Planning is the most important part of the process. Planning ahead enables you to purchase groceries when they are at their lowest prices in the grocery cycle. For example, there are 2 10lb. tubes of hamburger in this tub. They were both on sale at some point in the last couple of months. We stock up on items like taco seasoning, barbecue sauce, pasta, and spaghetti sauce when they are on sale and we try to pair the sale price with coupons from the paper or coupon websites. Planning ahead and stockpiling will prevent you from having to buy a boatload of groceries the weekend of. The first time we did this, we hadn't planned ahead and spent about triple what we usually do for a weeks worth of groceries. That'll kill your budget and it also takes a lot more time!
Katy does the majority (actually all) of the menu planning and I help where I can. And by that I mean I suggest healthful options...like chili dogs. This usually earns me an eye roll and a "Did you even take health class in high school?"
Planning a menu for a week is tough, for a month can be a nightmare. But, it doesn't have to be. Plan on eating most of your meals twice per month. The first time we did our OAMC, we only used a couple of recipes twice and it made it take a looooot longer. Also, you don't need to have every meal in the freezer. Obviously most people eat out once in a while, there are also meals that you don't need to fix ahead. We serve broiled fish once per week, grill a lot throughout the summer months, and we love a good frozen pizza! We'll post our menu for September soon.
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