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How do you all go about grocery shopping?
Do you plan meals ahead?
Do you go weekly, fortnightly or daily?
Any tips on meal planning on a budget?
Thanks in advance!
We go grocery shopping fortnightly & spend roughly $200, I don't really plan ahead on meals but really need tips as I sometimes buy things that we don't need, haha.
Also there is 3 of us, myself, my partner & our very almost 2 year (turns 2 on the 5th, hence why I need budgeting tips lol)..
We go once or twice every pay day (every 2 weeks). Once every month or every other month, he will make a run after work to the bulk store in MD (a state away from us since we don't have stuff like Costco where we live) and get a bunch of stuff in bulk like bags of chicken breasts, spices, etc. But when we do our regular grocery shopping, we get beef and pork (usually ground and pork chops, respectively) along with stuff for sides and stuff for his lunches.
We try to do a meat/starch/veggie combo for every dinner. Like last night, I threw a rotisserie chicken from Walmart in the oven to thaw (we keep a few in our deep freezer at a time), made roasted potatoes and cooked some canned green beans on the stove. My personal favorite to make is spiced chicken breasts (hubby will grill them or I'll roast them in the oven) with mac & cheese or roasted potatoes and some sort of green veggie. I don't typically plan ahead, I just ask him every morning when he leaves for work what he wants for dinner and he'll throw out a suggestion that I work on (for example today from the rotisserie chicken he wants quesadillas, so I'll probably grill up a couple of those on the stove, make some cilantro lime rice and some corn for sides).
Hope any of this helps you, I used to babysit a 2 year old (I don't get him that much anymore), and I know you probably know this from mama experience, but with toddlers, finger foods are best for starches unless your kiddo does the fork/spoon stuff (the kid I used to watch had a bit of a hard time, maybe yours would too...)
We go grocery shopping twice a month, usually once for a bigger bulk trip (Costco) and then once in the middle of the month for smaller things or fresh items that cant be bought four weeks in advance. I meal plan and try to make enough to have left overs the next day for lunches. My crock pot is my BEST friend!
My husband gets a cash advance once a month which is typically what we use to buy groceries and fuel for the vehicles. I find that when I am grocery shopping with CASH and not a debit/credit card I am far less likely to buy those impulse purchases.
We also have a fairly large garden every year, and I use that to can and store items to use all winter. I spent $3.00 on tomato seeds last spring and haven't spent any on spaghetti sauce or tomatoes since! Definitely helps if you are able to grow and store your own items. Same with onion, haven't store bought any all winter, pickles, beans, squash as well.
We also try to purchase half a cow, locally, once a year. It really helps to cut down the cost of meat and have it in your freezer.
My grocery shopping habits are pretty terrible and not budget-friendly. I have made efforts in the past to spend less on groceries, but now I don't really keep track. I just save on other things instead.
I always have to have fresh fruit and often have salad greens, which need to be replenished a lot, so I do mini shopping trips two or three times a week, and at least one big shopping trip per week. My husband and I grocery shop together sometimes, but not too often, because we eat completely different foods from each other.
Recently I have been trying to buy things that don't expire so quickly. I got a rice/lentils blend from the bulk aisle of Whole Foods, and a bunch of frozen veggies. I also keep a stock of veggie burgers if I need to just quickly throw a meal together.
I like to have a side of veggies dipped in hummus or just a bunch of fruit after dinner. I try to eat a salad as a meal at least once a day or every other day to get fresh, raw greens in.
We shop weekly and spend probably $400 a month more or less. We feed a family of 3, two adults and one 3 year old.
I try to meal plan as much as I can (for dinner), even if it doesn't work out I still save a lot.
If I don't meal plan we end up spending a TON.
When I meal plan (for dinner only) I do it for 2 weeks. At the beginning of those 2 weeks (before we go shopping) I write out all dinners my little family likes. I try to throw in foods that are already in the house so I don't need to buy them... Like frozen broccoli, frozen chicken or pork chops, rice, pasta, potatoes etc. Things that are kind of stables in our house. With that being said most of our meals are already in the house so to speak. For instance, I'm making tomatoes basil chicken tonight. I already had frozen chicken in the freezer and pasta, I just needed to buy fresh basil and tomatoes. Or like the other day I made steak tips and gravy in my crock pot. I already had the gravy, cream of mushroom, onion, all I needed was the meat. (and on the side was potatoes already in the house and canned green beans also in the house).
Also if you don't meal plan sometimes when you buy fresh food it goes bad, and some goes bad FAST. I don't even know how many times I've bought Bail or green leaf lettuce and it seems to go bad in like 2 days. So it ends up being wasted money.
Also there have been plenty of times I've bought one thing and forgotten another. Like I buy lettuce and spinach for my sandwiches for lunch, but forget the damn bread. Or I buy too much heavy cream a recipe calls for. And I think, "Oh, if I just wrote it down".
"She generally gave herself very good advice, (though she very seldom followed it)."
I never let fresh food go bad. I'll just eat it in large quantities if I have to. Also, things like salad greens can last quite a long time in the refrigerator, up to 2 weeks. Or if I have broccoli or something, I'll steam it and then refrigerate it so it lasts a bit longer.
We have a hard time using fresh veggies and fruits up too... those are things I typically shop for more often then my bigger trips...its hard finding a balance!
Oh Dear, Avocados yes. For some reason in this house they go bad fast. And then there's the times I wait for them to ripen and then forget about them, ugh.
And when it comes to lettuce I'm like a rabbit, hahaha. I'm the only one to eat lettuce but my sandwiches are basically all green. But green leaf lettuce just welts so fast. I have romaine that stays good for weeks (and its weird, haha). It may be because I buy romaine in a container, so it stays fresh longer.
"She generally gave herself very good advice, (though she very seldom followed it)."
I wish I was good at keeping a budget. My daughter is lactose intolerant, no dairy/no milk products at all, no hint of milk in any products at all. She has to have all soy based/organic foods. I can only shop for her in the organic/whole food section in one grocery store in my city. I make her fresh smoothies as well. We buy fresh fruit and veggies. We fork out tons of money. In a month for just my daughter, my son and myself we probably spend 300 or more on food. The worst part is that the food is never wasted at all. I share the food between my house and their dad's house and their dad will pick small things up for my house too throughout the week. Bread, milk, bananas, blueberries etc
