My house is, for the most part, kid friendly. My kitchen is not. I eat strange things. I go to the grocery store every few days to pick up whatever I fancy. I don't keep a stocked pantry.
I was babysitting a bunch of kids at my house a few months ago, and I had lunch all set for them but assumed they'd be going home for dinner. I got a text from their mother around 5:30 asking if I could feed them dinner. They ate an assortment of granola bars, fruit salad, and old crackers. It's not a kid-ready kitchen.
So today I went to the grocery store to stock up for a week's worth of kid time. I got to use the full-size cart, which was very exciting until about the fourth time I got stuck between two other full-size carts in an aisle. I made a list. A typed list. With foods grouped into store sections. (I felt very fancy checking things off said list as I sailed through the store with my big grown up cart) I could post that list here, but I can't figure out a way to make it look nice, so I won't. I planned out all the menus for the week. And typed it up. And posted it on the inside of the pantry door. Very fancy. I bought organic everything, even down to the super-not-filled-with-chemicals hot dogs and the made-fresh-this-morning tortillas.
And I will never do that again. Turns out organic food is craaaazy expensive. I knew it was more expensive, but when I bought for just me, it really only meant an extra 20 cents per bag of frozen blueberries. Buying organic everything really racked the price up. Plus, I shop every few days, so I spend $30 or so each trip and it seems like not much. Stocking up for a family for a week, with all the chemical/hormone/preservative free foods was a whopping $200. It was a shock.
Granted, there are ways to trim the cost. I bought easy to prepare stuff because I knew I wouldn't have time to really cook this week. And I probably overbought on a bunch of things because I wasn't sure how much would be enough. Plus I was stocking a virtually empty pantry. To do this every week, I'd have to learn to be more savvy and take better advantage of store sales and such.
And there's the other thing. Yes, it was awesome to have all the meals planned and the grocery list printed and practically color coded. But that took me an hour to prep this morning, and another hour and a half to get to the store, get the stuff, and get home again. I'm betting most moms don't have a spare two and a half hours to mess around with columns in Microsoft Word.
Today was a learning experience, definitely. I'm betting the next grocery store trip will be even more enlightening. And to the moms who shop with their kids, I'm impressed.
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