Stocking Up On Groceries

The Menu-Maker

This person makes menus around what the family likes to eat. Depending on how often you want to go shopping, you can make these menus span for one week up to four (or more) weeks! The key is to only shop once for all of the ingredients you'll need, eliminating "quick runs" to the grocery for a few items. Menu-Making is a great place to start if you're wanting to save money. And, by planning for at least 2 weeks at a time, you can take advantage on small bulk purchases and plan your menus around those! For basic ideas on Menu-Making and some great recipes, check out Menu Plan Mondays by I'm an Organizing Junkie.

The Flier Shopper

After you've learned the art of Menu-Making, the next step would be to use fliers and coupons. The flier shopper will watch the sales fliers from his/her favorite groceries and then plan their meals around the sale items. For example, if beef goes on an incredible sale, the flier shopper will plan their main menu entrees around the beef. New Flier Shoppers can start with something big, like meat, and then move on to include other "sales" like canned food and vegetables to incorporate into their menus. With practice, this method can be VERY rewarding...especially to your pocketbook! I would recommend visiting www.kroger.com, www.walgreens.com, and www.cvs.com for their online fliers and coupons, as well as saving the flier inserts from the local paper if you receive it!

The Stockpiler

This shopper is one who concentrates mostly about keeping their pantry stocked, rather than a menu, per se - Although, one could actually do both with great success! A stockpiler looks for the best deals on all of the food they store in their pantry and freezer, and buys those products at rock-bottom prices and sometimes in bulk (or several at a time). I highly recommend using the above methods of shopping and becoming disciplined in those before jumping into stockpiling, however, as it can become really overwhelming.

To begin, you will want to compile your most favorite and most used recipes for your family into one place. Next, you will want to make a list of your most used ingredients, as well as a list of any other ingredients you may need for your favorite recipes. As a stockpiler, you'll need both lists with you (whether in paper form or memorized) when you shop, so you can jump on the best deals as they come. You'll also need to keep track of what's in your pantry, to not only ensure your food doesn't expire, but also to make sure you don't end up with 80 cans of diced tomatoes and nothing of anything else.

Another great idea if you're interested in stockpiling is to save your receipts and then keep a price journal with normal food prices at different groceries. For example, if you plan to buy diced tomatoes, you'll want to price those tomatoes at a few different stores and then record that information. This way, when an item goes on sale, you'll know where you can buy more diced tomatoes for your money! Plus, you may find it cheaper to buy certain items in one place while others from somewhere different. (<--- This rule ONLY applies if you are close to several groceries and won't have to drive 20 miles just to check the price of a can of diced tomatoes at a different store!)

As you can see, careful planning can easily cut your food bill in half! Many couples have went from spending $500/ 2 weeks down to spending only $300/2 weeks - And, we've personally been known to get our food bill down to $50/2 weeks with a family of 3 when things have been tough.

A little planning goes a long way!