For the first year of our marriage, my attempts at grocery shopping, meal planning, and meal preparation were frustrating at best. I’d come home, exhausted, and I wouldn’t know what to cook. I had no plan, and, more often than not, we’d either run and grab something at the grocery store or, worse yet, fast food. I’d always get frustrated, too, because we always, always ran out of dinner supplies before the next pay period. The last few days were always very lean, and we usually were without milk, bread, etc. Every time I’d try to meal plan, I’d get frustrated because everything seemed so expensive, and my attempts at couponing/watching the sales weren’t working.
Finally, after a year, I began to make a serious, concentrated effort towards cutting our costs. And it worked. I officially cut our budget in half. And then in half again. Granted, the second half was extremely uncomfortable, and it’s not our ideal budget. But my process still works...regardless of the budget I have to work with. One of the most powerful things I’ve learned is that half of the battle is fought outside the grocery store…and that’s what this post is about.
Limit your trips to the grocery store
I go grocery shopping once every two weeks. I actually schedule it in my planner, and I make sure I have enough time to go to multiple grocery stores…if I need to. The only time I go to the store other than that is if there is a phenomenal sale where I can get something we need for almost free…and I can do it en route to another errand. Otherwise—no, no, no. Multiple trips to the grocery store cost more money and time…and I don’t have much of either.
Meal Plan
I have a little household notebook. In the “meals” section, I have a master list of all of the meals we eat (and, yes, it’s a bit on the short side). The next page has a list of all the recipes I want to try w/the page numbers for the recipe books. Then, after that, I have my meal planning section. Every two weeks, I pull out that book, and, in correlation with the sale ads (more on that later), I plan our meals for the next two weeks. I date it, and I can flip back to see what we’ve had previously so it’s not too repetitive.
Make a list
This seems obvious…but a list is the key to careful spending in the grocery store. I make my grocery list in correlation with my meal plan. The first thing I do is list all of our basic needs for the week—including toiletries—and their corresponding prices. I then total those prices, subtract them from my budget for the week, and then use that total to help me meal plan. I have a pretty good idea of what meals are expensive and which ones are more economical, so I balance those out. I then list everything we will need for all of those meals on the grocery list with the corresponding prices.
Be aware of sales/coupons
I cheat on this. I have a lovely website that goes through all of the sales and matches them with coupons…and tells me what is or isn’t a good deal. I don’t ever actually look at the ads myself except to clip a coupon. I always check out this website before I do my meal planning/grocery list brainstorming…which is why I usually do it on Thursdays (after the weekly ads come out). I also go back and check after I do my final list to see if any of the needed things are on sale. Finally, I split my list up according to store. Wal-mart is my default store, but I usually make a stop at Safeway, since they have better sales. If Albertson’s is having an exceptional sale, I’ll go there, and I’ll also make a run to Markdown Market once a month or so.
No comments:
Post a Comment