The Grocery Grumble: Frugal Foodie's Strategy

Last Saturday, I went grocery shopping for your upcoming Menu Planner's meals.  I looked at the list, "shopped" in my own kitchen (checked off what I already had), and then I added what our family personally needed (dog food & kosher salt, for example).

I mapped out my stores, which ended up being Aldi (most items, cheapest items), then Costco (furthest away, a few cheapest items), and finally Fresh Market (closest to home, a few specialty items).

I stuck to the list (NO extra treats, no matter what a great deal they might be!).

I put everything away when I got home and called it a day.

The next afternoon, I made a short list of items from the upcoming meals that I wanted to prep.  After I put our daughter down for her nap, I got to work simmering the homemade tomato sauce, chopping veggies for my pot pie, and other such activities.  I put my prepped items in containers and clearly labeled them--what they were and what day they'd be used.

Finally, I made a list of when I needed to start each day's meal.  If you're making bread, for example, or you want to make the homemade tomato sauce the day you're eating it, you'll need some extra time to prepare your meal.  Make a plan of WHEN that should be, and you won't find yourself jittery with hunger and daunted by your prep time at 5:15pm.

This afternoon, I'm taking my daughter to the grocery store with me.  In addition to making my list and planning out my stores, I'm going to plan some strategies to keep her busy and happy.  This could take up a blog post of it's own, but just to give you some quick ideas for an almost-3-yr-old: We're going right after her nap, so we'll grab a special treat Costco (churro!) when we start.  The samples also delight her, so that will keep us busy in store #1.  Aldi will need to be a quick second trip, so I'm going to look over the items I plan to get from there really well and think about where they are ahead of time. I'll also come up with a way for my daughter to "help" or a quick game ("I Spy," anyone?) as we quickly go through the store.  Fresh Market will be our last stop, and it is a favorite errand spot for my little because she is a coffee-lover.  That sample-sized cup of decaf is her holy grail at the end of our adventure.

Saturday & Sunday evenings an hour or two before closing are actually wonderful times to shop--the stores are completely empty.  However, I can give my husband some alone-time in the house if I take the kiddo along for an hour or two...so alas, we'll join the Saturday afternoon masses and enjoy our bounty of plentiful Costco samples.  :)  Happy shopping, my friends!

The Grocery Grumble: Counting the Cost

Isn't it crazy how we don't know or think about what things cost??  For YEARS, I grocery shopped every week, and I couldn't have told you what eggs or milk typically cost or where I could find them the cheapest.  If you are like me and just put the items in your cart, check them off your list, and cross your fingers when you get the the checkout line, you can change this.

One week when you go shopping, make yourself a list with extra room to write next to each item.  Choose your three favorite stores and write the store at which you think the item will be cheapest next to the item name.  Go shopping at your three stores...as you're buying your ingredients, check on the most popular of the other items while you're at each store (milk, eggs, flour, etc)...write it down to compare later.  After one or two weeks of doing this, you'll figure out who is expensive and who saves you money.  (Sadly, this is why my groceries rarely come from Target anymore.  Target, I love you, but your convenience of being across the street from me comes at too large a price.)

I can't go any further without telling you about my favorite grocery store.  I wish I were getting paid to talk about them, but I promise I'm not.  The first time I went to this store, I did a quick walk-through with a bad attitude and I walked out without buying anything.  (One of the reasons is because I had not sense of what things should cost--I was not impressed with the low prices.  In fact, I remember telling my husband The second time I went to this store was years later when I was a little more desperate for a deal and happy to make it work.  

It was the beginning of my continuing love affair with...Aldi.  I LOVE this store, y'all.  It has a few quirks that cut down on their costs, which help them slash prices.  First, you have to deposit a quarter to get your cart.  (When you return your cart, you get your quarter back.)  Come on, that's not too terrible is it?  Second, they do not bag your groceries...you can purchase bags at a very low cost or you can bring your own eco-friendly bags and bag them at the bagging counter yourself.  Or you can toss every single thing into the trunk of your car...what do I care?  (I will give you a tip if you forgot your bags, which I have been known to do on occasion: grab one or two of the larger boxes that the food is stacked in...if you've been to the store, you'll know what I'm talking about.  Inevitably, there is a box of sports drinks or frozen chicken breasts or something that is almost empty...toss the items into the full box behind/under it and store the box under your cart for after you check out.)  The last major quirk is that there are almost no brand names.  Aldi has their own brands--you will hardly notice that they aren't brand names because they're designed to look (and taste) just like the major brands.  I say there are almost no brand names, because occasionally they will have Pillsbury products on clearance (right now they have discounted Christmas funfetti cake, for example) or M&M's or some type of seasonal brand (Libby's pumpkin puree, for example).  

Aldi's almost always always always has the lowest price on everything I need.  I shop at other stores for only two reasons: (1) There is a limited (though growing) selection at Aldi--they are most likely not going to have Ancho chiles or broccoli rabe, and (2) On rare occasions, you can find certain things cheaper or better quality at other stores.  That being said, I am an Aldi shopper for life.  I LOVE it there!

HOW TO CHOOSE YOUR STORES

Ok, so the way *I* grocery shop is a melding together of the least amount of trips with the least amount of money spent.  You can think about this and implement it wherever you live.  (Or you may decide that you have less time, so you will pay a little more money.  Or you want to pay the least amount of money, so you will go to as many places as it takes.  I make decisions between these two extremes weekly and land somewhere in the middle.)  I personally happen to live in a part of town that has a kajillion grocery stores nearby, which is awesome.  However, I choose to drive about 10-15 minutes east for two stores near each other that both save me money--the fact that they are both near each other and both save me money makes the extra driving worth it to me.

Here's my personal short list of preferred stores:

ALDI: My first stop because it has the cheapest of almost everything.  Their milk is *almost* the cheapest, their fruit/veggies are almost always the cheapest, and their eggs, cereal, pasta, and canned goods are *always* the cheapest.  I also almost always buy my extra virgin olive oil here, even though I could find a higher quality somewhere else.

COSTCO: Their meat is the best quality for the least price.  Their milk is 10 cents cheaper than Aldi, and so is their half & half, usually.  I like to buy my K-cups for my Keurig here, because they're cheaper than Starbucks or Target.  I am a snob about brand name Ziploc plastic bags, and they cheapest I can find them is here.  Costco formula and diapers are awesome, too.  (Just for your comparison, my fave brand name diapers are Pampers Cruisers.)

EASYWAY (a local-to-the-Memphis-area produce store): Usually cheaper produce than Kroger & Fresh Market.  Sometimes I stop by here and find it actually was cheaper somewhere else on sale.  Their orange signs are their sale prices for the week, and those sales are usually pretty great.

KROGER: Usually my choice if I'm trying to go to one store--I know I'll save on some things and end up paying more for others.  Their Private Selection brand items are pretty good--we love the ice cream.  And I got a Kroger Turkey at Christmastime for 88 cents a lb!  Check their mailer for their weekly sales--once you have an idea of what things cost, you'll know when you spot a deal worth the trip.

FRESH MARKET: My gourmet grocery splurge.  Believe it or not, my child acts better in "fancier" atmospheres, so this is my choice of grocery store if I have to go somewhere with her.  (Or Costco, for the samples & bribery churro at the end.)  This is the place I inevitably head for the ingredients I know won't be at Aldi or Costco...in the past, I would try Kroger first, but I found myself ended up frustrated if the item wasn't there and then I had to go to FM anyways.

In the spring, summer, fall, I also frequent the Farmers' Markets, but that's another post for another season.  On most weeks, I hit up Aldi, Costco, & if necessary, only one of the others.

I hope this post saves you tons of time and money...or both!  Tomorrow's post is the final in the Grocery Grumble--see you then!

The Grocery Grumble: Make a List, Check it Twice

I was going to start with an assumption, and that assumption was that you had a list.  But then it occurred to me that maybe not everyone is as list-loving as myself.  Maybe you like to waltz into your favorite neighborhood grocery store and buy "what looks good" or you have a few ingredients in your mind.  That is COMPLETELY not my style.  And I would add that it is less efficient.  If you're going to shop for a week's worth of groceries (thus saving yourself multiple trips and extra money for each of those extra trips), you have to write it all down.

My current fave grocery app

In my Menu Planners, I give you five recipes for the week and I add a grocery list at the end.  If you're joining me for the Frugal Foodie Food-Lover's Challenge in January, you'll receive one of these each week for three weeks.  (If you want "in," email me here or leave a comment with your email address and I will add you to my foodie list!)  ALSO, if you have the AnyList app on your iPhone, let me know and I will be happy to share the weekly grocery list with you through your AnyList app.  (I found the recipes, compiled the grocery list, and I'll send it to you're phone?? How easy does it get?!)

If you're making your own list, here is my recommendation:

1. Choose your recipes for the week.  If they're in your head, then think them through one by one.

2. If you're writing your list down, make columns according to the major sections/aisles of a grocery store.  (If you're using an app on a phone, like AnyList, a good app will automatically divide your items by grocery section/aisle.)

3. Go through each recipe and write down the items you need, placing them in the appropriate sections.  (You were going to add them to the list anyways, so adding them to specific categories only takes one nanosecond extra, but it will save you time/energy once you get to the store.)

I'll have you add a few things to your lists for the first few times you make them, but I'll cover that in the next blog post.

Don't you feel so much better now that you have a plan?  If you are a free-spirit that hates planning, then allow yourself some weekend meals to do "whatever you feel like."  Planning ahead for most of your meals will save you time, energy, and money.

A lot of people I talk to say they hate this step the most--finding the recipes, menu planning, grocery list-making...I love organization and systems and color-coding and all of that nerdy stuff, so I can't quite sympathize with you.  But, I will tell you that it's a lot easier when you're not distracted.  My three favorite times to meal plan are during my daughter's naptime, on a Saturday when my husband has taken the kiddo out for the morning, or on a quiet evening after my little one has gone to bed...are you seeing a pattern of child-free-ness here?  Ha!  If I don't have a lot of time, I pull out my recipe binder and get the job done.  If I have more time (and since I enjoy doing it), I'll flip through a new food magazine issue or cookbook I might have checked out of the library before I choose my recipes.

If this task continues to be one that you don't enjoy or can't find time for, I encourage you to lean heavily on meal planning websites--I know I'm not the only one!  For those interested, my January Menu Planners will be free for anyone who joins the Food-Lover's Challenge this month.  Starting next month, they will go back to their original cost of $5 each.  (Five bucks for an hour or two of saved time and grumbling for you each week might just be worth it!)

Next topic on The Grocery Grumble series: COUNTING THE COSTS.

The Grocery Grumble

When I was in the last few years of high school, grocery shopping was my family "chore."  My mom disliked grocery shopping, and I loved it.

At the time, I loved it because it meant I got to DRIVE.  My other chore was chauffeuring my brothers to their various extracurricular sports & activities, so the particular chore of driving to go grocery shopping was fun because I was alone.  I could listen to my music, take as long as I'd like (within reason), and I got to borrow the family plastic (aka credit card).

Yes, that's part of it too.  I confess that I am a "spender."  My personality lends toward finishing projects all at once, so if you consider money as a project, I have a tendency to want to figure out how to spend it (and "finish" the project).  I think I've always liked grocery shopping because no matter how tight the budget got (and it's been TIGHT at times), I still got to spend money on food.  (Frugally, of course...but spending was spending!)  

I enjoy looking at all of the different options on the shelves and in the baskets and choosing what looks yummiest.  In our lean years, this task became both enjoyable and stressful.  I still liked being able to shop.  But the money adding up with each "beep" in the checkout aisle became incredibly stressful.  First, it was a fear of what my husband would think about the purchase total.  (I will add that he is such a nice husband, but he IS a saver.  And we historically haven't done much specific budgeting, which leaves things up for guessing.  And surprises.  And miscommunication.  What?  You've been there?  Ok, good--glad I'm not alone!)  

This past year, my least favorite part of my original Frugal Foodie endeavor (when I cooked up to a week's worth of meals for up to 10 families at a time) was grocery shopping.  First, there was the sheer amount of ingredients required.  (Pasta for 4 people...TIMES TEN.)  Then, there was the sheer terror that I would spend too much of what I had allotted, which would lead myself to lose money on my week's worth of cooking before I had even begun cooking it!  There were a couple weeks when I did break even or sink a little of my own money into the total, and I felt so defeated as I lugged everything through the doors of my house, unloaded all of the ingredients onto my tables and counters, and began the all-time-consuming task of meal creation...it was like I had lost before I even started.

Maybe you feel like that about grocery shopping.  Sure, you're not cooking for 10 families, but cooking for one is sometimes not much different.  The decision to go to four different stores in order to save the most amount of money versus going to one store and paying more for ingredients you know you could get cheaper elsewhere can feel like a lose-lose situation.  If you do decide to go the route of the least amount of locations, finding one store that carries every single ingredient can still be a lost cause...and seeing the total on the receipt can cause your stomach to drop.  Adding those "occasional items" to your list (dog food, laundry detergent, etc) can make your total seem to sky rocket.  Not to mention trying to get it all done with children in tow...(I avoid this at all costs).

Have I worn you out yet?

I have bad news and good news:

The bad news is that I am not the grocery genie.  If you hate grocery shopping, you will probably always hate it.  And even if you like grocery shopping, you might still find things to hate about it like I do.

The good news is that I have a few tricks to share, and I'll be writing about them over the next few days.  These are merely suggestions of things that work for me.  I hope you can pick & choose some things to try that might help you out too!  See you tomorrow for my first tip: YOUR GROCERY LIST.