Somehow now we have to get from a nice, tidy menu list to actual food in the larder with which to prepare said.
And if you're like me, with a strong preference for reading a book, taking a nap, or really anything other than figuring this stuff out — and, to boot, you have a bunch of kids, no money, and a little homeschooling thrown in, you might like to know how to approach the grocery list.
(Nota bene: In our area of the country we have high food prices and no Aldis or other discount-type stores I read about on other blogs. If you have these, lucky you! I am really jealous.)
Do you know your grocery stores well? Really?
To know your stores well, you must know your prices! Many books recommend keeping a price notebook, which is very helpful (until you eventually memorize them!). Why? Let me show you something.
This place has a name that is designed to appeal to people like you and me, making us think we will save money there. And indeed, their flyer prominently displays seemingly amazing deals. Pork chops for 99 cents? Chicken legs for 35 cents? Cheap. (Well, around here it is.) But I'm telling you, everything else in that store is much more than even at “Elegant Market”.
See this? They are making you go nuts over their Hellman's, which is really just the regular price! Here at my local, not particularly cheap, market it's 50 cents cheaper!
And this price for eggs is on the cover of their flyer, give me a break! At the two places I usually shop, the normal price for eggs is $1.45 a dozen. It just makes me mad. They are assuming you don't know the price of eggs! Do you?
If you did your weekly shopping at this evil store, you would spend a lot more than anywhere else, regardless of the bargains. And I bet those pork chops are not cut right. Stay away from this type of place — it's simply not worth your time.
Back to planning.
Now, before I go anywhere, I take my fabulous weekly menu list which is usually, at this point, 0nly partially filled out. I've put in meals that I must have this week because
1) something needs to be eaten or it will spoil,
2) someone needs some particular dish or he will expire (“Make meatball subs or I will expire!”), and
3) something in my freezer might as well be taken advantage of because nothing like it is on sale this week.
Buy low, sell high.
I need the grocery store flyers for the week handy– of the stores I know I want to go to (not that other, evil one). I see what's a good price and make my remaining menus around these things.
(You do realize you can put together any menu you want. Your Master List is for those moments when you can't think for whatever reason. It's there so you don't churn your wheels every week, getting deeper into a rut. If you are inspired and feeling creative, go for it! You are the Lord of the list.)
Aha! I see my handy local market has ham for 79 cents a pound — we are having ham for Sunday dinner next week for sure. If nothing else, buy at least one for the freezer.
You should quickly be able to fill your menu list with foods that you either already have on hand that you “bought low” or with things you will “buy low” this week. In a few weeks, you should be able to do most of your shopping with sale items only, or at least at your targeted low price.
Now examine every item on every menu. Do you have enough flour to make this week's bread? Do you have enough beans for the soups you've planned? Celery? Noodles? And so on down the list. Nothing worse than realizing you can't make something because you lack an ingredient…
Once you have all the items for the menus, go over your needs for other meals and snacks. You should have some idea how many eggs, gallons of milk, boxes of crackers, etc. you go through during the week. If not, there's something to observe in the next month and ascertain. All that goes on the list, and off you go!
This is your main shopping at the store that has the best overall prices. You can stop at a store for just some specials if it is more or less on your way to somewhere else. And I have a store that I wouldn't want to get everything at, but does have good unadvertised markdowns on meat, so I'll do a little stop there.
If you are lucky, you have a kid who enjoys scouring the flyers for the good prices, understands unit pricing, and gets the lowest regular price idea. His reward is that he will come across something he wants that you might have overlooked, and he can put it on your list. I once had someone like this. It made list-making so much easier!
Ladies, keep in mind that if you are spending hundreds of dollars a month on groceries, you need to think big. Saving a buck here or there isn't as important as saving ten cents on everything you buy (look at your receipt to see how many items you bought. If you are like me, and it's in the hundreds, just think about that!), or many bucks on all your meat or produce. Don't wear yourself out and use up a lot of fuel running around, and don't go to a place just because it's closest. Don't be tricked by their sexy flyers. Use your common sense and your price notebook!
I have more tips and my take on coupons and big box stores in Worksheet IV.
Christine says
I totally agree with the idea of saving $.10 on everything you buy. It's easy to justify, oh it's just $.10, but yes, that all adds up to big money!
Keri says
(Psst – thanks for the bigger pic of your embroidered roosters. LOVE 'em!)
Jen - Balancing beau says
Great post…if people only had a clue at how much money they could save, it they just looked at prices. I had a good friend of mine just tell me, she doesn't price compare…she just picks a can or jar off the grocery shelves? WHAT? I asked if she looked at individual brands at least and bought the cheaper one…..no! My mouth was open for minutes, I'm sure. 🙂
Elizabeth says
I am loving your series… it really is what I *used* to do, but somehow got off track. What got me off track was 3 things… 1) Using coupons; 2) My husband getting very involved in our grocery shopping and coupon usage; and 3) feeling overwhelmed in my personal life circumstances, following a move, not being able to sell our old house, etc., basically financial and emotional stress. I got lured in by all the promises of how much $$ coupons would save us, though I do not believe it saved us any money at all! And did not help our eating habits, and really stressed us out because I hate dealing with coupons, so my dh became involved in creating elaborate coupon databases, and I didn't want to hurt his feelings by not using coupons given his hard work.Our acute financial pressure eased this summer, though of course we still want to be frugal and reasonable in our shopping like everyone these days. So we kept with the coupons. But about 2 weeks ago, my dh (emphasize DEAR) said "Do you like doing coupons?" When I confessed how much I hated them he said, "Let's just stop clipping them. Forget about them altogether." So that's what we're doing, going back to relying on our originial strategy of knowing our stores and stocking up at good prices, without being OBSESSIVE about it. It became a quality of life issue with us… I need to be able to handle it myself because I don't want my dh spending time messing with it, though he might still help with shopping time to time because he enjoys it.I also used to weekly menu plan in the way that you have, but I lacked your devotion to not eating out. But now that we are paying for two children plus ourselves, I'm getting on board with limiting eating out. FTR, our eating out has always been in our *entertainment* budget… I'd rather save that $$ for a family vacation or buy some books each month or pay for lessons for my girls than blow it all on eating out these days. When we were younger and I was in graduate school we got in the habit of eating out 1-3 nights a week, and continued eating out that often after kids. My goal is to get it down to once a week, then twice a month. My dh is adamant that he does want to eat out occassionally, so we will probably do it if we are out shopping for convenience sake. But I'm trying to cut out fast-food altogether and chose more interesting places to eat- sometimes they have better options for my girls anyway, who won't eat anything at McDonald's, for example!So, this must be the longest comment I've ever left. But this series of posts has been extremely helpful to me, getting back on track. Thanks so much! 🙂
Elizabeth says
Oh, and we did cut way back on eating out during our financial crisis, and only ate out with coupons, but went back to our old ways once we had more funds available. So I know we *can* eat out less, but the key for me is changing the mindset of our family so that it becomes something we enjoy doing! Now that my girls enjoy being in the kitchen with me, I try to include them, and give them fun dinner time jobs. I'm investing a little $$ in some nice table cloths, and fun placemats for the girls. So I'm trying to create an enjoyable experience eating at home, not just throw something on the table and be done with it. Hopefully I can do this even more as my 5 yo & 2 yo can participate more over time. :)There, I'm done commenting. For now. *grin*Found your blog via Meredith as well, I wanted to mention!
Leila says
Thanks for these encouraging comments!Hey, I enjoy eating out too! I think the key is to MEAN to eat out, not to do it because we just didn't get around to planning that meal. It should be a choice, in full knowledge of the consequences, namely, that you will spend almost as much eating out one night as your food budget for the week, most likely. In my book, it better be GOOD! 🙂
Kate says
I totally agree about having to know your prices. I do my best and try to keep up with the latest prices etc.My sister doesn't and it drives me mad when she tells me she has bought x y and z and I know she has paid too much but she just can't be bothered to look around, but absolutely loves to tell me how broke she is. what can you do.
LawlerFamilyStalker says
This blog is very true! I find it fascinating how much my mother saves on her groceries with her buying bulk/ watching sales/ stocking piling when things are cheap methods. Especially because in college with haphazard parties we're always paying full price for everything- it's a world of difference!
Dawn in SC says
I found your blog today via Meredith of Merchant ships.I am the mom of 10 kids; the oldest has moved out on his own.Ages still at home are 18 down to 2.I am loving this series. I have not been doing a good job of cooking every night. Sad to say, we do lots of sandwiches, cereal, toast, bagels, etc. Probably at least a couple nights most weeks. Some weeks I do better. :)I am definitely learning here though. Thank you for how detailed you are in your posts. That is so helpful!I can't wait to read more on this subject.Thankfully, I have a laundry system that works beautifully for us! Now, to get the meals under control…Dawn in SC
Barb says
I am loving your menu planning series. I do okay when it comes to menu planning, but so often, once a week, I feel like I could have spent more time planning/anticipating rather than reacting. I'm using your series to do my planning up front and put the meal prep on auto pilot.I agree with you about people not paying attention to the unit pricing. It kills me when people tell me they buy something because they had a coupon for it or because such an such a store had the best prices. Question everything, people!BTW, I've been very successful using coupons in my area because we have a store that has a wonderful triple coupon policy. I'm also able to use coupons for many items at a local grocery outlet. But, not everyone has the same resources and we all have to figure out what works best for our area and family.
Pippajo says
Once again, you've hit the nail right on the head! I used to have a price book, but I have pretty much memorized what the price of most things should be. I used to do the all-day, stopping at five different stores to maximize my savings shopping blitzes, but that got to be too overwhelming. So now I go to one store and shop the circular, buying everything according to my menu and unit price. Even Redheaded Snippet does it. She has corrected her father a few times, pointing out that the store brand is a lot cheaper per ounce and just as good as the name brand he has in his hand, ready to put in the grocery cart. Thankfully, he is impressed by that and not insulted.I rarely use coupons either, especially the ones they tease you with in the stores! Have you seen them with their obtrusive boxes and red lights flashing? They look so enticing and then you pull one out and it's always, "Save 10 cents on THREE boxes of our wildly overpriced product"! Ridiculous. I can usually save more money shopping my way than if I use coupons for all those fancy name brands.Finally, I wish I could find Nutella on sale. I could really use some right now.
Suki says
Inquiring minds want to know…who was the kid who liked to go through the circulars?Rosie thinks it was either her or Will.I think it was either me or Will.So we're guessing Will.Are we right?
Leila says
Will was not the one I had in mind, although he did do a good job, what with his money-oriented turn of mind.No, it was Joseph who truly delved into this task. Every week he pored over the flyers, making me a list of good bargains and marked down treats. He would then post the menu for the day on the refrigerator in letter magnets. Remember that? Cute.
Dawn says
Well, we did it!! Tonight, my hubby and I sat down and wrote out 25 meals. Not just the meat; but 25 full meals like you suggest. I am so amazed at how easy it was. And my dear husband is always so happy to help me with things like this.He was enjoying plugging all our ideas in for meals.Now to divvy them up into cheap and not so cheap!! Thanks…I am inspired! Dawn in SC
claire says
I saw "tomato paste" on your list & it made me think of this… I have a lot of recipes that call for 1 tsp or a tablespoon of tomato paste. I often found myself buying little can after little can of tomato paste, using a tablespoon & then it would go unused until finally I had to throw it out because it got moldy.Buying tomato paste in a tube is so much easier to deal with! Measuring it is simpler & I end up buying it less often, because I have an airtight seal. Anyway, just thought I'd share that.
Jennifer says
Claire, if you get this comment…I recently got a tip to spoon out tablespoon size dollops of tomato paste on a cookie sheet and freeze them and then just plop the the frozen blobs in recipes that call for a small amount of tomato paste and that way you don't have any waste.
Deirdre says
Just read through these comments again…Does it surprise any of us that Joe is now a economics and policy journalist, given his pricing methods at, what, age 9? Hilarious.
Lauren Frisch says
I love to see your girls commenting on your posts, it really is a family blog. 🙂 And a beautiful family at that. Thank you so much for allowing us to join you here. My mother, bless her heart, has many gifts but cooking is not one of them. We had a rotating menu of about seven meals including spaghetti, grilled chicken breasts, and Hamburger Helper (us kids were usually in charge of that). My mother-in-law is a great cook, and my husband has been patient as I've stumbled around the kitchen these first few years, but I am so grateful to have found you. Thank you for describing the whole process in detail. It's absolutely wonderful!I have you and Jo from Little Women to hold as hope that someday I can also be a reasonably successful homemaker. 🙂 Thank you!