3 Simple Steps to a Cheaper and More Efficient Grocery Trip

One category in which we all spend a large portion of our money, is food. Whether we eat out, eat groceries at home, shop organic, or survive off of take-out, we all eat to live, or maybe get indulgent about it, and live to eat.

Like many families, we struggled constantly with keeping this portion of the budget under control. This particular category of expenses can feel like a leaky faucet at times. 

In general, we are completely unaware of the massive amount of money we throw down at fancy grocery stores, on work lunches, and at chic restaurants each week. And by we, I mean all of us – you, me, the family down the street, and our friends online.

I’ve faced, first hand, the struggle of budgeting and planning a value for food for the month and then feeling blindsided by the total we actually spent.

I challenge you to write down the value that you think you spend on food, and then go through last month’s bank or credit card statement and add up what you really spent. Most people will not come up with the same number – not even close.

I remember the first time I did this, and it was absolutely shocking!

Not only do we all struggle with limiting the grocery budget, but when you throw in the idea that we should be buying the most nutritious, healthy items possible, the whole “food” category can quickly seem daunting and impossible. 

How can anyone afford to buy the healthiest options on such a tight budget? 

Generally, we believe organic foods are expensive. It’s often quicker and easier to buy pre-packaged, boxed snacks for the kids, rather than vegetables that may go bad prior to us finding the time to cook them.

In addition, most people don’t have the time or don’t want to spend the time chopping vegetables and cooking.  Especially busy families with full-time working parents and multiple kids – will they even eat these vegetables? (Hmm, sound familiar to you?)

The equation is even more complicated because out-to-eat foods are high fat, high calorie, high carb, low nutritional value, and expensive. 

“Healthy” restaurants can be even more expensive and typically don’t offer substantially more nutritious options, even though they are marketed that way.

I’ve been focusing on our spending, budgeting, and working this grandiose plan to live a debt-free life for about 5 ½ years now.

We’ve found it suits our family best for us to separate the dining and grocery categories in the budget. When I first started tracking our spending, I tried to keep the “food” category as one line, in an effort to have a simple budget.

I quickly figured out that if we went out just two times a week, I’d have to cut my grocery trip short because we spent a larger percentage of our “food” category on ready-made burgers and fries.  This frustrated me, so I wound up separating dining from groceries in order to isolate where we were actually spending our money.

I’ve also found more happiness in separating out household goods from the grocery category. I remember being frustrated at the fact that mouthwash, paper towels, and diapers muddled my grocery spending early on, just because I bought all of these things at the supermarket.

I tend to be an analytical type anyway, and it suits me to break out things and have several categories in our spending plan.

One way we have successfully controlled spending in the “Out-to-Eat” category is to plan carefully. We both take our lunches to work daily so that no cash is spent during the standard work week.

Then, we allow ourselves to go out as a family once on the weekend. We know it’s a special occasion and we really enjoy it. We’ve even verbalized this to the kids and they tend to be thankful as well.

If there’s a birthday dinner on the calendar or some other event on which we would be spending money, we consider that event as our out-to-eat meal for the weekend.

It’s all about what works for your schedule and your family. Maybe your family eats out 3 times a week- well, there’s nothing wrong with that! 

Yes, believe it or not, grocery shopping excites me now!

My family has actually grown to love grocery trips. I enjoy the challenge of finding the best, most nutritious, food for the best price.

I’m even happier to let you know that we typically only pay 60-80 dollars per week for all of the grocery items we need for a family of four. You read that right, and I’m proud of that price tag.

In years past I’d just blindly wander into the supermarket, without a list, without a plan, and having no clue what items were competitively priced. I’d walk out two hours and hundreds of dollars later with only some food and plenty of unnecessary items – Not anymore!

Step 1: Inventory

Now, I take special care to maintain a list, posted on the refrigerator, of meals for which we have all of the ingredients. This serves as a quick reference for dinners or weekend lunches, and removes the panic of “What’s for dinner?”

Each time we cook a meal from that list, I cross it off so that we can always reference it for meals we can make. In addition to this list, every weekend, prior to going to the grocery store, I take a quick inventory of what we have in the pantry and refrigerator.

I take care to notice that we have an open jar of peanut butter and a sealed one in line behind it. I make mental note of the canned goods and if we need peas or green beans. I check to see how much bread we have and how full the rice container is.

I look over everything and try to come up with any additional meals for which I see a complete set of ingredients, not already on the list on the refrigerator.

Step 2: Grocery Ads

Once I’ve taken mental note of ingredients already in our home, I scour the local grocery advertisements for the week.

I have no use for loyalty to a certain grocery store and will happily go, ads and list in hand, to whichever store advertises the best prices on the most items I need.

In our area, Sprouts and Aldi have been our go-to for groceries each weekend for several years. Occasionally another store will have a great price on a few things, so we will gladly pop in for those sale items.

I mark up the ads with a black marker and circle things that are at the best-advertised price and cross through the higher-priced item on the competitor ad. 

Our standard list consists of fruits and vegetables, milk, bread, and eggs. Lately, we’ve really put some effort toward incorporating more vegetables into our meals, so that part is very important – remember I mentioned nutrition? A little effort goes a long way.

If this prep-work sounds daunting to you, be assured, now that it’s part of my routine, it only takes 5-10 minutes and I have a very firm grasp on what ingredients are in my kitchen. I’d rather spend 5-10 minutes a week in preparation and planning than hundreds of overspent dollars on less healthy, packaged impulse items any day.

Weeks during which we have less at home,  where we need a larger grocery haul are heavier on the budget and we push up into the 80-100 dollar range.

When I see that our food inventory is high and I only need to buy the fresh items and basics, I can usually get away with spending less than forty dollars. That’s it, seriously!

How much would planning like this and spending an average of just $60 on groceries each week help your financial life?

How much would maintaining an inventory fo healthy, fresh foods help your health?

Step 3: Shop!!

Now here’s the important part: I take my list and my marked up ads and I ONLY buy what is on my list and/or what is on sale.

Don’t be the silly person who does all this prep work and then still goes to the store without a list and without a plan. Don’t be so naïve to wonder how you spent so much after browsing through the store not minding the list and the ads on which you worked.

Reference your list and use the ads diligently during your grocery shopping trip, all while checking to see that you’re buying items needed for use only in the immediate future.

Grocery shopping while being distracted by a little ones? Got you covered… bring snacks and an activity to amuse them. Tell them ahead of time what your expectations are (that they play with their toys quietly, hands to themselves, and eat their snack).

You can even make it fun and set a time limit-

“If mommy can get in and out in 30 minutes without you guys arguing, we can go to the park today!”

Meanwhile, you’ve created a road map for yourself – Look at your list, stay on track, and stick to your promise.

You rock, mom!!

The overall lessons here are planning and intentionality.

So many moms end up stressed out, frazzled, and overspent, all because of poor planning. There’s nothing like getting home from a grocery trip with things you didn’t even need.

Don’t be that girl.

Our time management, wealth, nutrition, and all related categories are affected by just a few minutes of thoughtful planning and organization.

If your grocery shopping trip and the managing food budget were less stressful and more pleasant, imagine how that would affect your interaction with others that day. Our actions, not our words, teach our children the most. 

This process has improved not only our grocery shopping experience, but our budget, our nutrition level in our dinners, my time with my kids and our overall quality of life.

Now go rock that grocery shopping trip!