Musings of a Seminary Wife: Making groceries and budgets work.

Grocery shopping and budgeting. 3 words that make most people cringe. Because let's be honest, if you try to mix those two things, it doesn't normally work. The grocery bill will always be larger than you want it to be, and the grocery budget will always be smaller. There are many weeks when I watch the cash register screen climb. $30...$35... $50...$60...crash. With one little ding of the register, I exceed our budget and I feel like a failure. Every. Single. Week. I was a couponing monster this past summer- spending hours every week pouring over the ads and websites, trying to find the best deal and save the most money. It was fun, don't get me wrong. My husband says that my competitive side comes out when it comes to shopping for groceries. Trying to beat our budget becomes a game. But it's an exhausting game to play and too time-consuming with working full-time. Because let's be real, I want a life outside of couponing! So we've changed things around in the past few months.

 Many of our friends have asked how we do our grocery budget and shopping, so I thought I would do a series of its own. I go grocery shopping once a month. During that shopping trip, I spend 80-90% of our grocery budget for the entire month and go to Aldi, Walmart, and Costco. Then the rest of the month, I just run into Aldi once a week to pick up fresh produce, milk, etc. That beginning of the month trip is exhausting but so worth it, knowing the rest of the month I will spend less than 20 minutes grocery shopping every week. So you may be wondering- this sounds great, but how does this actually work? Let me walk you through the steps with all the nitty-gritty details.

 Step 1: Meal plan! I print out any old calendar from Google and plan out my meals for the month. My hubby doesn't want to eat soup every night, bless his heart, so we have a 1-soup-a-week-limit.

 Step 2: Go through all of the meals and write out the non-perishable, dry ingredients you'll need for the month. I usually start buy counting up how many chicken breasts and pounds of hamburger I will need. I buy all of my meat and shredded cheese in bulk and then freeze it. Then I make a list of other items such as canned vegetables, bread crumbs, etc. Next, write down any fresh items you'll need for your first week of meals. For me, this usually includes milk, orange juice, fruit, and vegetables. Lastly, I comb through my master grocery list and make sure I have the basics: flour, sugar, dish soap, TP, etc. 

Step 3: Now you're ready to go shopping! I considered taking a selfie at Costco or Walmart but decided against it. You can imagine to yourself what this step looks like. Me, struggling to steer the rebellious cart down the aisle without hitting anyone or knocking expensive jars of gourmet jelly on the floor. I am a recipe for disaster sometimes.

 Step 4: Have your hubby carry in all the groceries. He loves this. ;)

 Step 5: Unpack your grocery bags, freeze the meat, put your groceries away, and take a nap!

What more would you like to know about once-a-month grocery shopping??