First, I went through and took inventory of the proteins that we have in our freezer. We are currently trying to clean out the freezer before we buy a bulk of meat. We are considering buying a partial cow/pig next year!
Next I searched online for a few great recipes to try. Pinterest is a great resource for these purposes. With my skin problems, I can't do a ton of cooking over heat so I am huge fan of oven- or crock-pot-based recipes. I also decided on a few of my favorite things to make/eat and added those to the menu. I always take into account days where dinner will be abnormal in our house as well. For example, Chiefs game days I am not home for most of the day so sometimes we eat out, sometimes we eat left overs, etc. This month I also took into account Thanksgiving dinner and having leftovers the next day of course!
Here is a picture of our November menu:
The next thing I did was create a word document with each meal and the ingredients that are needed for that meal. Once this was done, I categorized all of those items into lists of where they are in the grocery store. This may seem like a bit much for some people, but it really helps me stay organized and focused in the store - aka: less likely to buy a bunch of EXTRA things. I also color code mine for fun. :)
For the second to last step I check the grocery ads to see if/where things are on sale, specifically noting sales on things I know I need. This is when I also note special "treats" like $1.99 Oreos, etc. I usually shop at HyVee, Price Chopper, and Sam's Club. It depends on what I need, how much, and sale prices. Finally, I check through our fridge/pantry to see if there are things we use, but don't need for meals (fruit for snacks, sliced cheese, etc.).
Normally, Ben and I go to the store just once or twice for big grocery hauls. Having to take less trips means spending less on extras! We of course will run to the store between for milk, eggs, bread, and specific produce that won't stay fresh for use at the end of the month.
Ben and I took our November trip last night (we had everything for the first few days at home already - also a good strategy to have). I asked Ben to go with me this time to 1) be the muscle and 2) see how much we could get for what price. We went to HyVee, and will visit Sam's Club this weekend. We like HyVee because we earn money back with Fuel Savers by buying things we would buy anyway! Here is what we got:
Bakery- Black pepper Parmesan bread (1 loaf)
- Garlic herb Italian bread (1 loaf)
Dairy
- Stick butter (2 packages)
- Sour cream (1 tub)
- Tube biscuits (4 cans)
- Shredded cheese (4 bags)
- Cream cheese (1 bar)
- Velveeta (1 block)
- Kraft singles (2 packages)
Frozen
- Egg noodles (2 bags)
- Hash brown potatoes (1 bag)
- Peas and Carrots (1 bag)
- Peas (1 bag)
Grocery- Pasta (2 boxes)
- Veggie pasta (4 boxes)
- White beans (1 can)
- Kidney beans (1 can)
- Sesame oil (1 bottle)
- Tortilla chips (1 bag)
- Cake mix (2 boxes)
- Frosting (2 jars)
- Rotel (1 can)
- Salsa (1 jar)
- Soy sauce (1 bottle)
- Taco seasoning (2 packages)
- Tomato sauce (1 can)
- Tomato paste (1 can)
- Tortillas (1 package)
- Cream of chicken soup (5 cans)
- Light brown sugar (1 bag)
- Onion powder (1 bottle)
- Quick oats (1 large can)
- Saltine crackers (1 box)
- Progresso soup (8 cans)
- Alfredo sauce (1 jar)
- Beef stock (1 carton)
Meat
- Sausage patties (8)
- Pork chops (4)
- Chuck roast (22 lb)
- Smoked sausage (14 oz)
- Pepperoni (1 package)
Produce
- Raspberries (2 packages)
- Garlic (2 bulbs)
- Sweet potatoes (5)
- Green onions (1 bunch)
- Carrots (1 bag)
- Red onion (1)
- Potatoes (10 lb bag)
- Spinach leaves (1 bag)
- White onions (8)
Our grand total for the bill was $143.53 PLUS savings of $.26 per gallon with Fuel Savers!
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