Grocery Planning on a Budget

I've spent a lot of time over the past month and a half sharing my meal plans, food budget and grocery store purchases with you. Today I decided to share the process of how I figure out what to buy at the store and which store to buy it at.

I've tried many different ways of shopping over the past few years. I've come to learn that a lot depends on what season of life you're in. When I had one child, I shopped differently than when I had two. When I had a baby in a carseat in the back of the cart and a young toddler riding up front, I shopped very differently than I do now. I've tried monthly shopping, weekly shopping, bi-weekly shopping, shopping the sales, meal planning based on the sales, etc. You name it and I've tried it.

Last year I put together a big spreadsheet of all the food that I like to keep on hand in the pantry, freezer, and refrigerator. I coded it based on the best place to buy (I pretty much buy the same things over and over so I know the prices.) This was a great useful tool to keep myself organized, and although I don't use it every week anymore, it's nice to have. We've also started moving toward a more natural and clean way of eating, so things have shifted a bit. But the general staples are still the same. I think making that master list was a great way to start getting myself organized.

***I've heard from several people that they are too busy to be organized in their food prep/shopping, they just don't have the time, it's a lot of work, etc. I do admit that when I started shopping and planning with a strict budget I had to put in some leg work. But now it's pretty seamless and happens rather quickly. I think it's worth it to take the time, and I consider it part of my job as the home manager of my family. I might not bring in any money, but part of my job as a stay-at-home mom is to save money wherever possible.

During the week, as food starts to run out or get low, I keep a running list on the refrigerator of what I need to buy the next time I shop. I jot down the item and a code for which store has it for the best price. (TJ for Trader Joe's, SS for Stop & Shop, etc.) On Sunday I sit down to meal plan. I have a handy magnetic note pad for my planning. After I fill out our meals, I make sure we have the ingredients we need. (We tend to eat the same 10 or so meals over and over again, so I just know off the top of my head what we need. If it's a new recipe, I have to take a little more time to cross check the recipe with the things I have on hand.) If I need to buy something for a recipe, I add it to the running grocery list on my notepad. Once this is done, I look at the ads for the stores I go to. If I have to change the store I'm purchasing an item from (because it's on sale cheaper than where I normally buy it) I make a note of that. Then I go through my coupon booklet and pull out any coupons that correlate to my list.

Finally, I rewrite my list. I do a separate column (on the same piece of paper) for each store. Sometimes, if it's the end of the month and money is really short, I will jot down the approximate price of everything and add it up. If it vastly exceeds our budget, I go through and figure out if there's anything I can put off buying.

Ideally I get all of my shopping done one day a week. If it's a week that I need to hit 4 stores though, I will split it up because that's a lot to do in one day.

As I re-read this post, I realize it sounds like a lot of work. But it's actually pretty quick and simple, and my Sunday planning/list making only really takes about 20 minutes to half an hour! If anyone has tips on how they plan and shop, I'd love to hear them. I'm always looking for ways to simplify the process and save money where possible.

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March Grocery Shopping.....and a BIG challenge

Well, it looks like I haven't been blogging about the groceries I've been buying. Oops! I do still however have the running list I've kept all month, so I figured I'd just compile all my grocery trips into one post for you! Here's the food that I've bought so far in March:

BJs
Natural Applesauce pouches (16 in a box)
48oz bag of craisins
Sweet Potatoes
5lb of organic apples
3lb grass fed ground beef
6lb boneless chicken
1 gallon of milk
2lb Strawberries
Organic yogurt squeezes (16)
1lb american cheese slices
bananas
string cheese
4 dozen eggs
(This was two different trips, one the first week and one this past weekend)

Dave's Market
4 boxes of Cascadian farm granola bars (As you'll see when you see the Stop and Shop list, I also bought 2 boxes there. I had completely forgotten about the 4 I bought at Dave's.)
1 cantaloupe
Almond Milk
Organic yogurt smoothies (kid size)
2lb ground beef
2lb strawberries

Trader Joe's
1 gallon of organic milk
Flaxseed chips
Dark chocolate & almond bars (2 packages)
2 boxes of breakfast bars
bananas
Frozen organic corn
Shredded cheddar cheese
Bagged baby spinach
Cinnamon apple sticks
Bran flakes
2 boxes of coconut cranberry granola
Organic whole wheat pitas
Refrigerated biscuits
Refrigerated crescent rolls

Stop and Shop
Organic half & half (I NEVER used to drink this in my coffee. Then Dan bought a huge one for Stephanie's birthday party. I didn't want it to go to waste so I used it. Now when I brew plain coffee, I want this instead of milk. Sigh.)
4 loaves of Whole Wheat Bread
5 light tuna pouches
2 boxes of Cascadian farm organic granola bars
Russet potatoes

Sams Club
Raspberries
Baby carrots
6 pack of peppers (2 red, 2 yellow, 2 orange)
Fresh Broccoli
Snap Peas

So far I've spent a total of $214.47. This leaves me with $60.53 left. For the entire month. This is QUITE a challenge. We'll see how it goes...

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What I Ate: Photo Edition

I decided yesterday that I would document everything I ate all day with photos. I figured it would serve two purposes: show the things I put together based on the groceries I buy each week, and help me keep from overeating. Let me tell you, I didn't think I eat quite as much as I do! Something about seeing it all there in photos was so different for me than just seeing it written down in a food diary.

Breakfast:

Old fashioned oats cooked in unsweetened vanilla almond milk with sliced strawberries, 1 tbsp flax seed meal, 1 tbsp walnut pieces, cinnamon, and a drizzle of honey. Coffee on the side of course.

Morning Snack:

1 pumpkin spelt muffin and raspberries

Lunch:

I was CRAVING a peanut butter and jelly! I normally try to eat salads but after making a sandwich for the kids, I couldn't resist making one for myself.

PB&J (Skippy natural peanut butter and smuckers natural strawberry jam) on Nature's Promie 100% Whole Wheat Bread. Orange and red peppers dipped in roasted garlic hummus.

Afternoon Snack:

Banana, Cheddar Egg Muffin

Dinner:

Leftover quinoa (that had been cooked in chicken stock), sugar snap peas, and turkey meatloaf with organic ketchup on top. Not Pictured: A handful of baby carrots and a few more snap peas

Evening Snack:

A bowl of flaxseed chips and a Trader Joe's dark chocolate and almond bar. I intended to break off a quarter of the bar and save the rest. Nope, ate the whole thing. Oops. It's a good thing I'm giving up eating after dinner for Lent. Those nighttime snacks are my downfall!

Full Disclosure: I had a handful of Trader Joe's chocolate cat cookies when I prepared the kids' afternoon snack. 

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Meal Plan Monday!

Happy Monday! We had a very low-key weekend around here, and a fairly slow week planned. Hopefully that means I won't get crazed and cranky and end up throwing my meal plan out the window. (This happens a lot.) Here's what we'll be eating for dinners this week:

Monday:
Turkey Meatloaf, quinoa, steamed broccoli and steamed greenbeans

Tuesday:
Quinoa Bites and steamed broccoli (me)
Annie's Mac & Cheese, peas and broccoli (kids)
(I don't like making two different meals, but quinoa bites aren't something the kids like at all, and I really do, so I make the exception.)

Wednesday:
Dinner at my mom's house

Thursday:
Chili in the crock pot, steamed broccoli (yes, we're having broccoli almost every night. I bought a huge bag at Sam's Club and want to make sure we eat it before it goes bad.)

Friday:
Birthday Party for one of the kids' friends

Saturday:
Tuscan Italian Chicken in the crock-pot, pilaf rice, quinoa (i'm trying to eat quinoa when I make rice for the kids and Dan) and a vegetable. We have corn, mixed vegetables, green beans and peas in the freezer. I'll let Dan choose whichever he's in the mood for.

Sunday:
DATE NIGHT! We haven't been out for dinner by ourselves since early December. I'm VERY excited to be going somewhere nice together without the kids in tow. They will be spending the night at Nana's house.

One of the things I've been asked since starting this grocery budget blog project is what else do we eat during the day. I wrote a post about breakfast (you can read it here) and I list our dinners in my weekly meal planning posts. But there are lunches and snacks in between, and changes to the meal plan. So today i'm taking a picture of everything I eat and I'll post it tomorrow. I admit I'm doing this for selfish reasons as well. Not only am I trying to save money with this grocery challenge, but I'm on a quest to clean up our diets. I'm trying to make the switch to mostly whole, minimally processed, healthy foods. Taking a picture of everything I eat is a good way to make sure I stay away from junk and hold myself accountable! Stay tuned :)

***If you missed it, I recapped our February Challenge in this post: http://ababymakesfour.blogspot.com/2014/03/february-grocery-challenge-re-cap.html

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February Grocery Challenge Re-Cap

As most of you know, I spent February challenging myself to actually stay within my $275 grocery budget. And I made it by the skin of my teeth!

Last week I went to Trader Joe's and Dave's (our local market.) I had $18.99 left. I spent $13.90. Which means I finished off the month with $5.04 left. Not bad!

Here is what I bought:

Trader Joe's

Kid organic yogurt squeezers

32 oz plain organic yogurt

5 bananas

1.5 lb bag of baby carrots

Dave's

1 4 pack of Tuna

Cantaloupe

Originally I was only going to document the challenge here on the blog for the month of February. BUT it helped me stay accountable and really stick to my budget, so I plan to do it for March as well. If you're sick of these grocery posts, I'll do my best to sprinkle in some other posts as well. 

Full Disclosure***

I went to 4 stores today. I've already spent about 2/3 of my March budget. That's what happens when you spend the last week of a month scraping bottom and using up your stock-ups. This month is definitely going to be challenging! Stay tuned tomorrow for a round-up of where I went and what I bought today. 

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Meal Plan Changes and Grocery Re-Cap

As usual, my meal plan changed this past week. I actually managed to keep it all the same until Saturday. I ended up making meatloaf instead of chili. I've been making the same meatloaf, using the same recipe, for years. But for some reason it didn't come out well this time. I bought meat from BJs instead of the local market where I usually get it from, so maybe that had something to do with it? I don't know. Either way I wasn't pleased. But we ate it and it made enough for leftovers. Tonight I made a chicken tostada recipe that I'd been meaning to try for awhile. It was delicious! I'll post the recipe later this week.

Here are the groceries I purchased last week:

Trader Joe's:
Hummus
Milk
Almond milk

$8.77

Dave's:
Corned Beef
Apples

$10.71

Stop & Shop:
2 Loaves of Whole Wheat Bread
2 peppers
4 boxes of barilla whole wheat pasta
2 bags of New England hazelnut ground coffee
Organic cereal
Oats
(This was the only shopping trip that I remembered to take a picture of. Oops!)

$21.01

BJs:
Honey Bunches of Oats (Dan's cereal of choice. He eats it at home and in his apartment)
Almonds
Fig Bars
Strawberries
Raspberries
Stonyfield Farm yogurt squeezes
3lbs of Chicken breasts

$44.93

I went to so many stores this past week. Yikes. I spent a total of $85.42

I started the month with $275. I am left with $18.99 for this entire week. I'm actually looking forward to the challenge of eating out of the cupboards and freezer as much as possible! And i'm determined NOT to spend more than that $18.99. I'll let you know how it goes. :)

If you're curious, here are my previous shopping trip posts from this month:

Week One
Week 2

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Meal Plan Monday & Recipes

Here is my meal plan for the week:

Monday: Quinoa Pizza bites & steamed broccoli (me) and English Muffin pizzas with leftover sweet peas (the kids)

Tuesday: We are supposed to go to a friend's house for dinner. If the snow ruins that plan, I'll have a tuna sandwich with spinach on a flat-out wrap, and the rest of my steamed broccoli from Monday. The kids will have fish sticks and finish up their leftover peas.

Wednesday: We'll eat at my mom's house

Thursday: Chicken (new recipe), pilaf rice, and green beans

Friday: Eating at the dining hall (maybe. My husband might have to work. If he does, I honestly have no idea what we'll have. Possibly soup and rolls.)

Saturday: Chili and chips

Sunday: Leftover chili for whoever wants it; Whole Wheat Banana pancakes with fruit and yogurt for anyone who doesn't want the chili (I have the pancakes in my freezer leftover from Valentine's day breakfast.)

***Tomorrow I'll post my weekly grocery round-up. In the interest of full disclosure, I have to say that my mother-in-law was in town this weekend, and when we took a BJ's trip, she bought our weekly groceries. This was so generous and so helpful for us. However, because i'm trying to prove that we can live on a $275 a month grocery budget, i'm going to deduct the price of the groceries from our budget as if we spent it. Also, i'll post what we spent on food for Stephanie's party, because we ended up having the leftovers for several other meals. This of course keeps the budget down for the rest of the month. I'm probably going to end up challenging myself on the blog again during March when there aren't so many special occasions! That will be the real test as to whether I can spend only $275 for the month.***

Several people have asked for some of my recipes!

My Pumpkin Spelt Muffin recipe came from 100 Days of Real Food, and you can find it here:

http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2012/09/25/recipe-whole-spelt-pumpkin-muffins-and-other-spelt-recipes/

The Cheddar Egg Muffin came from my friend Melissa over at Marching to a Different Beat. I'm not 100% sure, but I think she got it from the book Wheat Belly by William Davis.

2 C. fresh broccoli, chopped

1 C. Cheddar cheese (shredded. I've used mozzarella if that's the only thing I have on hand.)

1 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp salt

8 eggs

*Combine everything but eggs. Whisk eggs in separate bowl, then mix with everything else. Divide into muffin tin. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Enjoy the deliciousness! 

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