My Daily Dollars

I’ve been at my new approach to grocery shopping for about six weeks now.  I have to say that I absolutely love it!  It is so satisfying to zip down to the basement for supplies.  As you may remember, I’m stocking up on non-perishables once every three months.  On my first trip, I spent $250 for flour, coffee, spices, and other basics.  Now, I just go to the farmer’s market for produce once a week and hit the grocery store every other week for meat and cheese.

This is the last week in October, and I’m happy to report that I saved $45 out of my $420 monthly grocery budget.  Now, that isn’t quite as good as it sounds because my husband made a couple of quick trips to the store and one trip to the market this month.  However, on the bright side, we spent a lot more at the market, stocking up on tomatoes to can and squashes to get us through the winter.  Our market in town is now closed for the season.  A nearby farm will be open through December, but I don’t plan to buy as much from them, thanks to all the squash we bought this month!  All in all, I’m hoping to save even more next month since we won’t be stockpiling as much. 

And how are my supplies holding up?  The good news is that I think I bought too much!  I just opened my 25-pound sack of flour and still have plenty of whole-wheat flour and rice and beans.  The only thing that I may run out of before December will be coffee.  I also now have all those lovely jars of tomatoes sitting on the shelves.  Those will be great for soups, stews, and chili this winter.

The biggest plus of my new system is the time that I save at the grocery store.  I used to spend an hour or two a week clipping coupons and at least an hour a week at the store.  Now, I only clip for things I’ll buy at CVS, so I’ve cut that way down.  I never spend more than thirty minutes in the store.  It is so much nicer to go in for a handful of things than to have to drag a big cart up and down each aisle loading up on food.

I also love the flexibility that I now have when it comes to planning meals.  As long as I rotate my “nights” of soup, salad, pasta, etc, I can make all number of things with what we have on hand.  Last night was a soup night, and I had the choice of making a squash soup, potato soup, or a vegetable soup.  I ended up making a potato and turnip soup and a fresh batch of cornbread.  It was so yummy and only took thirty minutes!

If you’re looking for ways to save at the store and hate clipping coupons, buying in bulk and making things from scratch may be a great idea.  I’m definitely saving more money than I was before, partly because I avoid items that are “too good a deal to pass up.”  When clipping coupons, I’d always buy a few things just because they were such good bargains.  I’d always tell myself that we might use the items.  Now, I avoid those entirely and only buy what we actually eat.