Grocery Shopping on a Budget: The 8-Week Plan
By Paula Wethington, hostess of Monroe on a Budget, paula@monroenews.com
If you are new to grocery shopping on a budget, I’ve compiled the grocery tips I’ve collected and posted on Monroe on a Budget into an eight-week plan that starts on the first Sunday of a month.
Many of the grocery budget-saving tactics I use for my own family do have a learning curve or require an upfront investment of time, money or both. But if you follow this checklist, your grocery bill should be noticeably lower by the end of eight weeks. These photos are from some of my grocery acquisitions using these tactics!
I am using specific examples from Monroe, Mich., since this is a frugal blog with a local spin. My national readers may have to adjust some details for their circumstances.
Week 1 / Month 1
Inventory your freezer and pantry shelves and build your menus this week based on what you already have. If you need one or two items to complete a dish or recipe, go ahead and buy them, but don’t get a lot of additional groceries this week unless you happen to find a really good deal. You’ve got some organizing to do before you do any serious shopping.
If you do not already have a home-delivery newspaper, start at least one subscription so you can get the Sunday newspaper coupons intended for your zip code. My local readers in Monroe, Mich., have two, and sometimes three, choices for Sunday papers, depending on their neighborhood. Ask about new subscriber specials when you sign up.
If you would rather buy a newspaper on single copy than on home delivery, keep in mind you need to buy that paper INSIDE a store rather than at an unattended vending machine. (Reason: You don’t know what other people were doing to the vending box papers before you arrived.)
Get a folder, binder, manila envelope or small box to store your grocery and drugstore sales fliers and shopping list. If you don’t already have a household binder, if you can raid one of the kids’ old school folders for this purpose.
Get an index card box, a small shoe box, a binder with pocket pages, an accordion file or a coupon packet to store and sort your coupons.
Cut the coupons from the Sunday papers. Keep every coupon for every product you might use if the price is right. Put the leftovers in another envelope or box for give-aways later.
Sort the coupons into your box or binder. Most people use index cards or binder dividers to sort coupons by product category. You won’t have a large quantity or variety of coupons yet, but that’s OK. Your collection will build up during the next few weeks.
Acquire a calculator that is small enough to fit in your purse, or figure out how to use the calculator in your cell phone. You will need to do the math from time to time in the grocery aisles.
If you live near an Angel Food Ministries distribution site, look at the menu flier for this month at www.angelfoodministries.com. Place your order this week if you want to make a purchase from Angel Food.
If you plan to shop at Kroger or CVS, get a shopper card if you do not already have one. You don’t get the sale prices at those stores unless you have their shopper cards.
Make a list of which stores in your area double or triple coupons and what those policies are. The Kroger, Food Town, Meijer and Busch’s stores in Monroe County, Mich., all double coupon values up to 50 cents each. There are occasionally super double and triple coupon deals available to my local readers – but you have to watch the grocery sales fliers for those announcements.
Find out when the fliers for the grocery and drug stores in your neighborhood or in the city where you work get issued. For example, there are grocery and drugstore ads in the Saturday and Monday edition of The Monroe Evening News, not just in the Sunday edition. And some of the grocery fliers I see arrive in the mail.
Find out when the weekly grocery and drug store specials in your area take effect. The dates will always be in the sales fliers. Some stores release their sale fliers on the day the sale begins. Some stores release their fliers a day or two BEFORE the sale begins. Don’t walk into Kroger in Monroe, Mich., and think the ad in your Sunday paper is in effect on Sunday afternoon. That sales flier is not in effect until Monday.
Pick at least two products from the sales fliers to which you will match a coupon to this week or have noticed a good price. Buy them and stock up with an extra one or two of that product. Tip: You are more likely to find matches the week of coupon release at the drugstores rather than at the grocery stores.
Week 2 / Month 1
Ask your friends, neighbors and co-workers if you can have their leftover coupons, and set up a routine for getting them. If you don’t know anybody you can get hand-me-down coupons from, then see if there is a coupon swap box at your library (Local readers: Dorsch and Milan libraries both have swap boxes).
If you shop at Kroger, go to www.kroger.com and set up an online account where you can credit “loadable coupons” to your shopper card.
If you have access to your own computer and printer – rather than a shared computer at the library or at work – and want to try printable coupons, then go to Coupon Mom at www.couponmom.com and sign up for her newsletter and printable coupon links.
Cut the coupons from the Sunday papers. Keep every coupon for every product you might use if the price is right. Put the leftovers in another envelope or box for give-aways later.
Sort the coupons into your box or binder.
Look through all of your cookbooks, recipe boxes and recipe pages. Throw out or put in a donation pile all of the cookbooks and recipes that involve long lists of ingredients or complicated cooking techniques. Put bookmarks or sticky notes on the recipes that your family likes or might try, use ingredients you normally would buy, and that you would enjoy preparing.
After you have reviewed your recipe collection, create a “pantry list” of grocery items you would always like to keep in stock. You can find sample pantry lists on the Internet, but an easy way to create one is to write down the ingredients for your family’s favorite 10 meals along with any other product you use at least twice a month. These are now the items for which you will specifically watch on the grocery and drugstore sales.
Pick one grocery, discount or drug store that you normally would not shop at and spend some time walking around. How do the products and prices compare to what you are used to seeing? Make notes to yourself as to what are the best deals at this retail location. Stock up on something if it’s a really good deal.
Check out the grocery shopping, frugal cooking and frugal living blogs, forums and sites on the Internet. Bookmark or subscribe to the ones that you find most helpful. FrugalVillage.com should go on that list.
Set up “snack bins” in your kitchen. For large families, the recommendation is an individual snack bin for each family member. Divide up the individual snack bags and packages, tell everyone they are only allowed to snack out of their bin, and when their ration is gone, it’s gone until the next grocery day. The alternative method I used for my small family was a “lunch box basket” with items in the basket reserved for brown-bag lunches rather than eating at home.
Pick at least two products from the sales fliers to which you will match a coupon to this week or have noticed a good price. Buy them and stock up with an extra one or two of that product. This week you might still find better coupon matches at the drugstores than at the grocery stores. That’s OK, the grocery matches will show up soon. Have your coupons ready to go.
Week 3 / Month 1
Cut the coupons from the Sunday papers. Keep every coupon for every product you might use if the price is right. Put the leftovers in another envelope or box for give-aways.
Sort the coupons into your box or binder.
Take the coupons you don’t need or use to another family or to a swap box.
If you live near a Great Food For All distribution site, look at the menu for next month at www.greatfoodforall.com. Place your order soon if you want to make a purchase.
Make a list of what stores can be convenient stops with each other, or on your way to work, day care, school or kids’ activities. For example, Kroger and CVS are across the street from each other in Monroe, Mich., at an intersection with a traffic light. It is very easy to, and won’t add much time, to shop at both stores on the same trip.
Go to your collection of frugal or budget-minded recipe sites, pages or cookbooks and make at least one of those dishes this week. Is it a keeper? Or does that recipe go in the recycling bin?
Start introducing less expensive beverages to your family’s routine such as cold water (put a pitcher of tap water in the refrigerator), lemonade or punch mix (sugar-free if necessary), coffee (get good coffee so people will actually drink the stuff), flavored hot tea bags and iced tea bags. The goal is to cut back on the pop and drive-through coffee consumption by having appealing alternatives available at home.
Pick at least two products from the sales fliers to which you will match a coupon to this week or have noticed a good price. Buy them and stock up with an extra one or two of that product. By this time, you will probably be noticing coupon matches in the grocery fliers.
Week 4 / Month 1
Cut the coupons from the Sunday papers. Keep every coupon for every product you might use if the price is right. Put the leftovers in another envelope or box for give-aways later.
Sort the coupons into your box or binder.
Take the expired coupons out of your box or binder and throw them out.
Pick up your Angel Food Ministries order and select your next month’s order.
Pick at least two products from the sales fliers to which you will match a coupon to this week or have noticed a good price. Buy them and stock up with an extra one or two of that product.
Look up alternative cleaning methods on the Internet or at your library. They might be referenced under keywords such as green, eco-friendly, frugal, thrifty or homesteading. The common ingredients include baking soda, lemon juice, salt or vinegar. Another option is the refillable bottle systems. While you still have your normal household chemicals in stock, give some of the alternative techniques a try and see what you think of the results.
How much money did you spend this month? How does that compare to your usual grocery bill? The out-of-pocket cost might still seem a little high for your efforts, but keep at it. You’ll notice a difference soon.
Week 1 / Month 2
Cut the coupons from the Sunday papers. Keep every coupon for every product you might use if the price is right. Put the leftovers in another envelope or box for give-aways later.
Sort the coupons into your box or binder.
Pick up the Rite Aid and CVS rebate books at the stores, or look up this month’s rebate offers at the store web sites. Pick at least one item this month that is rebate-able and buy it. Type in the Rite Aid receipt code on line to file for your rebate later, and look on your CVS receipt for your rebate coupon.
Pick at least two products from the sales fliers to which you will match a coupon to this week or have noticed a good price. Buy them and stock up with an extra one or two of that product.
Sometime this week, go shopping at your favorite grocery or drugstore during off-peak hours and notice the pleasant atmosphere. You will be amazed how fast you can get in and out of a store when you stop in early in the morning, during lunch hour on a Monday, after your night shift ends, etc. You will be more attentive to the prices when you aren’t aggravated by lots of traffic on the road and long lines in the stores as is typically seen during afternoon rush hour and late morning Saturdays. Start adding more off-peak errands to your weekly schedule.
Week 2 / Month 2
Cut the coupons from the Sunday papers. Keep every coupon for every product you might use if the price is right. Put the leftovers in another envelope or box for give-aways later.
Sort the coupons into your box or binder.
Pick up the Great Food for All order and select your next months’ order.
Pick at least two products from the sales fliers to which you will match a coupon to this week or have noticed a good price. Buy them and stock up with an extra one or two of that product.
Pick another grocery, discount or drug store that you normally would not shop at and spend some time walking around. How do the products and prices compare to what you are used to seeing? Make notes to yourself as to what are the best deals at this retail location. Stock up on something if it’s a really good deal.
Look up the options for ordering on line grocery, paper product, drugstore and cleaning products at sites such as Meijer.com, dollartree.com, cvs.com, riteaid.com and alice.com. You won’t be able to do all your shopping on line. But some families really do need to use on-line shopping as much as possible so they don’t spend as much money on bus fares, gas money, babysitter costs or dealing with the constant whine of kids who have to be carted along in the grocery store.
Week 3 / Month 2
Cut the coupons from the Sunday papers. Keep every coupon for every product you might use if the price is right. Put the leftovers in another envelope or box for give-aways.
Sort the coupons into your box or binder.
Take the coupons you don’t need or use to another family or to a swap box.
Pick at least two products from the sales fliers to which you will match a coupon to this week or have noticed a good price. Buy them and stock up with an extra one or two of that product.
Look up at least one frugal or budget-minded recipe site or cookbook and make at least one of those dishes for your family.
Week 4 / Month 2
Cut the coupons from the Sunday papers. Keep every coupon for every product you might use if the price is right. Put the leftovers in another envelope or box for give-aways later.
Sort the coupons into your box or binder.
Take the expired coupons out of your box or binder and throw them out.
Pick up your Angel Food Ministries order and select your next month’s order.
Pick at least two products from the sales fliers to which you will match a coupon to this week or have noticed a good price. Buy them and stock up with an extra one or two of that product.
Submit your Rite Aid rebate request for eligible purchases.
How much money did you spend this month? How does that compare to your usual grocery bill? How did that compare to last month? Which tricks worked for you, and which ones didn’t? Which ones do you need more practice at?
And for an interesting perspective, run your new grocery bills against the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Cost of Food analysis formula at http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/USDAFoodCost-Home.htm.
If you copy and paste the text of this article into a word program for use as a checkoff list, it will run about six pages without pictures.
This article is copyright of Monroe Publishing Co., sponsor of Monroe on a Budget. Originally posted June 27, 2009.
This article was the basis for a very popular Monroe Public Schools’ Community Education program held Oct. 14, 2009. I’ll post my next “coupon class” signup details when they are scheduled.