'm not willing (nor is DH) to sacrifice. We don't got out to eat more than once a month, we take our meals to work/school, and I buy clothes and the like Marshalls or the like and consignment shops or ebay.
I was so pumped to buy baking pans 50% off at AC moore today! yay!
I will have to find a way to organize my baking supplies because they are beginning to take over my kitchen island which drives DH nuts!
melissa
yeah the low fat and whole grain stuff will get ya that's for sure!! I just make sure that each week only consists of One or two "expensive" meals.....like lasagna or something that requires more expensive ingredients.....I find ways to make food stretch belive me LOL soups and stews are a lifesaver!! We never eat out either......honestly we've ordered out........maybe 2 time THIS YEAR! We went out to a restaurant ONCE and that was for our anniversary...my DH was single for a while before we got together so he ate out all the time and loves home cooked food! I on the other hand don't mind eating out cuz we never do it....but it's expensive and I always end up saying.....40 hot wings for 20 dollars??? i could make 50 for like 8 bucks!! then I get stuck making them LOL Oh well.....
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