Relax. I am NOT going to talk about using coupons for groceries because other people do that. I want to talk about using common sense when you go grocery shopping. No, I am not even going to talk about “common sense”. I want to show you how to save money with UNcommon sense.
This is a great plan for people who:
- Live in apartments or small homes
- Have a limited or fixed income
- Need to feed more than 1 person and maybe a pet
I call this my “three-month grocery savings plan” because it took me about three months to get it all worked out. If you’re lucky, you may be able to set yourself up in about a month. A friend of mine did it after I explained how this system works.
I have to warn you, though. In order to make this work you have to eat a bland diet for 1-2 weeks. You just can’t buy all that food at once and it’s simply because the stores don’t put everything you need on sale or clearance at the same time.
Resources You Need to Save Money on Groceries
This system works best if you live within about 15 minutes of at least 3 to 5 competing major grocery brands. So the first resource you need is a list of major grocery stores and a map that shows where they are. You can even print one off the Internet.
Next, you need a list of Websites for each of those major grocery brands. You will have to check them every week. If they offer shopping club discounts then you want to join the shopping clubs.
Finally, you need a spreadsheet. My friend used Google Docs but I use Microsoft Office’s Excel spreadsheet. Any spreadsheet will do.
Phase I: Create a Meal Calendar
You really need to plan out 30 days’ worth of meals. Your goal is to break down each meal into the ingredients you need to prepare it. Even if you are just eating frozen food (blech!) you need to include that as the ingredient for a meal. So it would look like this:
Meal – Frozen Dinner, Chicken Marsala
Meal – Chicken Marsala, Rice, Broccoli
See how I treat the frozen dinner as a single meal but the prepared meal is divided into main ingredients?
Your calendar must include all the meals you MIGHT prepare at home (even if you are just microwaving popcorn). So you need to include Breakfast, mid-morning snack, Lunch, mid-afternoon snack, Dinner, and after-dinner snack.
Your meal calendar doesn’t have to list all the recipe ingredients for preparing each item (although you obviously need to buy the spices, mixes, sauces, etc.). You just want to know what the main ingredients for each meal will be.
You could end up with 180 meals in your 30-day calendar. I know that is a lot of work but it is worth it.
Each ingredient has to be in its own “cell” in the spreadsheet. Now, once you have all the ingredients listed you use spreadsheet functions to count them. This is where you will learn how much food you have to buy for the month.
Phase II: Adjust Your Meal Plans
Once you see all the food you think you will eat in a month you’ll want to play with the calendar. You should do that. Change as many meals as you think you can so that you plan a month’s worth of meals you want to eat.
Look for ingredients that you really enjoy eating, that are healthy, and that are inexpensive. You want to use these ingredients as much as possible. Remember to include proteins and vegetables or grains in every meal. Snacks should favor fruits and nuts over junk food.
So you may find you eat a lot of green beans and asparagus. That is fine. You may want to eat a lot of beef. If you’re trying to lose weight or control inflammation you may want to switch out for chicken or fish on some of those beef meals.
Phase III: Track the Weekly Specials at Your Grocery Stores
You only want to buy foods that are on sale, on clearance, or for which the stores have manufacturers’ coupons. You’ll see the coupons in ads and when you walk down the aisles.
Your shopping list should be divided into two parts: What you need to eat today and tomorrow and what you need to buy to stock up on for the next month.
Be careful not to buy a lot of large, bulky items because you probably don’t have much space. You want to get to the point where you have enough food in your home to last you at least 2 weeks, but you continue shopping regularly so that you catch the specials.
It took me about three months to reach a point where I had enough food on hand that I no longer had to break my shopping list into two parts. And the neat thing about this system is that if I change my mind about what I wanted to eat at the last minute I usually have enough ingredients on hand to do something different.
You won’t be able to fit a lot of frozen dinners into a small freezer but you can probably get about 2 weeks’ worth for 1 person in there (that is 14 meals). Your pantry and your cabinets need to hold as much food as possible. You don’t have to buy just canned goods, though. If you buy tight-seal containers you can store leftovers or pre-cooked meals in your refrigerator. And tight-seal containers are also better storage for breakfast foods, protein snacks, nuts, and raw fruits and vegetables that don’t require refrigeration.
The more square, rectangular tight-seal containers you have the more food you can store.
You Will Buy Some Ingredients at Regular Price
Don’t panic if you have to buy some ingredients frequently and in small amounts because they are perishable. That’s normal. But as you learn about the sales your stores offer you can track the items you buy at discounted prices and gradually build up a tidy list of things to buy at each store.
You don’t always save money when you buy in bulk. If you really want to match prices you have to look at the cost-per-ounce on the food items you buy. Sometimes the bulk items have higher cost-per-ounce prices than smaller food items.
But if you do buy in bulk be prepared to divide up the bulky food ingredients into smaller, more manageable tight-seal containers. That way you can find more space for storing food.
I also use gallon-size freezer bags to store refrigerated and dry foods. I buy only the zippable bags (depending on what’s on sale).
Once you get into the habit of buying food in advance at discount prices you’ll find that your home dining experience is pretty inexpensive. You’ll occasionally use manufacturer coupons to reduce your prices but the stores will do most of the work for you because they are competing with each other.
Just be sure you stick to your plan and know where you are going to buy food in advance.