#MiserLife: Grocery Shopping

10 Grocery Store Commandments

in no particular order

1. Make a List. Stick to the List. and don't shop when you're hungry.
2. Buy the Store Brand. it's usually just as good. Exceptions include: ice cream. and sale situations which make name brands cheaper. also poptarts, but see #5 and #6 for why you shouldn't be buying those anyways.
3.  Beware of Coupons. make your list first and then check to see if you have coupons for anything on the list. saving $2 on something you don't need to buy is not saving. it's spending. that's how they getchya.
4. Buy Sale Items. but only if you were planning to buy a similar item. If you want 3 different fresh fruits and you were planning on apples, bananas, and oranges but grapes are on sale for less than the oranges, buy the grapes! I don't like stocking up and having too much in my cupboards, but if I notice that canned goods are on sale, I'll buy at least a few extra.
5. Buy Ingredients. i'm not saying you have to make everything from scratch. but it's a lot cheaper to buy the ingredients you would need to make the canned soups and boxed or frozen pasta meals. it's also a lot healthier because you can control how much sugar (and fats and salts and preservatives) you're adding. I don't even buy cream of chicken soup anymore because usually a simple white sauce will do.
6. Avoid Snack Food Aisles. if you snack on an apple instead of a bag of chips, your wallet will be fatter and your gut will be thinner. having only fresh snacks on hand (unless you've thought ahead and prepared something) means you are probably going to consume a lot less. in our society, that generally seems to be a very good thing. It's not quick and easy, but it's healthier in more ways than you think.
7. Consider Frozen Vegetables. admittedly, our tastes are not very particular - we can be happy with frozen broccoli and wait for fresh broccoli to go on sale. i like buying frozen because a) it's often cheaper b) i can keep it on hand all the time c) a dash of water and salt and 3 minutes in the microwave = a quick and easy snack for my toddlers. d) it's healthier and tastes better than canned. frozen veggies especially make sense in casseroles or soups where you're going to cook the life out of it anyways!
8. Check the Discount Rack. our local grocery has discount racks for produce and baked goods. sometimes the produce is bruised and leaking and fruit flies are already attacking it. but it's worth a look because often what's there is still going to last for another few days or even a week. the same is true for the baked goods discount rack. we always check for bagels because they're perfectly delicious and only cost $1.99/dozen. store them in the freezer if you can't go through 12 bagels as quickly as we do.
9. Buy in Bulk. i rarely let them talk me into buying 10 for 10 because I really can't stand my cupboards being so full, but I always buy the 20lb bag of rice, 10lb bag of flour, and the whole bag of onions/potatoes/apples vs. paying per single item. The main thing holding me back from buying brown rice and whole wheat pasta is that they only sell the smaller (more expensive) packages (also I compared the nutritional facts and there was no difference - someone explain that to me). Also cheese. buy the 8 cup bag of shredded cheese and keep it in your freezer - you'll use less which is probably good all around.
10. Don't Get Stuck in a Rut. we realized that oatmeal can be eaten cold with fresh fruit and milk to totally replace cereals. it's cheaper and probably healthier (unless you put in chocolate chips like Husband). after we realized that milk and apple juice were cheaper than OJ, we started buying milk by the gallon and rotating between the juices (because I still like to have a sip of OJ in the morning once in a while). but we primarily drink water - $0 and 0 calories! After 4 years of packing 2 pb&j sandwiches in his lunches, we realized that a (discount) bagel and egg sandwich is actually cheaper. 

When it was just the two of us newlyweds, we kept our food budget closer to $150/month.

Now with a lot more wiggle room in the budget, 2 hungry babes (seriously, they eat more for breakfast than I do), and a hungry mama who has been pregnant or breastfeeding for the past 4 years, we're usually over $200/month. I aim for weekly trips totaling around $50, but we make an extra trip here and there for special events (there was one such trip in the 3 weeks I took these pictures, but I did not record it).

We include cleaning and hygiene products in our food budget since we buy them all at the same place. We keep these costs low by a) not cleaning. b) going for the all natural look - aka no make-up or hair products beyond shampoo and conditioner.

Here are 3 weeks worth of typical grocery hauls.

Total: $40.62
Those 5 peppers were on the discount rack for just over $1 and they looked so good i would have picked them off the shelf! The girls are currently refusing all frozen veggie snacks, so we're mixing it up with some canned green beans even though they have next to no nutritional value. That ground beef got cooked up and packaged into at least 6 (i think it was actually more) portions for freezing. We really skimp on meat around here, but don't be alarmed! I've recorded our food intake and we are getting enough protein thanks to oatmeal, eggs, and legumes.

Total: $37.93
Grapes were STILL on sale and I was craving tatertot casserole which is considered an expensive treat around here (and kind of breaks commandment #5).
usually I get whichever big bag of potatoes is on sale, but there was a small microwavable bag of potatoes on the discount rack for next to nothing and we had just come off of a potato binge (meaning we won't eat them again for a few weeks and a 5lb bag would start to rot), so I sprung for this option. But I won't be microwave steaming them in the bag.

Total: $45.31 (even with some frivolous purchases!)
A coupon made the beef brisket cheaper than chicken breasts - which is my go-to meat due to price and ease of storing/cooking. I have no idea how to cook brisket, but I like to experiment once in a while. Those fish sticks were BOGO so we decided to live a little and spoil the girls (we broke commandment #1 for this purchase). I have myself convinced that fish is healthy = fish sticks are healthy. Just let me live in this delusion for a while. I already confessed to our ice cream addiction. Turkey Hill was on a super sale so we got an extra. I got in the habit of buying these whole milk yogurts (this is the only brand and size available if you want whole milk) when our girls wouldn't/couldn't drink milk. But now that they both can and do drink milk, I've just realized that I should go back to buying store brand, quart-sized yogurt.

You may be looking at these pictures and wondering what the heck we can cook with these ingredients. Remember that there are boxes of pasta, bags of lentils, jugs of oil, and more already in my cupboards, as well as diced up chicken breasts and ham shanks in my freezer that don't get replaced on a weekly basis. Also, we get our eggs from friends who work at an egg farm, so you won't see those on our grocery bill.

If you're still wondering, allow me to share our most typical dinners:

• chicken enchiladas
• cheesy lentil bake
• tuna spinach casserole
• chicken, broccoli rice casserole
• lemon, basil pasta with chicken
• broccoli chicken stir fry
• chicken pot pie soup
• chili (or white chicken chili)
• toasted barley with mixed veggies
• soft tacos (chicken or beef or just rice & beans)
• chicken tortilla soup
• chicken & rice soup
• macaroni & cheese with ham
• mini calzones
• mango chicken stir fry

I know a lot of people like to go to various grocery stores to get the best prices - including places like Aldi and BB's. I've found that it's not worth the extra time and gas money to go to these stores. And I actually find Giant's prices to be quite competitive. Sure, Aldi might have grapes at half Giant's price at certain times, but their cucumbers cost more and you can never be sure of their stock or their price. So I stick with Giant which is 5 minutes away and sends me a flyer so I know the price ahead of time. And hey! They give my kids a free banana, tangerine, cookie, and sticker every time we shop! Plus they just added a coloring table at the end of the check out lines.