How many of you plan your menus around what’s on sale at the grocery store each week?\u00c2\u00a0 I’ve been planning my menus (a week at a time) for a long time, and I’m back to reviewing the sale ads and clipping coupons after a long baby-induced hiatus.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m fed up with spending $200 a week on groceries (for 2 adults and a 14 month old….ridiculous, right?)\u00c2\u00a0 Groceries are such an easy place to cut back spending, and all it takes is a little planning.\u00c2\u00a0 Now don’t go rolling your eyes at me.\u00c2\u00a0 Keep reading…this is not really a lecture on how you should plan your menus, but a tale of caution about the pitfalls of over-planning.<\/p>\n
This week I read online at one of my couponing sites that pork loin was on sale at my grocery store.\u00c2\u00a0 “Woo hoo!”, I thought, “we love pork loin, and I’m getting tired of all this chicken and ground beef.\u00c2\u00a0 Bring on the pork loin!”\u00c2\u00a0 So I eagerly planned not one but TWO meals this week with pork loin.\u00c2\u00a0 And off to the store I went, with my list of sale items and coupons in hand.\u00c2\u00a0 After buckling The Littlest Apple into the cart, I realized that I failed to grab my grocery list.\u00c2\u00a0 List of sale items, yes, but the more important grocery list, no.\u00c2\u00a0 With a very short window-of-opportunity for shopping with my Littlest Apple (a ticking time bomb), I decided against my better judgment to press on and get as much as I could remember from the list.\u00c2\u00a0 Then, when I reached the meat section, the pork tenderloin, the star of my menu….NOT on sale.\u00c2\u00a0 As my Littlest Apple kicked off his shoes for the 30th time in 5 minutes and threw his pretzel to the ground, I tried to wrap my brain around what to do.\u00c2\u00a0 Do I buy something else that is on sale and come up with new dinner ideas on the fly?\u00c2\u00a0 Do I buy the pork at full price?\u00c2\u00a0 You see, I probably rely a little too heavily on my lists and my planning.\u00c2\u00a0 When things don’t go as planned, I get all out of sorts.\u00c2\u00a0 I don’t have a spontaneous bone in my body, except maybe my little toe.\u00c2\u00a0 As you’ve probably surmised from the title of this post, I bought the pork anyway at full price.\u00c2\u00a0 This recipe makes me so glad that I did!<\/p>\n
The recipe comes from Kristin at You Got Served<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 Kristin’s blog is new to me, but packed with delicious recipes.\u00c2\u00a0 I especially love her posts that include the full menus.\u00c2\u00a0 Those are great!\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 This pork is excellent and easy to make.\u00c2\u00a0 I love that you can just use one skillet and move it from the stove-top to the oven.\u00c2\u00a0 This makes a lot of meat, so I’m freezing half of mine with the glaze.\u00c2\u00a0 I’ll provide an update later on how it tastes reheated from the freezer.<\/p>\n
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