More Grocery Talk

Well, I am amazed! You are all some pretty savvy shoppers! The comments in my last post are teaming with great advice. Keep it coming!!! One thing for sure, I plan to make my own laundry soap. I will purchase the products when I run out of my current bottle of soap.After hearing from several of you, I am convinced it will be a big money saver. I was a tad reluctant, wondering if it would really get my clothes clean, but if Milah can get her farmer husband's clothes clean, it will work for us! Speaking of Milah, she sent me some great links. One for a menu planner, one for a grocery planner, and one for a book that will find it's way to my shelf somehow! Thank you Milah. You have been so helpful! All of you have! I loved what Cheryl said....."We may not like shopping, and we may especially not like some of the stores we visit; but we need to remember one thing. When we're out, we're not in the stores just to do our shopping, we're also there to be salt and light to a dying world. Undertaking the shopping with that in mind sheds a whole new light on the matter."

I did my weekly shopping.....I went to all 3 stores, and kept to my budget. First I will share my menu for the week. I do not plan breakfast or lunches out formally, but I make sure there are a variety of breakfast and lunch foods handy. Our dinners this week will be:

Fried Chicken Tenders w/Mashed Potatoes and white gravy served with Peas

(that was Sweetheart's request)

A Beef, Noodle and Tomato Casserole

Burgers on the grill w/ grill broiled potatoes

Spaghetti and Meatballs with homemade bread

Hot Dogs and Chips.....gotta eat em once in a while

Breakfast for Dinner: Eggs, Ham, Potatoes, and Toast

BBQ'd Chicken on the grill with mashed Potatoes and Corn

Like Niki, I do not have each night picked out. I am never strict enough to stick to a specific meal on a specific night. When I get up in the morning I look at my menu plan and decide which one I want. It is the "Char" in me.....Char would be my mom. I need to have some of the spontaneity of her in my meal prep! By the way, Mom went to Walmart and Kroger with me today. Her shopping habits have not changed. Her list for Walmart was.....napkins, coffee, unmentionables, and cereal. She walked out spending 83 bucks!! Uh huh. I won't bore you with my list and what I bought where....I bought all I could (or would) at Aldi, then I got whatever else at Walmart, minus the coffee and ground chuck. Let's talk coffee.....

I buy decaf. Decaf is expensive! At Aldi, it is no real deal and it is a powdery substance instead of the normal "grounds" It clogs my pot and overflows it. Walmart's coffee is no real bargain either, however, Kroger has a great deal on their coffee. Also ground chuck. I use to buy 3 pound packages and use ONE per meal. I know....crazy, and alot of it got thrown out. Pick you jaw u p off the floor.....I am no longer doing that. I buy 3 pound packages and split them in 2 and freeze them.This week it was $1.67 per pound. I really dislike the ground chuck at Aldi and Walmart. It is worth the extra for me to get good meat. We eat A LOT of ground chuck!Of course wrapping it for the freezer was no big deal....quilter's always have freezer paper on hand!!

The kids have gotten use to generic cereal. The little kids had no problem but I was concerned about Kyle. He has been a trooper about it to.No more Hefty or Ziploc. I have had no real problems with the Great Value brand of baggies or garbage bags. The price difference is HUGE!There will come a time when I can buy in bulk again, but for now I am sticking with what I need for the week. After that there is nothing left over. I am getting this rocket science a bit more each week!!!

One of my "things" is diet soda. I was able to get a case for 5 bucks today. WOOHOO!!!So keep sharing your shopping tips and if you make your own laundry soap, let me know how it is working for your clothes and your wallet.

Poor Sass......She was all worn out. She took her nap in Zach's lap. What wore her out so badly??????Yep. That is the screen over my kitchen sink, which means she was ON THE COUNTER!!! She saw a bug and HAD to get it. Grrrrr. All that money I saved and now I have to get more screening. Thank goodness I have a handy Sweetheart.

Grandkids come tomorrow!! I am teaching a hand quilting class at the local quilt shop on Saturday from 10-1, so say a prayer all goes well. Until then, keep those tips coming! Maybe you could do your own post on grocery shopping. Let me know if you do!

Blessings, Bren

Food Budgets

Grocery shopping has always been a struggle for me. I am not good on a budget. I have tried many times over the years and failed after only a few short weeks. It is a mind set, really. You have so much money to spend on food and you work your menu plan/grocery list accordingly. How simple is that? For me it is rocket science! I do not remember my mother ever making a menu plan or even a list. In fact, she went to the grocery store several times a week....sometimes as many as 5 times. We ate out a lot too....not out in restaurants, but she would grab a pizza or a bucket of chicken on her way home from work. Working moms lead a very different life and making dinner after working for 9 hours is not something I would look forward to either. Big grocery shopping trips would be terrible, as your days off would be spent in a crowded grocery store. It was much easier to stop at the store on your way home from work and grab what you needed for the evening. That is what she did.
I never remember seeing a coupon. I know she never looked at prices....she still doesn't, and the only list she has is to make sure she gets those things she needs without forgetting. Menu planning??? I never remember that either. It was, "What sounds good for dinner?", then you ran to the store and got what you needed. It was all I knew. I have been married for 30+ years and Sweetheart will tell you, if he could change one thing about me, it would be that I was a skilled food shopper. I have friends who shop on a teeny tiny budget and they eat better than we do. My Pastor's wife recently mentioned she spends $60 a week on groceries for her family of 4, and that includes diapers and cleaning supplies. That sounds a bit tight to me, but they look healthy and well fed. She does have a garden, but not a large one. How do people do it??? I cut my grocery bill from approximately $300 a week (which included eating out), down to $200. That was a couple of years ago. Then I cut it to $150....that was hard. I only shopped at one store. A Kroger store. Now I have cut my budget to $100 a week. Incredible, I know.
This means I have to shop at 3 different stores.....I HATE grocery shopping. I mean I REALLY hate it. I tell my kids, "Do not use the word hate....it's not nice.", but I really HATE grocery shopping. I am looking at this as a challenge. So far, so good.Another problem with my food budget is, I always run out of things....milk, bread, eggs, and need to run back mid week. This gets me in trouble, because I am known for running in for a a loaf of bread and coming out with 6 bags of "stuff" and $70 less in my bank account. I made up my mind that if we run out of something, too bad. That was until I ran out of laundry soap and we had no clean clothes! I would have normally ran up to Walgreens and spent $8 on a teeny tiny bottle to get me by. Instead I ran to Walmart (which is the WORST of the stores for me) and bought a large bottle for $6. I have a stash of $30 set aside in cash. If I need anything I can take from that $30. This was the first time in 2 weeks I needed to do that, but now it will come off my food budget. I must say, that $6 hurt! Once you start counting the actual dollars, it is amazing how easily they can get spent if you are not watching. So how are we eating? Pretty darn good. We have had homemade cookies twice in the last couple of weeks, and even though tomorrow is grocery shopping day, the kids still have treats, and snacks, and there is enough food for many lunches and a couple of dinners still left in the freezer. Bread is low, as is milk, but there is enough to last til tomorrow.
So I am learning rocket science.....slow but sure. How is your food budget? Any tips for a slow learner??? Maybe I will share what I actually bought and my menu plan for this next week, so you can help me along.Sassy still gets her Fancy Feast and Purina One....I worked it into the budget and she is happy about that!
Blessings, Bren