I haven’t grocery shopped for myself, let alone for two people, since 2000, when I had an apartment for a year. Except for that year, I’ve either lived with my family, been on-campus, at camp, living with a host-family or traveling. So when I go to Kroger’s, I walk out having spent WAY too much - and we’re finding that we can get some really great healthy stuff at the Farmer’s Market but we sometimes don’t around to eating it all.
So. For any of you veteran grocery shoppers out there - what tips could you give some newlyweds about how to budget-shop at grocery stores?
[Everyone has been leaving very helpful suggestions - keep 'em coming, thanks! One additional question, for those of you who are married and with no kids, another question. Obviously everyone will be a little different depending on where you are in life, etc., but I'm wondering what you all budget for groceries per month?]
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
Okay, I am sure that this principle works cross-culturally. Work out what your staples are - the things that you can build a meal around even when you have nothing else in the house - and make sure you always have some in the pantry. Make them things that will keep a long time but you can make almost a whole meal from. So your staple list might be pasta, rice, tinned tomatoes, tinned or dried beans and frozen peas. Your shop should consist of staples plus perishables. Everything else is a luxury. Everything else is often also the stuff that costs a lot more.
Do big shops instead of multiple small shops (the temptation is to keep putting those extras in the trolley). If you want to self restrict extra purchases always shop from a shopping list - you don’t get to buy anything that isn’t on the list. This will help you to decide ahead of time what you really need.
And finally, never shop when you are hungry or thirsty. This makes a huge difference to how much (and what sort of things) you buy.
we have found (19 years married this sept.) that once we know what we like and buy we made a master list that we set up by aisles at the store we frequent most often.
we print it out, leave it on the fridge and check things off as we need them. then we also take some time before we shop to sit with the list and make sure we have everything we need.
if you can figure out 5-10 meals you like, want to cook and can rotate (with new interesting ones thrown in randomly) you’ll find you can get a routine where it’s not so labour intensive.
we have found that since moving to the maritimes we are choosing a more euro type of cooking (fresh and what is in season) - it means a lot more trips to the store and no pre-prepared foods. it’s more time consuming, but far healthier and friendlier to the environment.
if you can each get 3-4 meals you each like to prepare you’ll be able to rotate them through when life gets busy in the fall without a lot of thought.
Here are our rules…
1. Never shop when you are hungry
2. Shop online to stop the implusive buys
Hope this helps
as lame as this sounds, if you can plan out like 3 or 4 meals for like a 2 week period. then you can look at all the ingredients for each and it will give you an idea of how much it’s going to cost for each meal. then just make a list.
we have 5-6 things we rotate every 2 or 3 weeks. we try some new “fancy recipes”, and then between eating out and eating at friends. we’re set.
I’ve recently learned that a good way to deal with too much fruit on hand is to freeze the fruit that’s about to go bad and make smoothies with it later. 1 cup of ice, about seven strawberies, a handful of blueberries, one banana, and two large spoonfuls of vanilla yogurt makes a mean Strawbluenana smoothie!
We used to have a typed list (mentioned above) and that worked well. I don’t feel the need for it with just two of us anymore, but we write down what we need to replace on a white board on the fridge. I make a list and stick to it. Don’t look at the end caps and special displays at the grocery. Just get what’s on the list. The advice above–never go when hungry–is so true and the other thing that helps me stick to a budget is to shop just once a week. Sometimes I break that to get fresh vegetables, but many will last the week. Over time you’ll get to know how much to buy so you can get through in a week. Portion size determines how much to buy and cook. Sometimes I deliberately cook so we’ll have left-overs; sometimes I don’t want left-overs. All that stuff determines how much I buy.
#1 Don’t shop at kroger. They are more expensive than most grocery stores in the south.
#2 Read the newspaper and look at the price comparison.
#3 Make a meal plan for a week in advance.
#4 Some meals cost alot cheaper than others, particularly meals you can eat over and over again. Example Chili is expensive at first to make but when you cran freeze it and eat it 8x well it comes to be a bargain.
#5 If you don’t know how to eat on a budget, then buy or check out a book from your local library on it. I mean beans & rice is the dietier and the weight watcher’s best friend.
#6 Don’t sacrifice health for cost though. I survived on $1.80 to $3.00 a day on food through a portion of my college career. Likewise I was eating a lot of starch and gained alot of weight
#7 Budget out how much you are willing to spend on food for yourself a day. A reasonable about is $12 to $20 dollars. A couple really not have to spend no more than $10 to $30 a day on food. But then again you seem to come from an affluent family so what you are willing to pay maybe a bit more than me. Most my life I have been happy just to have beans and bread on the table (which can be a great meal!).
#8 Soul food actually can be really cost effective food too.
#9 When trying to impress company sometimes family recipes and local food can do the number over the fancy dinners any day. Plus it makes it alot more personable.
#10 Watch the food network. The $40 a day show is ridicolous. Paula Deen has some great recipes plus the hot chick too has some good stuff.
OH YEAH! The Day Old Bakery (and likewise) is your best friend in the world. Great buys. And in Georgia there are a couple of Christian network to help low income people buy food. In college I was able through certain programs able to buyfor $30 about $150 in food. it was awesome. It kept me from going hungry on a number of nights.
And cook and use your dang leftovers. I mean there is a reason you turn certain meats into a hash the next day. Or you chicken into a pot pie.
And rice is a killer money saver. And a great tip is that the best thing in the world to cook rice is the microwave. It slams any rice cooker I have seen on the market. If you want perfect rice use a microwave.
I echo Phil’s #1: Don’t Shop Hungry.
Also, if you have one, look for an Aldi. Good way to get some decent things at rock-bottom prices.
Good luck! Don’t shop with kids either… at least that’s what my wife tells me; she might also add, don’t shop with your husband.
I’m the guy you see in the supermarket aisle staring at the grocery shelf, talking on a cell phone, shuffling down about six feet, looking three feet lower, snapping the phone shut, grabbing some jar of mayonaise or something as authoritatively as possible, and making a bee-line for the checkout. Yeah, wives are awesome. Evidently, mine even knows how to grocery-shop by remote control.
I know, this doesn’t help. I remember when we were first married we once bought a 50-pound bag of rice and augmented it with whatever we could for as long as we could stretch it. It helped to eat with chopsticks.
Adam - thanks for asking about this…this information is quite useful for me, too!
I am a fan of Kroger and I don’t think it is really that much more. I buy things that are on Kroger special and all of the Kroger brand items instead of the name brand. So far, that only things that I have found that are worth the extra money are real Rotel tomatoes and Velvetta chesse. The Kroger brand for those things is no good. But everything else seems about the same. Have fun shopping and remember not to ever tell Sarah after she has cooked something for you- “That’s not how my mom makes it.” It usually doesn’t go over very well!
$200/month or approx. $50/wk.
That’s just food & food related stuff but not toiletries - which once every man gets married he realizes can be the most expensive part of the endeavour - “you need what? It costs HOW much? You need that AGAIN?” Good luck.
Have you taken a look at the blog wantnot.net ? She’s talking about feeding herself and two kids, but some principles are the same (like buying LOTS of the stuff you know you’ll use when it goes on sale). She’s got other good ideas, too.
I’ve been grocery shopping for one for 5 years now, and I save a lot of money by reserving meat for special occasions only. And when I do buy it, I buy bulk and freeze it in individual portions. That might not be a lifestyle choice you’re into, though.
One helpful tip is to learn the prices of various items at the store (this may feel like Price is Right for a while). Once you know how much a jar of spaghetti sauce or bag or gallon of milk normally is, you’ll be able to recognize a good deal. Also, when chicken is on sale, I buy a few packages and then freeze them in separate plastic bags since I’m unlikely to use a whole package at a time.
you’re silly
try the grocery game…it forces you to use coupons but will same you $$ http://www.grocerygame.com
Uhhhh…since I’ve been at this married thing for a while, I just had to comment. WHERE did you go to school that you DIDN’T have to shop for yourself? Us cougars, you see, learn the important necessities of life. Lunch meat only keeps for ONE week in the fridge, ok? Make a meal plan for the week on Saturday and buy what you need for that. Do you need tips on how to clean a toilet? Put up drywall? Solder copper pipes??? Didn’t they teach you THAT in school???? Don’t worry, by year 2 of marriage you will be doing those things. At least that what us cougars do.