[Delicateflower]

I have massively overblown my grocery budget for the last couple of months. The problem is that now I go to three main stores, plus two others, and I don't go until I run out of what we need, so it's staggered. I don't get the instant feedback that one big shop at one store would give me that I shouldn't have bought the goat's cheese, even though I didn't get meat that week IYKWIM.

I need tips.

I've tried menu planning (big fail, I spend more and food is wasted), I've tried scheduled shopping all on one day (fail, I end up wasting some food and running out of other things, I've tried shopping all at one or two stores (massive fail, their prices don't match my shopping list so I spend 20% more on milk to save 20% on oats, and some products simply aren't available). I don't want to go to cash only because I'd run out of money before a milk run and I have two kids and a coffee addiction, plus we are building up FF points for a family trip by using the card as much as possible.

I buy pretty much the same things all the time from each store, plus anything I've run out of or anything on sale. I don't buy junk food, we eat meat about twice a week, I bake our own bread. And the issue is compounded, because I buy meat in bulk and mess up the budget.

My plan is to write a list for each store, price that stuff, to make a rough idea of what I should be spending at each place. But then I need to add the rest in seasonal produce (outside of onions, carrots, tinned fruit, and frozen peas and corn which all have set prices), which I buy from all over the place. Maybe I should keep a tally of my produce purchases over each week and once it's gone I can't get that asparagus, even if it's May and it's slim and tender and $1.99 a pound. We can eat very well on the pantry and freezer if it's the end of the week and the budget's gone. It's just that it's never the end of the week when I visit one supermarket every 3 days.

Maybe I should plan for two weeks worth of the staples from each store and have a more fixed schedule?

WDYT? Any advice, hints, do you think this will work? I don't think my budget is unrealistic for our family, I just need to figure out how to keep track of it and get realistic feedback as I spend.

 

[LilyGrace]

My advice would be to keep it simple.

Shop at 1 store mainly, only going to the others when their loss leaders are what you want. You need to simplify your shopping before you look at spending less.

Menu plan - but start with three days at a time. Go through it, plan 3 days more.

Make a list! Keep your receipts for the month and figure out how often you're buying this or that.

Keep a produce budget inside your grocery budget. I have a tendency to go overboard when I see the berries and fruit and fresh spinach....and then it gets wasted in the fridge because we can't go through it fast enough. Setting a limit helps keep me balanced on "long term" produce (cukes, potatoes, onions, squash..) and "short term" (lettuce, peppers, tropical fruit). I can plan meals accordingly using the short term stuff first, long term stuff towards the end of the shopping period.

As you become more aware of your shopping habits, branch out to the other stores again. Just keep it small for a while.

 

[Alyantavid]

What I do is keep an inventory of what I've got in the house and what meals I can make from that. I check out 2 store ads and shop whats on sale. That gets added to the inventory and I plan from that.

I've gone way overbudget the past few months too and have actually stuck with it this month.

 

[AngelBee]

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[mtm]

I shop one grocery store, one drug store. If there's a terrific sale somewhere else I will run in but that's rare. I shop by flyer. I take 10 minutes to review the flyer, check with coupons with what's in the flyer, then do a fridge/cupboard inventory to make my list. Stop running around to multiple places.

What do you mean menu planning failed? For me I say these are the 10 meals I have supplies for and then decide each day which one to do. I keep all the basics on hand for other meals in case we don't feel like what I planned.

 

[BetsyS]

Cash worked for me.

I like to shop around. I have 3 local grocery stores (Kroger, Ingles, Publix). Some things are fine anywhere, but I only like meat from Ingles. I only buy a certain brand of chicken, so that's at Piggly Wiggly. I buy produce at the farmers' market in season, plus our local Korean market, Super H. I hit a big international market once every 6 weeks or so for coffee ($6/lb--freshly roasted--good stuff). Rarely, I get suckered into Whole Foods or Trader Joes. And, when you need masa, well, you need masa. And, there is yet another international market for that.

Get the idea? It makes my head spin just to think about it.

But, I dearly love to cook and grocery shop, and it would make me sad to have to give up all that choice.

So, for me, cash worked. Cash is honestly the only thing that worked.

Along with that, I menu plan, I try to have some idea of what I'm going to buy where at the beginning of the week (so I can combine trips), I shop seasonally and based on sales, and I try to cook cheap meals. But, mostly the cash.

 

[yeahwhat]

I agree with the pp. A cash budget works best for me.

I can't just shop at one store. We eat a ton of fresh produce, and the produce store costs 30%-50% less compared to the grocery store's regular prices. I won't buy meat for dh and dd unless it's on sale, ditto pasta, canned tomatoes, pb and various other staples. Oatmeal, chocolate chips, flour and shredded cheese we buy from a bulk supplier. Those tiny packages are a joke with 4-6 people eating oatmeal daily, plus baking. Our last 10kg (22lb) sac lasted just over 2 months. Bread comes from an outlet store.

So, I have a monthly budget for groceries. On a weekly basis, I look at what I'll need for the week and what's on sale and decide how much of the monthly budget I want to spend. I take out that amount, shop where I want, and when the $$ is gone, it's gone. Sometimes this means telling the kids they can only have one glass of milk at dinner for a couple of days before the next week's money comes out. Sometimes they or dh have to go without juice for a day or two. Sometimes I run out of frozen berries or yogurt for a couple of days. We always, however, have plenty of food to eat and manage to mostly stay within budget.

Sticking to a grocery budget, regardless of how you do it, is going to take some discipline and be a bit difficult at least in the beginning.

 

[Delicateflower]

Yuk. I don't want to have to do cash. But the FF miles aren't worth an extra $200+ a month.

I can't just shop at one store. I'm not being pissy about it, the situation just sucks around here. The price differences are huge and the selection at most stores is limited.

I could choose the milk store, where all produce is old and fully packaged in plastic and they have no parking lot corrals so I have to carry my kids in. They're also closed on Sunday. And they only have nasty cheese. But their milk is 60 cents cheaper than the other store that carries our brand. That's $4.20 a week. And they carry organic free range chicken. And Peets coffee.

I could choose Trader Joes, where I get all cheese, eggs, yoghurt, frozen vegetables, nuts and dried fruit all for excellent prices. And I also get frozen and packaged convenience foods without added nasties. These things are simply not available anywhere else. The cheese alone saves at least $5 a week over any other store. But they don't have the other basics I need, like flour, simple tinned fruits, tinned tomatoes, oats, baking soda, detergent.

The generic supermarket has fair produce and decent prices on oats and flour but spikes their prices on some other things, like milk. And they have an appalling meat selection.

Then I visit Costco for bulk rice, meat, tins and fruit juice. The only brand of apple juice I can tolerate is Kirkland brand.

Menu planning is wasteful and expensive for me because if I plan a meal I'll buy every ingredient it needs instead of substituting something I already have, like sour cream for creme fraiche. Then with two kids often the plan for the night goes out the window by 4pm. Last week I had some cooked lamb sit in the fridge for three days before I got around to making the shepherd's pie I'd planned. The meat was nearly wasted. The only advantage in menu planning I can see is if you make a wide variety of meals or buy stuff you don't end up using. I can cook anything from my normal shopping list, and I can open the fridge and come up with a way to combine the contents such that I rarely throw out food.

Quote:

Make a list! Keep your receipts for the month and figure out how often you're buying this or that.

I have all my grocery receipts, I'll definitely do this.

Quote:

Keep a produce budget inside your grocery budget. I have a tendency to go overboard when I see the berries and fruit and fresh spinach....and then it gets wasted in the fridge because we can't go through it fast enough. Setting a limit helps keep me balanced on "long term" produce (cukes, potatoes, onions, squash..) and "short term" (lettuce, peppers, tropical fruit). I can plan meals accordingly using the short term stuff first, long term stuff towards the end of the shopping period

I need to do this, I think. I don't waste the produce, but I think it's where the blowout is.

 

[BetsyS]

I hear you on the meal planning. I find that, for me, it's actually easier to save money when I keep a pantry, and I plan from the pantry, instead of making the list, then shopping.

So, I do meal plan, but it's after I shop.

 

[Smithie]

I've been working on this lately as well. I've tried NOT going to Costco this month - didn't work out. May is going to kick off with a great big Costco trip!

I also don't do well with meal planning, so I totally feel you on that one. When I lived near a TJs, my goal was TJs once weekly and a "regular" store once every two weeks. I was super-pleased when I could do well at Costco and only need to go to TJs for the rest of the month.

Based on what you described, I'd give up the "milk store" and make do with the coffee and milk you can get from TJs. I'd buy the chicken in bulk at Costco, making the agreement with myself that free-range chicken would be a good gaol to get back to once the grocery budget is under control. Buying flour and oats at Costco might also be a good idea, if doing that can keep you out of a "regular" grocery store.

 

[cappuccinosmom]

Yep. Keep it simple. When I started "shopping for deals" at bunches of different stores, I started wasting money rather than saving it.

I'm just not organized enough or good enough with numbers. I went back to two stores--Aldis, mainly, and a local grocery but only if they several really worthwhile deals.

If you feel like all the stores you listed need to stay in your visiting rounds, then pick only one for regular shopping weekly shopping, and do the other three once a month, with a plan on hand to buy in bulk. IE: get your meat and coffee in a month's worth quantity. You can separate or pre-cook the meat and freeze it, for however many meat meals you plan on. Get a months worth of pantry stuff at costco's (rice, baking goods, etc).

I do think menu planning would help you, if you kept that simple too and set your mind on using what you have.

What I do is make a flexible menu for the week. I can change up the night's meals, and many of them have a base item (lentils, or ground beef) which I can use with items already in the pantry if I decide I want lentil soup instead of lentil tacos. For instance, this week it was spaghetti, pizza, taco lentils, stir fry, chicken soup, kima (curry) and lasagna. I made sure last saturday I had all the ingredients for all of those plus our breakfast muffins. This friday I will check my pantry and fridge, list anything we use on a regular basis that's getting low, and make another simple meal plan based on Aldi's deals for the coming week. It will probably be quite similar to this weeks meal plan.

 

[mtm]

Maybe instead of creme fraiche and lamb you could eat more simple dishes?

 

[Delicateflower]

Good idea, I already buy my meat, rice, pasta etc in bulk.

Quote:

Based on what you described, I'd give up the "milk store" and make do with the coffee and milk you can get from TJs. I'd buy the chicken in bulk at Costco, making the agreement with myself that free-range chicken would be a good gaol to get back to once the grocery budget is under control. Buying flour and oats at Costco might also be a good idea, if doing that can keep you out of a "regular" grocery store.

I like your thinking, I do buy our chicken in bulk infrequently. But I think that's part of my problem. I ignore that amount in my budgeting. I think I need to set aside (even on paper) a certain amount for lamb, chicken and fish and once I run out of them only get that much. Then it's already out of the weekly budget.

Free range meat and mostly pastured dairy have become a bit of a moral issue for me, so I'd rather not have anything if we don't have them. Hence the twice a week meat thing. I can justofy pastured milk, but pastured cheese is just too expensive. But if I'm not going to compromise on that it needs to be accounted for in the budget.

I think you're right, it would work to make one shop often and the others once a month. However, there's no one place that can provide all the fresh things (well, there is, but it's the super $$$ store I only visit when I need an exotic spice). It boils down to milk, soft cheese/yoghurt and produce from three different places. And those aren't things you can buy monthly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mtm Maybe instead of creme fraiche and lamb you could eat more simple dishes?

Exactly, that's why I don't meal plan. I don't buy creme fraiche. And what's fancy about lamb? I have two growing children and we're not vegetarian. I don'tr think meat twice a week is extravagant, do you?

 

[beansmama]

Well, honestly, if you want to stick to a certain amount - cash, despite the apparent "yuk" factor it has for you, is the way to go. If it's gone, it's gone. Not that easy with a debit card.

Also, obviously shopping around isn't working for you. Sure, things vary price wise from store to store EVERYWHERE - but bottom line is you are overspending by going to multiple stores - not saving because rice is 50 cents cheaper at store X - kwim?

Just my 2 cents.

 

[beansmama]

And i think MTM means picking cheaper meats?

I AM a vegetarian - and i think eating meat only twice a week is great for your budget, but only if you are eating cheap meat (chicken??? cheaper cuts of beef?).

 

[Scullery]

TJ has oats, canned fruits and tomatoes, detergent from what I remember. They have white whole wheat flour as well.

I think you may have to be less brand specific or go without on things that are optional.

 

[Delicateflower]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scullery TJ has oats, canned fruits and tomatoes, detergent from what I remember. They have white whole wheat flour as well. I think you may have to be less brand specific or go without on things that are optional.

The oats are four or five times as expensive, the one I go to doesn't have canned fruits or cheap tomatoes and they don't have flour. The brands I buy and the places I buy them are because I kept a price book for a month and found the cheapest places to buy the best tasting and most ethical products. No one I have ever met here goes to just one because they all suck so badly.

My issue is not with our budget. Our budget is fine and generous and fits our style of eating very well. I am expert at judging the cost of a basket of groceries. I'll eyeball what I have before I buy ginger this week or wait until next, or decide we can get ice cream. I'll bet I could teach a class on using a supermarket wisely.

My issue is how to judge how much you're spending with no reference. I'm asking how do others who have the same abysmal grocery store selection keep tabs on how much they've spent when they have to visit multiple stores on different days because their kids go crazy after one store. Cutting back to just one (besides not being possible) won't solve the problem, because my difficulty is my inability to keep more than this current trip in mind. I'm great at budgeting for one cart-load. Two? Not so much, obviously.

I've come up with a plan. I will write a list of everything we eat/buy. I'll categorise them by priority 1/2/3, then group category 1 by store, price them and allocate that much money to that store. Then I'll divide the rest of the budget in three (or so) and add that to the base for that store for items in category 2. After a month I'll see how I'm going and if we can afford category 3 stuff.

 

[TiredX2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Delicateflower My issue is how to judge how much you're spending with no reference. I'm asking how do others who have the same abysmal grocery store selection keep tabs on how much they've spent when they have to visit multiple stores on different days because their kids go crazy after one store. Cutting back to just one (besides not being possible) won't solve the problem, because my difficulty is my inability to keep more than this current trip in mind. I'm great at budgeting for one cart-load. Two? Not so much, obviously.

I just keep an Excel worksheet with the grocery purchases on it. I list every purchase (store & amount, not exactly what I bought). That way through the month I know how much I have spent that month. It's easy, and as long as you use credit or debit you can just look the purchases up on line later (so you don't even need to keep reciepts--- I generally loose mine almost immediately

).

 

[JamieCatheryn]

Through the winter I buy at only one store, the middle of the road level grocery store here. As the season comes for local produce and so on, I'm making a list of what we will eat generally, what I'll need to buy, where to best get it, and what it should cost. I have 3 separate budgets accordingly, one for each place (weekly grocery, weekly farmer's market, monthly bulk stuff).

My meal planning involves thinking of the best way to stretch what I have left already and what is left over, like extra sour cream or broth or spinach will go in a different dish before it has time to go bad. I don't let having a plan make me get anything fancy or special. And we can't afford lamb very often at all, maybe for a special occasion. I plan for basic ingredients only.

If I splurge on an extra treat (justifying well we had meat left in the fridge and didn't buy any, or whatever) I always end up regretting it when I see the total, best not to get any unless I have planned in the budget for a special more expensive trip (like for a birthday dinner, a party, or an at home date night).

 

[cappuccinosmom]

Quote:

Maybe instead of creme fraiche and lamb you could eat more simple dishes?

Yep.

Lamb may not seem "fancy" but it is darned expensive. We might eat it once a year, if that.

Ground beef, ground turkey, bone-in chicken....so much cheaper and more versatile.