At the end of April, I hosted a coffee for our weekday moms about how to save money on our grocery budgets. I put together some of my ideas, did some research and then after the coffee, added the ideas that the moms gave. So I thought I would share with you what we came up with. I started this because my 9 year old is beginning to eat like a teenager and my 2 year old is beginning to eat like a boy and I am running out of food, but there is no more money on the money tree. So I have got to get better about saving money so it will go farther. So without further adu, here is part 1!
Going Prepared! You will save money if you have a detailed list when you go!
1. Making a Menu
· Some people do it weekly, some everyday of the month. I just make a list of about 20 meals for the month and buy everything for them. Our lives are too crazy to plan that far ahead, but I always know that I can look at my list, and pick a meal that I have the ingredients for.
· Make a list of meals your family likes, write the cookbook and page # it is on as your master list. Then once a month, pick your meals off the master list and write them on one side of a piece of paper, make a list of ingredients on the back of the paper and then transfer that to your grocery list. I am in the middle of transferring all of my recipes to one book so I don't have to go through cookbooks, or you can put them on the computer.
· Some magazines have a monthly calendar of meals.
· www.e-mealz.com
· Have a family meeting to decide what meals you will eat. Kids usually eat better when they have had a say in the meal.
2. Making a LIST!
· You will spend 54% more when you go without a list!
· Make a permanent list on your computer and print it out.
· There are lots of websites to help. Just google “grocery list”.
· www.grocerylists.org/ultimatest/
· www.freeprintablegrocerylist.com/
· www.kitchenmonki.com - let’s you upload recipes, and menus, which translates into a list, which can be sent to your phone!
· grocery gadget app or wonderlist app for your smartphone
· organize your list by aisles in the store
· www.foodonthetable.com
(I have just spent an hour trying to figure out how to put a link to my own personal shopping list I have made, in order of aisles at my Walmart, but am not computer savvy enough to figure it out. If you would like a copy of mine, email me, facebook me or comment with your email address and I can email it to you.)
Stay tuned for more in the next few days...
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2 comments:
Just got back from Kroger and our first attempt at couponing. I have always had a weekly meal plan but this time prepared a week ahead of time and checked the sales and my coupons. We save 27.97 today which isn't amazing but I think is pretty good for my first time. Thanks for the post...I will need all the help I can get to pinch our pennies now that I will be staying home.
I just went to Walmart today too, since my husband was off work and I could go without any kids. I decided I would try and stock up on stuff so maybe I can get down to 1 major trip a month like you do! That would be so much easier on our schedule and my sanity, to just make 1 big trip a month (without kids) and only need an occasional quick trip as needed when I do have all 3 kids, which is most of the time. I dread going with them all, mostly due to figuring out who gets to sit where, and where I'm going to put all the food in the cart....
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