1. Start out with a
list .
Making a shopping list may seem obvious, but there are
actually more people than you may realize that don’t use a list. Even if you think you can remember everything
without writing it down, I still recommend creating a list. Focusing on your list will blur out unnecessary
promotions and other distractions, making your shopping trip faster and help
you stay within your budget.
I’ve gone to the grocery store many times where I find new things
on the end caps. End caps are there to
show you items in the store that may easily be thrown into the cart without a
second thought. I wish I could blame my
husband for the times where unnecessary items have been thrown into my cart,
but he’s not the shopper -- I am. I have
been guilty of buying items I didn’t plan for, and items we don’t usually eat. For me, focusing on my list distracts me just
enough to curb my temptation to spend extra money.
If you need help making a list, there are many websites
similar to savvyshopperdeals.com, where lists can be generated according to
store sale items that you select.
Savvyshopperdeals.com has so far my first choice. It’s easy to navigate and it allows you to
narrow search results down to specific categories or price groups.
2. Determine what
your necessities are.
Necessities are different from household to household, so
determining what your necessities are is up to you. Necessities are items you can’t live without if
you run out suddenly. With a little
planning, most non-grocery necessities can be purchase at reduced prices.
3. Familiarize
yourself with prices.
This may seem daunting at first, but familiarizing yourself
with grocery prices will be a valuable asset.
Start with a couple items of food that you purchase consistently, and
pay attention to the price they are sold for.
After a few times of doing this, knowing the retail price and typical
sale price will soon become automatic. This will pay off greatly in the
end. Stores do have unadvertised
sales. It is to your advantage to know
whether it is a good price or not. Also,
understand that sales are not created equal.
Determine what sale prices you are willing to purchase items at. As this becomes routine for you, you will
soon pick up certain times of the year that certain products are at their
lowest price.
4. Shop around the sales, not around the meals.
Menus should be flexible.
Know what is on sale and adjust your menu according to your shopping
list. There may be that inevitable specialty item that your recipe calls
for, but the overall cost will be reduced if you only had to pay full price for
that one item. If you know you can get
ingredients at a better price, then just wait.
In my home, we go through tomatoes like crazy. The common non-sale price in my area is roughly $1.20 - $1.50/lb. While some people in my household feel that
tomatoes are a necessity, they are not.
There are plenty of other groceries I can substitute while I wait for a
better price. Most often I can purchase
tomatoes (salad, beefsteak, roma, and tomatoes on the vine) for .50/lb, once in
a while I can purchase them for .33/lb, and sometimes they will come up on sale
for .25/lb. Even if I purchase them at
.50/lb, the savings is worth it.
5. If it will save you time and money -- price match.
Yes, I know this is a touchy subject. Some people are fine with price matching
groceries, while others strongly disagree.
Determine what is more realistic for you. Is it feasible for you to run from store to
store, or is price matching more realistic?
I was never the price matching type until about two years
ago. We moved from the suburbs where
stores were within an arm’s reach, out to a more rural area. The closest grocery store is 15 minutes away
-- and this is with two light signals and no traffic. Ironically that closest store happens to be
Wal-Mart. I tried really hard my first
year at our new house to drive from store to store, but it was just crazy. It was an all day ordeal and depending on the
store’s sale, some of the items I traveled so far to buy, were out of
stock. This ended up wasting my gas,
thus lowering my food budget for the month.
If I drive to my local Wal-Mart and they don’t have the item I hoped to
buy, then I have to assess the situation:
Is it worth driving to the actual store, or can I just go without it?
6. Stock up when you can.
I always try and take $20 from my grocery budget each month
and put it in an envelope for bulk buys.
My family doesn’t eat nearly as much meat as we used to, but
when meat goes on sale, I try and stock up.
We bought a small chest freezer several years ago that we keep stocked
with meat, vegetables, and fruit.
Chicken is a most typical example.
In my area, boneless skinless chicken breasts go on sale quite a
bit. The sale price is anywhere from
$1.23/lb to $1.49/lb. I’ll purchase it
in larger quantities and store it in my freezer.
A few days ago, green bell peppers were on sale for .33 each
and I bought 9 of them. Four of them are
in my fridge and the other five I washed, diced, and stored in the freezer. Blackberries were also another item that I
stocked up on this month. They were on
sale for .88 each for a 6 oz clamshell, so I bought 12, washed 7 packages of
blackberries and froze them. Last month
I bought an extra 20 lb bag of red potatoes that was on sale for $3.00 and I
went to a local orchard that sold a bushel of irregular Fuji apples for $6.00. I don’t have a basement to store them in like
most of my neighbors, so they are in my garage, covered in a blanket for extra
protection from the cold.
Know what you can stock and what you can’t. If it is canned or boxed, make sure you can
eat through the supply before it reaches the expiration date. If it is fresh produce, know how much of it
you can buy before it goes bad. If you
are careful with choosing your apples and potatoes, they can last for a several
months if stored in a cool place. Avocados can
also last a couple of months if bought when they are green and stored in your
fridge. Set them out on your counter to ripen and they will be ready in 2-4
days.
7. Make meals from
scratch.
I have always loved a home cooked meal. For me, there is nothing better than mashed
potatoes made from actual potatoes and freshly baked rolls. It is so easy to make mashed potatoes, but it
does take a little more time than the 2 minute instant version. In the end it is more delicious, more
nutritious, and cheaper to make.
I understand that schedules are crazy and spending time
preparing a meal that takes more than 30 minutes can be almost impossible for
some people. Running to the freezer
section and grabbing an already prepared meal is so easy, but the cost adds up
fast. Replacing just one of those convenient meals with a home cooked meal is a
start.
When I was first married, Hamburger Helper and Bisquick were
my friends. Bisquick was very versatile
and Hamburger Helper was a quick meal in a box.
After a while though, the boxed dinner wasn’t very appetizing. With my mother-in-law’s help, I was able to
experiment with her recipes, making delicious biscuits and pancakes from
scratch. Now I have made my fair share
of disastrous meals, but with my husband’s enduring patience, I have been able
to find simple, healthy meals that my family enjoys.
8. Cut down on eating
out.
Frequent eating out can easily put a dent in the food
budget. If one person was to eat out for
lunch 4 times a week and limited it to $5 each time, it would cost $80/month --
$960/year before taxes. If a mother and
her two young children grabbed lunch 3 times a week, spending $13 total each
time, they would have spent $156/month. That’s
almost $2000 year for just the mother of two.
If your finances are tight, imagine what you could have done with an
extra $2000. Bringing a sack lunch or
leftovers to work is not the end of the world.
It typically costs only a fraction of what eating out would cost. It’s all about balance. Decide how much you are willing to change.
9. If you can, plant a garden.
This is a topic that I can go into detail about later. I have had three years of trial and error
with our garden. Our soil was so bad; we
couldn’t even call it soil. My husband
added a sprinkler system in our backyard our first summer, and the trenches he
dug were perfect. We didn’t ever have to
worry about them caving in because our dirt has so much clay in it. They were as hard as a rock. We have had to amend the soil and bring in
lots of compost for our garden. This
last spring was surprisingly successful.
My neighbor teased me of all the different varieties of squash we were
growing. She said that we must really
like squash. My response was that this
was our third attempt at gardening and I wanted to make sure that we were able
to grow something. Squash is supposed to
be very easy to grow, and from my experience, it is.
Experimenting with a garden is a good idea, so you can know
exactly what to do if it ever becomes a necessity. For me, tending to my garden is relaxing and
enjoyable. It lets me step away from my
kids for a moment and gives me chance to see some amazing aspects of
nature. There is no better feeling than
to see the product of your hard work and care.
For the unprofessional gardener (like me), youtube.com has very helpful
tutorials, ideas, and methods of gardening.
