Cooking... How do women do it?!!?

I feel a strange urge to blog about my recent adventure in learning to cook... Strange because I haven't blogged in FOREVER! My poor family has to put up with my cooking, and after this long I'm surprised we are all still alive!!! So after nearly 10 years of my family putting up with spaghetti, tacos, chicken and rice and chicken rolls, and eating out the rest of the time, my family finally told me I needed to do something else! Our budget told me that too... Nikki's friends seem so good at cooking and managing a budget she asked one of them to help me.

Rachel has been so awesome! (Tebbs' family blog link on the side...) Taking my dumb questions, giving me recipes, tips, and even letting me watch her cook so I could learn something!!! The first thing she told me about was a website: dealstomeals.com... it takes the local adds and creates a menu (including recipes) for that weeks deals. I can also create a shopping list of the weeks deals that I can print out and take to the store. I was soooo intimidated! I had heard of price matching before, but didn't have the guts to try... I can't believe now how easy it really is, and I can't believe I am admitting this, but it is actually a rush when I'm at the register trying to put groceries in the cart and keep track of which item is coming up next and the sale price!!! I go to Walmart because they price match, and many of the items that aren't on sale that week, tend to be cheaper.

Cooking can be a pretty thankless job, and discouraging... I have found it very difficult to please everyone's tastes, and when I do I want to keep making that dish over and over, but I have to resist or they'll get sick of it... It is such a challenge to find new recipes, especially ones that I think everyone will eat. I have even tried some that I was afraid no one but me would eat... It actually feels good when I put a meal on the table that everyone seems to like, and eat well. On the other hand it gets discouraging when I have several meals that don't really turn out and nobody eats them...

Planning a weeks worth of meals, and shopping once a week has saved me so much time!!! It has also saved me a lot of money, and a lot of stress! Now I just need to get used to being in the kitchen... My poor family... :)