I am going to begin a series on helping you save on groceries. Over the last few weeks I have had several friends ask me how I save. I will be honest with you, it is not always easy and there is work involved, but it is worth it! The biggest question I get is “Where do I start?” If you are like me, you learn best by doing things yourself in a step-wise fashion. I hope I can give you tips each week of steps to follow to increase your savings.
As I have said before, we are a family of 9 and have a grocery budget of $50-$75 per week. I was holding a steady average of about $50 per week until prices shot up again. Now, there are some weeks where I may spend as much as $75. I have always used coupons, but when I began serious couponing, I reduced my grocery budget drastically. We also eat natural, organic, and local grown foods too, so it is not like I am purchasing mac and cheese each week or living on beans or rice. However, we do LOVE beans and rice!
Beginning Steps to Save
- Step 1: Survey what you already have.
Take stock of your pantry and freezer as well as your garden and anywhere else you have food. Know what you have available. It may be impossible to know at all times everything which is available, but try to know basics. Knowing what you have on hand makes menu preparation much simpler as well as preventing waste! “Waste not want not!”
Making a menu should be a simple step, but it is often overlooked. If you make a DETAILED menu of what you will eat for the week, it should help keep you eating meals at home and avoid high costs of eating out.
After you survey your food storage, begin a menu with what you have on hand. I go to the store a certain day every week, so my menu typically begins with the grocery store day and ends the following week. However, on my blog I just post for the week at hand. If you can find enough things to cook without even going to the store, you have already saved!
- Step 3: Make a list of needed essentials for your menu or your household. You may be out of toilet paper which is an essential!
- Step 4: Scan your sales papers for sales on the items you need. If there are not any sales, you have two options. One pay full price or two, move to step 5.
- Step 5: Plan the remainder of your menus based on what is on sale at the stores in your area. For instance, if there is a sale on Cereal, but you wanted to have Oatmeal for breakfast but have no oatmeal, then modify your menu to include the sales.
- Step 6: Make your grocery list fit within your budget. If you do not already have a budget made, go back to before step one and set aside a budget for groceries. Stick to this budget. Sometimes it is difficult to stick to one with grocery prices always changing; therefore, leave yourself a little wiggle room.
- Step 7: If you have any money leftover from your budget, either keep it to add to the next week or next time you shop, or you can stash it away in a savings account or put toward paying down debt.
Above are the beginning steps. I hope to take each step and expound on them more to help you have even more savings! Hopefully, this post will get you started! More info to come, hopefully this week!
All ingredients in this menu are already in my pantry except for the beef! 
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-$1/2 Del Monte Fruit Naturals or Superfruit cups, RP11/07 
