Today’s guest post comes from Janelle of At Home with My Monkeys, a blogsite with lots of creative ways to be frugal. It’s a 3 parter on how to rethink your grocery shopping strategy. Here’s part I:
How do you approach grocery shopping? There are many different methods, and chances are you have
settled into the way that you shop and don’t really think much about it. You might go two or three times a week to buy a few things each time, or you might go once and buy what appeals to you. However you shop, you can most likely make a few changes and even save some money by shopping to set up a stockpile.
The basic idea of stockpiling can be overwhelming. If you’re on a tight budget, you might wonder how in the world you can ever have a stockpile. After all, you spend your budget on what you need NOW, and there isn’t anything left to spend on things you will use later. But believe it or not, you really can have a bit of a stockpile and still stay within your budget!
The first thing you need to do is look at what you have on hand. I bet you have supplies on hand for several meals, possibly the ones you plan to make this week. Make a list of the meals that you can make, along with the meals that you can make if you just have a few more ingredients. For help with this, you can visit Supercook. This site lets you key in the ingredients that you have on hand and it generates a list of recipe links for things you might make with those items. It’s really a great reference! This is your menu plan for the coming week. You will love having a plan - it saves so much time!
Now, make a list of those items you need to round out the meal plan - the meals for which you only had some of the ingredients. Look at your grocery ads for the week, and see if you can’t find some of those items on sale. If not, try to be flexible and see if you can make any menu changes to use what you have on hand, but also take advantage of sale prices. Hopefully your shopping list isn’t too long yet, because you are using what you have and filling in the gaps, rather than buying everything you need for a full week of menus. You will probably find that the list shows you will be under budget!
Stay tuned tomorrow for part II of great grocery shopping tips!
Filed under: Frugal Tips, Guest Posts
