When my husband and I got married, we made the decision that we wanted to eat dinners as a family. We felt that our society was moving away from the type of living that both of us experienced growing up. We are both old enough (35 and 37) to remember the days before cable TV, the internet, and cell phones. Our families ate dinner at a table together and talked. We did not go to restaurants several nights a week. Now that our daughters are almost 13, they don’t talk to us as much as they did before. Eating at the dinner table is our window to their world. It’s also an opportunity to pray with them on a daily basis and to teach our son manners. This is our time to turn the TV off and talk.
With this philosophy in mind, our grocery shopping trips are designed to feed our family for two weeks at a time. We buy enough meat for approximately 10-12 meals and usually anticipate eating a few meals without meat (i.e. egg sandwiches, pasta with vegetables, etc.). We generally spend $400.00 per month or less on groceries. We feed a family of 5 on this money. Therefore, we have to buy big multi-packs of chicken, pork, bison or whatever meat we’re eating. We then separate them and freeze the meat in portions designed for single meals. We eat out for dinner once every two week period and that usually runs between $40.00-$50.00 depending on where we decide to eat and whether or not there is a Kids’ Menu. Since we do not eat at a restaurant very often, it is more of an event for the kids and we usually pick a restaurant that is locally owned. Our philosophy is that we want to be a strong family and eating together gives us the best chance.