A Grocery Store Trip by Lori

I went to the grocery store today and thought it might be a good idea to share some of my shopping routines.  They aren't complicated.

I plan our meals around several factors, what we like (obviously!), what is on sale, and what we have on hand.  I am planning for next week to be Mexican week.  (I'll share how this came about in another post soon.)  I know that soon I want to make sausage lentil soup.  I make my shopping list based on those meal plans for the next several days, I look through the sale papers to see if what I want is on sale.  That will move a meal plan up to the top of the list.  Then, I look through my coupons.  I'll hold coupons waiting for the item to go on sale or until it is about to expire.

 I only clip coupons of things that we use.  I always double check before using a coupon that it is the best price.  Sometimes, another brand is less expensive even after considering the coupon discount. Today, I had two coupons for croutons.  It was $0.40 off.  My store doubles coupons up to $0.99, so the value of each coupon was $0.80.  The croutons were on sale for $1.00.  So, I got two boxes of croutons for $0.20 each.  They are regularly priced at $1.99.  So, I got $3.98 worth of food for $0.40.  I have at least one items like this every time I shop.

As I shopped today for next week's food, I noticed that lentils were on sale for $1.00.  I bought them knowing that we probably won't eat them next week, but we will soon and dried beans keep well.  The regular price is $1.29.  I saved $0.29.  While that might not sound like a lot.  Think of it in these terms.  It is a banana.  I bought some chicken broth for the lentil soup.  It was half price.  That saved me $1.50.  That's a bunch of bananas and then some!  (I bought a bunch today and it was $1.15)

I got what I needed for our meals the week ahead and got a few things for weeks beyond and I only spent $31.03!  It isn't hard and really doesn't take much time.  I spend just a few minutes before going to the store making the list and gathering coupons.  (We also keep a running list of what we run out of during the week.)  I have my list & coupons in hand, making the shopping trip short work.

Whatever time I use preparing to shop and preparing menus is paid back nicely through the savings I get.  And it is fun!  It is almost a sport for me to see just how much I save.  I'm a little disappointed if it isn't 50% or more!