Grocery organization frustration

[Mamaoftwins]

I'm new to this site and I love it. Such great advice! I wanted to ask several questions in the grocery budget forum but it seems to be closed to new posts. So Im going to post it here. If there is another spot for it please let me know.

I need your advice. Here is what Im doing now...

Welp, for the new year I want to get organized in several areas. First is my grocery spending. I want to spend $400 a month. (this might be a dream, I know) Ive made lists etc. and no matter how hard I try I end up spending $600 a month. One of the problems is I always forget things. I'll come home from the store after spending $130 for the week and all of a sudden remember I forgot toliet paper!!! UGH So I go back a couple days later and end up spending another $40 because I start seeing things that I forgot or might need. I live in the toolies so its not easy to just run up to the store. Takes 20-25 to get there. What could I do to stop this cycle?

I dont coupon shop since the store is 25 min away going in the opposite direction of the store I normal shop at and since Im homeschooling now I dont have the time or energy anymore. And they dont deliever a paper out where I live so I cant get coupons.

Ive tried the shop for two weeks at a time thinking that would save time, gasoline, and money. That didnt work either because my 6'6" DH and my twins boys that are 9 and almost as tall as me (5'4") eat the two weeks of food in less than a week. Sigh. So I have to go every week. I spend about $10-$12 in fruit a week and that is gone in two days. We dont drink milk, we do drink alittle soda( my DH works hard with 2 jobs so its a treat for him) , I hardly buy snacks. My DH wont eat rice but the twins love it.

I pick out recipes from a book and make a list and go to the store but end up paying alot because I have to double the recipe for the family. If I have leftovers my DH will take it for lunch the next day. Any one know of a good cheap recipe book that will help me stay on budget? Maybe for snacks too. I dont buy too many snacks since their devoured in less than 2 days. So when the twins friends come over there nothing to eat unless I prepare it. What do you all do for snacks for your kids?

Another question is shopping at Costco. Do any of you think things are cheaper there? I was thinking I should just buy things in bulk once a month but what should I buy there that would be cheaper. If you do shop there what do you buy and how often?

So if I only have $400 how would you delegate the budget for the different categories for groceries? Example, how much for meat? How much for cleaners? How much for fruit?.. etc.

I better stop with the questions there. I have so many. Im writing a book! LOL
Thanks so much

[MaureensAvon]

Grocery savings!! My favorite subject!! Do you keep a price book? They are an excellent way to track prices, and lets you know when to stock up on things, when they are at a rock-bottom price.

Cleaners...make your own...MUCH more economical, and better for the environment.

ALWAYS shop with a list, that way you can't forget anything.

For great inexpensive meal ideas, visit Hillbilly Housewife

Can hubby drink a cheaper brand of soda, maybe a store brand?? I understand brand preference, Pepsi is the ONLY cola I will drink, but maybe DH won't mind...

The store you shop at doesn't accept coupons?? BOOOO Can you buy the paper at the store itself? Any roadside paper-sellers in your area?

Do you have a Walgreens nearby? They often run good sales on food. How about farmer's markets/produce stands? Those are almost always a better deal on produce than the market. I rarely buy produce at the market.

Do you have an off-price market near you? (sav-A-lot, Aldi) While most of their items are generic, they are pretty comparable to name brands, and the savings are significant.

I hope I helped a bit. Please keep posting with more questions! I never grow weary of talking supermarket savings!! (yes, I am a grocery geek! )

[Mamaoftwins]

I don't keep a price book. It seems like alot of work? But if Im not using coupons this might be the way to go. How do I start one?

I do shop with a list but it never fails I forget something thats not on the list. I make the menu with all the ingredients, try and remember things I might need, then run to the store, get home and then remember the things I should have bought. Sigh. LOL How do you keep from forgetting things to buy. Tp, papertowels etc. Do you all have a masterlist you look at before going grocery shopping? or do you go down every single aisle? I read you shouldnt go down every aisle to keep from buying processed foods.

My store does take coupons (stater brothers) but they dont double. And the closet store to double coupons is 25-30 min away. I live 2 miles in on a dirt road and they wont deliever newspapers out here. So in order for me to get coupons I have to run into town 20-25 min. to buy a paper.Then run home to organized the coupons then run back into town to coupon shop. The closet liquor store, mini mart is 20-30 min away.

The closet farmers market is two towns over so that wont work. I would LOVE to shop at one. About 50 min drive. We do have a walgreens but its a pharmacy. Do they sell groceries?

I'll try the store or a cheaper brand of soda. We used to drink Pepsi. Thats what I love. I got him on Diet DP since the taste isent so bad. But maybe I can slowly move him over to a cheaper soda. LOL

Im going right now to check out the Hillbilly housewife website. Sounds great!! Thanks

[genmed]

I don't know if it will work for you, but to keep from "forgetting" to buy stuff, I put a dry erase board in the kitchen. Every time something gets low/out family members write it down. It took about a month before everyone consistantly wrote everything down. I've cut back significantly on extra trips to the store.

[MaureensAvon]

My answers are in red...

Originally Posted by Mamaoftwins

I don't keep a price book. It seems like alot of work? But if Im not using coupons this might be the way to go. How do I start one?

It might be a little work to get started at first, but is well worth it. Just get a notebook, and start entering in the prices of your things from your receipts. I use one page per item I buy. (i.e. one "TP" page, with the different brands, etc.) then mark whether this item was on sale, and the date. After a while, you will start seeing when a sale is really a sale, you can tell when the price is as low as it's going to get, etc. Most sales run in about 12-week cycles, so find when the price is at the lowest, then stock up enough to get you through until the next sale...then you NEVER have to pay full price! Or run to the store mid-week because you ran out of TP!


I do shop with a list but it never fails I forget something thats not on the list. I make the menu with all the ingredients, try and remember things I might need, then run to the store, get home and then remember the things I should have bought. Sigh. LOL How do you keep from forgetting things to buy. Tp, papertowels etc. Do you all have a masterlist you look at before going grocery shopping? or do you go down every single aisle? I read you shouldnt go down every aisle to keep from buying processed foods.


I have a magnetic shopping list that I got at the dollar store. I just jot down when we are low on something, and I check it when making out my list, to make sure I don't forget it.



My store does take coupons (stater brothers) but they dont double. And the closet store to double coupons is 25-30 min away. I live 2 miles in on a dirt road and they wont deliever newspapers out here. So in order for me to get coupons I have to run into town 20-25 min. to buy a paper.Then run home to organized the coupons then run back into town to coupon shop. The closet liquor store, mini mart is 20-30 min away.


Well, face value coupons are better than none at all! Don't make a special trip,then come home and organize. The next time you are in town, grab the paper, then cut/organize your coups during the week. Then match up your coupon to what is on sale (save your coup until it's at the lowest price, consult pricebook!) Coupons are free money, after all!

The closet farmers market is two towns over so that wont work. I would LOVE to shop at one. About 50 min drive. We do have a walgreens but its a pharmacy. Do they sell groceries?

Walgreen's doesn't have a HUGE grocery section, but they do have an aisle. Good deals can be had there. In my area, they have the best prices around for milk, but PA has WEIRD dairy laws, so that may not be the case for you. Also, they have a great rebate program, you can usually get a few things per month for FREE! Great place to get toiletries and shampoos, etc, dirt cheap. If you take your rebate in the form of a WG gift card, they add 10% to your total! More FREE MONEY! I usually have between $20-$40 in rebates per month. WG sells lots of other stores gift cards, I know people who use their rebate cards to buy gift cards, FREE gifts for birthdays/holidays!)



I'll try the store or a cheaper brand of soda. We used to drink Pepsi. Thats what I love. I got him on Diet DP since the taste isent so bad. But maybe I can slowly move him over to a cheaper soda. LOL

Im going right now to check out the Hillbilly housewife website. Sounds great!! Thanks

[Mamaoftwins]

Oh I love the idea about the gift cards from Walgreens!! They just built one out here ( Calif ) and its on my way to Costco. How often do you go there? I could only get there about every two weeks.

[ren]

A few ideas...
1. Definitely make a master shopping list to make you think "Do we need TP?" before leaving the house. Check the pantry, fridge and household supplies before you leave the house.
2. See if your grocery is one of the chains that makes its weekly fliers available online. Plan your menus around those items (for example, Safeway.com tells me that chicken leg quarters are $.99/lb this week, so I'm planning on soup and BBQ chicken).
3. A well stocked pantry is a thing of beauty. What do you use all the time? For example, a lot of my recipes call for canned, diced tomatoes, so when I see them on sale 3/$1, I stock up. Likewise if I see a spice I use often on sale. This is especially a life saver if your store doesn't have fliers online (or if you forget to check, like I do) -- when you see bargain hamburger, you don't have to run around the store and buy all the fixings for lasagna at full price, you just need to be sure to grab the cheese because you already have the noodles, sauce and spices at home. Add the cheese to your list while you're still standing in the meat department, if you're anywhere near as absent minded as I am.
4. Meatless or less meat meals. If you can get find some meatless recipes or some recipes that don't call for much meat that your family enjoys, it's a good way to save. You may not even need new recipes -- I use half the meat my grandma's stew recipe calls for and toss in a couple more potatoes and some extra veggies to make up the difference. Tastes just as good, but I can usually get 5lbs of potatoes for $1 vs beef at $3-$5/lb.
5. I know it's not really the time of year, but once things warm up, can you you get a bit of a garden going? Even if it's only a few herbs in pots, herbs are nearly as expensive as meat.

Probably nothing there you haven't thought of already, but it's what has worked for me.

And, as far as not going down every aisle, I wouldn't risk the cookie or chips aisles. But I do like to swing down the aisles with my staple goods to see if there's a decent sale on anything worth stocking up on. If you tend to get processed foods shopping that way, then stick strictly to your list. My general rule is that I can buy things I wasn't planning on so long as they're master list items and not going to go over before I can use them. I stocked up on my rice milk for $1.25/carton that way!

[kealina]

i definately second the price book especially for staple items... it's really helped us know when to stock up... we usually do take a trip down certain aisles (generall skip all junk food and frozen food aisles) to see if there are any good in-store specials...
also, try to keep track of what produce is in season since it tends to be cheaper... we try to only buy produce when it's in season...
we also always look for clearance items... sometimes when the dairy is almost expired (less than a week left) it will get marked down with little red stickers... once we even got yogurt for free because it was on sale and marked down... last week we got a 2 boxes of organic herbal tea for .50 cents... they were clearanced at $1 each but had a coupon on the box for 1.50 off two boxes... you can find some great deals if you dig thru clearance stuff...
good luck and i hope everybodys great advice helps...

[lfw]

I agree with the price books or journal to keep track to what the prices are different stores. I had a journal that I put the prices from my receipts for the 3 grocery stores in my area. Unfortunately, my hard drive crashed last fall and so the journal is gone. But the good thing is that it showed me the best stores to shop at for which products.

Another thought, since you cannot get coupons from the newspaper maybe you could get some online? I would call the grocery store or stores where you shop to see if they accept them first. The stores in my area do not accept grocery coupons printed from the Internet. If you check sites like Betty Crocker or Pillsbury, they often have coupons. A lot of the major companies do offer coupons on their sites.

[tinapbeana]

definitely ditto the checking the sales papers online (or if no access from home see if DH or a friend can print them out for you). walgreens is GREAT for toiletries/cleaners/snacks, and occasionally sodas. even better, their coupons are in their sales paper which is in a rack right when you walk in the door. you can research the deals online and physically pick up their paper (and thus the coupons you know you'll want) when you walk in the store to shop.

only buy meat on sale or clearance and stock up. you'll get to know when things go on sale, meat especially tends to follow a cycle.

for instance, my DH wanted to go buy sirloin steaks last weekend for new year's night. i told him to at least wait until wednesday because it was close to time for them to go on sale again. see, the store where we shop puts the same meats on sale in cycles every 2-3 months. sirloins save $4/lb, NY strips save $4/lb, ground beef save $1/lb, cut-up chicken save $1.50/lb, boneless skinless breasts save $2/lb, and whole fyers save $1/lb, give or take a few cents on the pound. they alternate, and it had been about two & a half months since sirloins had been on sale. sure enough, sirloins 2.99 a lb instead of 6.99 a lb. seeing as we were buying 20 steaks as our way of paying for our room new years night, we saved ourselves about $60.

[mom-from-missouri]

Wow. You sould like me! We live in the middle of nowhere, have twins (2 sets-one is 19 and 1 is 8, and a ten year old in the middle), my kids Christian School now, but next year we are homeschooling.
make your list carefully. Do you have a pantry? Always keep extra TP, hygene products, toothpaste, deoderant, laundry soap, on hand--even if its only 1 weeks worth. When you buy more, put what you get in the pantry, and move the other out to be used. By doing that, you easily see what you need more of. My "store panty" is in the basement. I keep a list on a whiteboard down there. I keep my paperlist upstairs in the cabinet pantry in the kitchen.
Walgreens is WONDERFUL. You can access them online and see their promotions without having to buy the paper. Some weeks I need nothing from them. Other weeks I buy it all. If you use their rebate thing, and combine with coupons, I can very often get shampoo, deoderant and such free.
Do you have a Dollar General? Sauve shampoo is normally 75 cents-I use my 75 cent off coupons and get it free (I wait to go till I have several)-same with the crest toothpaste.
Never ever do I go to town just to shop. Its 8 miles to the dinky store that wants close to $4 for a loaf a bread, 17 miles now to the next best store, and 24 to the Dollar General and Walgreens-but they are only 3 miles from our church. So, although I hate it, our routine is now to go to church, then buy the paper, read thru the coupons (unless I checked out the upcoming week online on Saturday), go into Walgreens and Dollar general, then come home to eat a crockpot meal (unless we go back for evening services, in which case we spend the afternoon in town at the library or my mother in laws-we don't use that library to check out as it is not our county, but we can read there or go to the game room and play checkers or a board game), or we can go bowling if it is Family Sunday for halfprice.
If I forget to buy it, we do without. No trips back unless it is medically needed.
Do you have a bulk or Amish store? I buy my flour, sugar, salt in bulk and keep the excess in a deepfreeze (in plastic containers). (since we just got married, we have 2-his and mine, as well as 2 refrigerators) Yes, you can freeze milk-just take about 1/2 cup off first for expansion. cook with powered milk-it cost more upfront, but will last you much much longer, and doesn't affect the flazor of most foods.
Once a month my daughers bible bowl team meats in a town that has an aldi's. I plan ahead, and take the cooler and we stop there on the way back.
We don't buy soda very often--rarely--very rarely-we did for new years and 4th of july-but i do keep 1 bottle on hand for tummy aches.
About the only cleaner I buy is generic commet, other than laundry soap and bleach. Most everything else I use vinegar, or baking soda for.
I don't buy throw away stuff, like paper towels-I use rags that get thrown in with the laundry. I don't consider cleaning products to be part of my grocery budget, except for the dishsoap. We don't eat them.
I don't buy snack items. I do buy popcorn (25 lb bag) and pop it in the hot air popper. We cut up potatoes to make our french fries in the oven or the deep fryer. You can buy a 20 lb bag of potatoes for less than the price of a 2 lb bag of french fries. Its moer filling than potato chips.
I bake our bread, sometimes from scratch, or sometimes I get the "always save' grand of frozen dogh-it makes 5 loaves for $2 vs 1 loaf for $2 at the big store, or 1 loaf for almost $4 at our closest store (a big ripoff).
We make a lot of muffins (I usually do 144 at a time). I keep them in the freezer in large ziplock bags. When needed, we pop some out and if they are for lunch, I repackage them in a smaller container.
I don't buy cookies-we make from scratch. Same with pizza=cheaper to make our own than to buy them at pizza hut or to buy frozen.
We eat a lot of beans (dried are the cheapest way to purchase).
We have a garden, and fruit trees and grapes. I also get fruit from orchards in bulk and make my own jelly, jam and such.
I always keep an eye on the reduced stuff at the store. Smashed boxes of cereal and such. I rarely buy cereal, its usually oatmeal, or we make pancakes, eggs or toast.
Years ago I used to have an Amish cookbook. (I lost it in a fire) It was wonderful for cooking for larger families or families that eat a lot.
Can you put in a garden this year? That would help. Do you have room for a half dozen laying hens? You don't need a rooster unless you want to increase your flock. Hens can even stay in rabbit hutches in pairs.
If DH wants soda for work, I'd have him keep it at work, or his trunk so that you aren't buying more to make up for what other family members drink.
Do you have an Aldi's? If so, take advantage and stock up. Even if you don't have a pantry, there is probably some unused space in your home you can use--under a bed, on a closet shelf. I used to do it like that--I had a chart inside a kitchen cabinet that said where extra foods were--canned fruits where under my bed, canned veggies, under another bed, dried beans and rice in a large rubbermaid container in the garage=(they could freeze and be ok)
When the kids have friends over, we eat a lot of spegetti-because it is cheap--or rice. I do the rice in the wok, add some leftovers and diced up veggies. Kids love eating it-they say their parents don't cook chineese food-I don't have the heart to tell them they are just eating leftovers with rice added it because its cheap!!
Don't waste food. If you haven't eaten it within 3 days, move it to the freezer. Even if its only 1 portion. Then once every couple of weeks, get it all out and set it up like a buffet.
Buy what foods you can in the large institutional sizes. Skippy Peanut Butter is only 1 dollar more for 3 times the size (big coffee can size). Same with ketchup (you can freeze it also-just save and refill your old container or keep in a milk jug). Large cans of veggies you can use for a meal now, then make up several batches of stew or soup with and freeze.

[vsjhoc]

I was the world's most inefficient shopper until I found this board! Thanks to everyone. Now I have something to share ...

I created a table as a Word document, and each column corresponds to an aisle in my grocery store. (The bread aisle is column #1, etc.) I have typed in the boxes the items I buy regularly or from time to time.

Before I go to the store, I circle the things I need, and write down a few items that are not on the list. When I go shopping, I go down each aisle and get the corresponding circled items. It's not perfect ("where's the soy sauce?"), but it cuts down the time I spend wandering around, and I'm less likely to forget items.

I also use the table as a price book. After shopping, I type in the prices under the items in the chart, but only if they are lower than the existing prices. It became evident pretty quickly that some of those "sale" items are priced higher than they were before!

[getforfree]

For me, it's easier to organize the shopping list in my head than spend time and paper writing the lists. My friend who is over 40 is joking, when you get to my age, you won't be able to rely on your memory anymore. I simply look at the weekly store ads, and see which stores I need to go to this week.

I always keep my pantry full. I plan my meals according to what I have and whats on sale. I make lots of soups. Soup is the cheapest and most diet-friendly meal you can have imo, because it is half water and the rest are the basic cheapest ingredients. Plus you can substitute or omit almost any of the ingredients. I cook lots of pasta and rice too, and potatoes.

We do buy some treats like nuts, soda, candy, but those are treats only, not something you have a lot and every day.

I buy stuff when it's on the best deal sale, not when I run out and have to have it today at any price.

[PrincessPerky]

Just a small note on when you forget...do without..ok maybe not the TP, buy that in serious bulk so you never have to do without, but for just about everything else, just improvise.

I don't think I have ever cooked with just the right ingredients on hand..but then no one calls me a top notch cook either........

neccessity is the mother of invention....or frugality, whichever.

[kealina]

Originally Posted by PrincessPerky

Just a small note on when you forget...do without..just improvise.

I don't think I have ever cooked with just the right ingredients on hand..but then no one calls me a top notch cook either........

lol... we do that too... it tends to keep the meals simple but we don't mind...

[JanH]

Some great advice here! I was just wondering if it would be easier for you to make small interim goals that cuts down your food budget by about 25 to 50 at a time. You might be a little hard on yourself when you have a growing family that eats a bunch. We tend to spend about 300 on the two (remaining) of us, but I still haven't gotten all the kinks out of our system. Try some of the ideas a little at a time and see positive results, then try more. That is what I am doing. Good luck!

[Mabuisakura]

If there is a discount store like a Save-a-lot or Aldis check them out. I feed 4 adults (with one that eats like 2) and I get a ton of food for about 50-60 every 2 weeks. I do also shop at our Albertonson for other stuff but I spend 200 a month to feed all of us.

Online coupons are my new best friend. I always forget to pick up a paper.

Also the day before I go shopping I go in to the kitchen and bathroom and figure out what I need.

I also only get a few name brand items, the off brand soda is just as good.

Good luck! I am just starting to figure all this out too. It took me about a month to cut my bill down!

[lrjohnson]

Lots of good stuff here!

I myself shop to refill staples, not for recipes. For example, I almost always have potatoes, tomatoes, tortillas, eggs, beans, broth, sour cream, chicken thighs, rice, onions, pasta. That could be twenty different recipes, if not many more. So if I have my basics, I am set, and don't needs to worry about getting 4 or five ingredients for a recipe. Unless we are talking special occasion, I don't look for recipes that have any more than one or two things I don't normally carry, and preferably they are items that could become staples.

[sakigt]

Two things I try to do:

Keep a running list in my purse. If I realize I need something, I write it down. I too forget the little things.

When its on sale and I love it - Buy a lot! I currently have about 20 boxes for various rices bought on sale.

The other thing you may want to do is shop weekly. If the boys have the "If its there im going to eat it!" mentality, spacing out the purchases of drinks, fruits and snacks is the only way to solve the problem. And anyway, $100 a week is a simple, yet manageable goal.

[rickatheslicka]

Here's my lazy coupon method:

Step 1) Make my grocery list
Step 2) Check this week's newpaper coupons for stuff on my list - I just save the whole sheet, I'll lose the coupon walking around the store otherwise
Step 3) Cram the rest in my purse in case I see something in the store that is a really good deal or that I forgot to put on my list that I now have a coupon for
Step 4) At the checkout counter, I tear out the coupons I am actually using and hand them to the nice checkout person
Step 5) Toss the remaining coupons

I know, I know, blasphemous!!! But I just couldn't do the whole clipping and organizing coupons thing, it wasn't getting done. This way, I save $5-10 when I shop without all the hassle (and the guilt of the expired coupons, ugh). And as a mom of two growing boys, you could probably save even more!

Steps 2 and 3 take less than 5 mins. You could certainly buy the paper at the store, go back to your car, dig out the coupon sections, tear out the pages that you want, and save some big bucks. How much is the paper, $1 or $2? You'll save that with cereal coupons alone (assuming you buy cereal). But also on staples like sour cream, butter, eggs, bread, etc.

So, now you know my lazy coupon method. I hope you all don't think any less of me...