We live by one specific rule when grocery shopping: no weekly shopping without menu planning. We can’t stress this enough. Menu planning! It is the single-most successful tactic for getting your grocery bill under control.
We went through a time when we just couldn’t keep the grocery bill stable. We were simply ‘going shopping’ with no list. The bill fluctuated wildly and so did our bank balance. Without the grocery bill managed, there went the rest of the family budget and in marched the credit cards. Ugh.
So we created a template for the week where we list out each day’s dinner in a table. We make notes about the week above the table: incoming visitors, kid’s activities, birthdays, etc. Below the table, we bullet point necessary items to make each meal or to restock the usual staples like toilet paper and coffee. We cross off, or delete, ingredients that we already have in the pantry.
Example:
It isn’t purchased if it isn’t on the menu-planning page. Nothing you do will save you more money than using a list and sticking to it. Menu planning also allows you to search out specific coupons ahead of time to get the most out of your money.
Don’t forget to include snacks (and adult beverages!) in your menu plan or you’ll blow your budget in between shopping trips. Your list needs to be realistic in order to work. This is true of your weekly and monthly budget, too, which we’ll get to in a different post.
Keep track of estimated costs while you go through the store so you can jettison things if you go over budget. We keep items that might be expendable in one part of the cart so they are easy to find and easy to remove if necessary. We add up costs as we go through the store, rounding up. Rounding up to the nearest dime makes the math easier and accounts for things like tax on some items. Plus it guarantees that you will come in under budget. We also make notes on about how much certain items cost for comparison to other stores.
When you find a tantalizing item that your family would just love, make a note of its price, so you can work it onto next week’s list. We find that by taking advantage of sales and watching prices, we can slip these extra yummies onto the list without breaking the budget.
And if you have a little extra, don’t splurge on an unnecessary item. Throw that bonus money into savings! You’ll need it for special shopping trips later, like Thanksgiving and birthdays, so your monthly budget doesn’t get thrown out of whack.
Menu Planning.
Do it.