Food Shopping (or advanced project management for domestic engineers))

As I am currently not in the 'real world' but wallowing in what my husband refers to as 'leisure time' (you can imagine how that goes down with yours truely..).I thought that I would share the advanced skills that the domestic engineer is required to have when planning the weekly shop for a family of four. Having been a senior project manager in a big PLC, I know the pressures behind any project. The three limiting factors: time, money (or budget) and scope creep. The latter is when as the project begins, requirements start to increase, which then puts pressure on the other two limiting factors.

So initially, one needs to see what resources already exist within the area covered by the project (which we will refer from now on as WS project - Weekly Shop) This requires a look within cupboards, fridge, freezer, and treat cupboard. Now if you are of a certain type of managment style, (a 'reflector' or team player) you might make of note of what is missing and what you need more of. However, if you are of the 'shaper', or risk-taker ilk, you will not bother to take a note and rely on your amazing ability to retain only the information that you think is a priority. So for an example, remember there is no chocolate for you, or cereals for the kids, forget the corned beef for the husband. If you are a 'plant' or a creative, you wont bother to take a look at all, as you will be looking for inspiration once you get your shopping destination. If you are a born entrepreneur, then you have no time to think about shopping and have already either ordered it online, or got someone else to do it for you. Life is too short to worry about such trivialities when you have the world to conquer. Having had my management style assessed several times over the years, I have been red, green and yellow, a shaper, chairman with plant tendencies and the latest was a working-dog crossed with guard-dog. So I apply what I know of my personal strengths and weaknesses in a quick SWOT analysis in my head, and decide what is required. This does mean sometimes that I do forget things. The big win, is, that it saves time and I can head out of the door preety sharpish (therefore on time). Of course, like with any project, there are left-fielders that come in. This morning it was youngest son saying he had run out of toothpaste, and husband after some beers, as I never remember to buy him any drink. (I always remember my wine, though..)

The next thing is to think about budget. Now last week, was record-breaking. I was under budget by £30 and have no idea how I managed that, but at the management meeting (dinner, Monday night) I shared the good news with the Non-exec but nosey director of our domestic establishment (my husband). "Well, perhaps", (his response was,)"we could be under-budget every week". Of course, these statements are meaningless. It was the end of the month, and I was hiding the turnover figures of the last 4 weeks, so I did cut down...

Now, if you shop online, or scan your shopping, you have a pretty good idea of how close you are to budget, but I am a 'risk-taker' and I enjoy the thrill of taking a bet, once its uploaded onto the conveyor, of how much I have spent. Of course to get to this point I have gone through numerous permutations, calculations, the recipe book in my head, the social committments for the family that week, and the latest fads and dislikes of my two children. Of course, there does tend to be scope creep when thinking about what meals you are to plan. Sometimes a good piece of fish, or meat can turn my plans on their head, or there is an offer and I can't refuse it. I obviously do shop for four, and as we don't eat out and the kids have sandwiches, that does mean that I am responsible for providing nutritious meals with some choice three times a day, seven days a week. It works out at eighty-four meals. The dog and cat are easy, they eat the same thing all the time. Now, you may say, that if I cooked the same thing for everybody, then I could cut down my meal variations. Yes, two or three times a week, we eat as a family and have the same food. However, my children's palates are not as evolved as mine, and occasionally I want food that is not boring and has taste. My husband would live on nursery food, if he was allowed a choice, but he isn't as I do the shopping and the cooking, so he has to indulge me with eating healthy, Low GI, tasty concoctions and not just pie and mash every night. Breakfasts are good at the moment, eldest son eats the same thing every morning, and for a change so is younger son. This is novel, as when he was little, he hated breakfast. Under pressure as a mother, he then got the biggest choice of breakfast delights, so that he would just eat something, and so, like all habits, they are fixed and I have to keep a smorgasbord of delights so that he will eat something. Yes, I am the fool, but sometimes, life is just too short to be perfect mother all the time.

Scope creep does kick in around the drinks aisle. There, I have said it. A lovely fizz on offer, gets my vote, as does a really good pinot noir. Sometimes an extra bottle gets put in, in case we have guests who pop over. The worst type of scope creep is when you are dawdling around the aisles and you remember that you are out of dishwasher tablets or washing powder. Its expensive, it eats into wine and nice meals budget, but it needs to be done. Having tried cheap dishwasher tablets, they are a false economy, so like any project I have been involved with, if you pay peanuts, or go for cheaper quality, you end up paying the price somewhere down the line.

Anyway, having just read what I have written, I am going to stop here and get a life (well walk the dog) Perhaps I am obsessing too much? Or perhaps, all us domestic engineers just need a rant now and then so that those in the 'real world' realise that our skills are not wasted or dormant and if given the chance, we could run a PLC or INC as good as anyone who is in the job at the moment!!!

 

Posted with Blogsy