Grocery Shopping 101

Several of you have asked for tips on how to cut down your grocery bill so this post is for you, Amanda, who recommended that I just do a post on it so all can benefit. First let me say that this is our first month attempting to keep our budget so strict so I'm by no means a professional (I feel like several of my girl friends could write this post much better than I could) but I'll share what has worked for me! I can laugh as I think back to when we first got married and I wanted to impress my new husband and have as many yummy treats around the house as I envisioned his mom to have. Ha! Our bill was outrageous those first few weeks! We've come a long way! :)

1. Strategic Menu Planning - Simply coming up with a menu for each (dinner) meal of the week helps a ton so that would be the first step. That way you aren't buying a lot of extras that you won't use and will go bad. Next, get strategic about it. For example, if I'm planning on making a recipe that requires some potatoes, I will make sure to use potatoes in other days - like mashed potatoes as a side one night or making potato soup. That way you are getting full use out of that big bag and you don't have to buy foods to make other sides. Make sense?

2. Humble yourself - I wasn't sure how else to sum up this tip but essentially I mean: don't be too prideful to try out the no-name brand rather than the expensive name brand foods. Often we've found that we can't tell the difference and the savings really add up! 

3. ALDI - seriously I have fallen in LOVE with this grocery store. I could do a whole post in and of itself on how great this store is. The local one is on Lititz Pike and WELL WORTH the extra drive. I know there's other stores in York and Harrisburg and if you're from farther away you can check out their website to see if they have one near you. They're all about cutting costs where they can so their prices can be super low. They don't have baggers or cart collectors so they don't have to hike up prices to cover those costs. The carts are chained together and you insert a quarter to unhook it and when you are done - you get your quarter back. They don't have any name brand stuff, but unlike other bargain stores, they always have everything you need. Nothing is more annoying than a hit or miss store and then having to go to 3 other stores to get what you need - esp. when you have little ones with you! So...shop Aldi! You'll love it!

4. Coupons! I have to admit that I don't use coupons, but I know this works well for friends of mine. If you get the Sunday paper (which we don't) there are lots of great coupons and stores like Giant often has double days where they double the coupon. So if you can't get to Aldi, this might be the ticket for you.

That's really it! I actually kind of enjoy going grocery shopping each week: it's like a game to see how low I can keep the costs! 

Oh I thought of another tip! The class we are taking recommends that you budget out what you are going to spend each month on food and then take out the necessary cash for the month and keep it in an envelop. I can honestly say that when you have the cash in your hand and see how much (or little) you have left to spend for the month, it is easier to keep those impulse purchases to a minimum. 

Hope this helps! Let me know if you guys have any other tips because I'm always looking for more! Happy shopping!