Shopping Tips

So there were a few comments about my poll (which has now been removed) and how I spend so little money at the grocery store. A few months ago, my SIL asked me the same thing and I emailed her a list of "my secrets." I thought I would share a modified version of that email to appease your curiosity. Mostly it comes down to having a budget and a plan.

1- I sit down with the ads and my recipe file each week and plan out a menu based on what is on sale. I never buy ANYTHING unless it is on sale. I try to do all of my shopping at one store so I don't go crazy running around with the kids, so whichever supermarket has the most of what I want on sale is the store I go to that week. I'm trying the coupon thing too but I'm not that good at it and it mostly helps me get a little more food for my money, rather than a huge savings. MoneySavingMom.com is a great site to help match up sales and coupons.

2- I generally know the prices of what we eat a lot, so I can tell if it's a good sale or if I should wait for another week. I only buy cereal if it's under $2 a box, yogurt if it's less than $0.50 a cup, etc. Then I try to stock up at the cheap price. (You can freeze a lot of stuff like bread, milk and cheese too). A lady at church says she never has to buy anything on a need basis, only on a "this is the cheapest price I can get this product for" basis; someday I would like to be that good. If you never run out of diapers, you won't be making extra trips to the store and forking out more money than necessary and ruining your budget.

3- I do a lot of brand comparisons. Most stores are good about telling you how much something costs per ounce on their little tags (if they don't have tags I whip out the calculator on my phone. Seriously). So I always go for the least expensive item per ounce even if it means buying a little bit bigger bottle than I need right then. It also means buying generic sometimes, but sometimes the brand name is on sale for less than the generic. And, I try to remember to get rain checks if they are out of something I want or substitute another item for the item that was on sale.

4- I only spend $10 out of the $50 on produce. I would like to have my kids eat more fruits and vegetables, but they are expensive and so I can't put as much money into that or we wouldn't have enough for everything else.

5- I rarely buy junk food like chips, candy or ice cream. The only time we have dessert is for FHE. Treats around here are chocolate milk or popcorn on Movie Fridays. Or lately we're into frozen Go-Gurts. I don't get already put together meals either. It's so convenient to pop a frozen lasagna in the oven but a lot cheaper to make it yourself. Often Keith complains that we have nothing to eat, but it's really that we don't have anything "ready to eat." Most stuff around here has to be made.

6- My menus are pretty simple (though sometimes lacking in variety). Breakfast mainly consists of cereal or instant oatmeal. I don't buy a lot of lunch food, we generally eat leftovers from dinner the night before. I do keep PB&J on hand, and occasionally we have Mac 'n' cheese or turkey sandwiches. We also eat a lot of quesadillas! Dinner is the meal I spend the most money and focus on.

7- I try to stretch the expensive ingredients. I only use one chicken breast in a casserole and usually I split a 9x13 casserole into two 8x8 pans, eat one and freeze the other for another day. Or split a 1 lb package of hamburger into two meals. We probably shouldn't eat so many carbs, but pasta and rice are good filler foods!

8- And really, it just comes down to sticking to the budget. I know I only have so much money to spend so I walk around the store adding everything up in my head. "Bananas $2 + celery $1.50 (I always round up to the nearest half dollar to try and account for tax) is $3.50. Plus bread is $5, etc" It's a great mental exercise, especially when you start throwing in those BUY 8 save $4 sales because you have to keep track of how much you are spending and how many items you have, plus entertain the kids. Once I get to $50 I have to quit or start putting things back that are not entirely necessary so I can get the stuff I do need. There are some tough choices sometimes, but I've done it enough that now Addison knows we don't have money for everything we want and even explains to Charlotte that we're getting this instead of that because it's not as expensive.

I admit that my budget may have to increase soon. My kids are getting older and eating more, but the principles will remain the same. Do you have any helpful hints for grocery shopping?