Stretch Your Food Dollar: Making a List (and Checking it Twice)
Last month I posted about the nuts and bolts of setting your food budget – picking a number that works for you and your family. One of the tips I offered for sticking to your monthly food budget is to head to the store with a list. So this week I wanted to offer some quick tips for making a shopping list.
(I know I promised you last week that I’d be talking about making your own tempeh and seitan. And don’t worry . . . I’ll get to that. But I’m still experimenting with different recipes and I want to make sure I give you the good stuff.)
A couple of weeks ago Lisa shared a humorous story of a grocery shopping trip gone awry. Part of the problem was she had forgotten her list. So what can you do to make sure that #1 you make a shopping list, and #2 that you actually bring it with you to the store? Here’s a method that works for me. I hope you find it useful.
I have a notepad on my refrigerator at all times. When I go to the cupboard and I notice we’re almost out of beans, for example, I put it on the list. If I open the last carton of soy milk in the morning, I put that on the list, too. The list is always on the fridge where my partner and I can see it, that way we both can add something to the list. In addition to our running list (toilet paper, garbage bags . . .), I sit down with the food ads to make up the rest of my shopping list for the week because I plan the week’s menu based on the food sales.
I try to do my shopping on Wednesdays each week because I’m a creature of habit and it’s much easier for me to head out to the store prepared if I have a routine. I grab my list and my coupon holder (which is also next to the refrigerator), and I’m ready to go. Make your shopping list, and check it twice. I always run over my list in the parking lot just to make sure I haven’t forgotten something. When I get inside the store, I only get what’s on the list. Undoubtedly there are times when something comes up and the system doesn’t run as smoothly. Hey, life happens. But for the most part, this works for me and my partner and we’ve been able to keep a pretty modest food budget with the occasional splurge.
This tip is probably a little elementary for some of our more experienced writers and readers. But for those of you who are just starting out and establishing your financial habits (like I am), perhaps this can be useful advice.
How about you? What system do you have to help your family stretch your food dollar?
Serena: I’m a list person except when it comes to grocery shopping… I’m not sure why that is. Instead I just try and employ the keep to the outside aisles method and it seems to work for me.
Another thought… what’s your take on making a list from scratch vs. using a printable version?
I am probably the least consistant person when it comes to grocery lists. I grew up with my mother’s excel sheet grocery lists with the food organized alphabetically by aisle (my mom’s the most organized person I know). Unfortunately, I had the habit of forgetting the print outs, so I switched to post-it notes, which I could shove in my pocket or wallet.
I’ve had the best luck though with keeping my grocery list on my phone. As a Gen-Yer, I always have my phone on me and am pretty fast at typing so the lists are relatively easy to make. While deleting things off my list isn’t as satisfying as crossing them out, it ensures that I always have my list on me, particularly when I go shopping at a different time than i planned. Like Nina though, I do 80% of my shopping in produce and 15% in bulk foods (nuts, grains, etc) and the rest as miscellaneous items I need so a list isn’t always necessary.
Grace and I are members of a food-coop, which means we have to work in exchange for low, low prices on organic and local food. While this is usually great, one of the downsides is that the co-op is not as well stocked as a regular grocery store, so sometimes our lists go out the window when half the items are unavailable. Now we sit down and plan out how many meals we need to make (accounting for leftovers) and bring some recipes to the co-op with us. This allows us to be more flexible if there is no basil, for example, and we were planning on making pesto, or if artichokes look particularly good that week.
Great advice, though I laughed out loud at the idea of “running over your list in the parking lot.”
One thing I do when making my list is to create a quick list of the meals we will have in the coming two weeks. I don’t obsess over what we will eat on a specific day, but generalize, as in, “we’ll have roast chicken twice, have soup for lunch 4 times, make tuna-fish salad once, etc.” That way I make sure to buy enough staples (crackers, cheese, noodles) to cover everything. Using this approach along with your ideas, we have dramatically cut down the number of trips to the grocery store which really cuts down on the food bill.
My favorite tip? Learn how to use your freezer and your pantry. If you can make meals without having to run to the store every time, you’ll save time, frustration and money!
John – I’m glad you found my syntax humourous. :^)
Nina – I supposed a printed list could be good for Martha Stewart. But then you have to actually type all the info into the computer, print it . . . It’s so much more convenient to have the list right on the fridge.
Elizabeth – love the idea of keeping your list in your phone or crackberry.
MMmm….Not usually a list person when it comes to the grocery store. About the only thing I really do is when I go into Publix I check through the store for the BOGO (buy one, get one) items. If its something I use I make sure I get enough to last approximately 12 weeks as that is the average time between sales on most grocery items. (Grandfather had a Grocery Store so I have a heads up on a lot of the tricks of the trade).
Other than that I’m mostly a day shopper for items that are perishable. I find it keeps the waste and expense down by only buying what I’m going to eat that day and I can usually beat the produce man out of some of the slightly blemished stuff he’s about to toss….or at least get a steep discount.
~ Roland
Shopping from the weekly ad has been a big $$ saver over the last month or two for me. I use to decide what I wanted to make at random then make the list…but with bad economy … trying to find ways to save…started making list from the weekly ad and have saved about $100 dollars a month. I am pleasantly surprised. Idea of fridge list is genious!