Oh No I Have to Go Grocery Shopping

Proverbs 31 can sometimes give us women a great deal of stress and anxiety. We feel like we cannot measure up to the standards that she sets out. However, what we don’t realize is that most of us do these things every day without even realizing it. In today’s age though, it seems like it’s hard to find a woman who will meet such standards. I won’t go into depth as far as what the Scriptures say--that can be reserved for another day, but I will reference one for the purpose of my family post today, staying on budget while grocery shopping!

“She is like the merchant ships, bringing her food from far away” (Prov. 31:14, HCSB).

 We used to shop at Kroger in our old city. They offer rewards programs, and often we were able to get name brand items at low prices. However, we recently moved to a new town which does not have one. Furthermore, we found out that milk in the grocery stores here is also $2 more per gallon than where we used to shop! I thought this was absolutely outrageous considering we could easily go through 3 gallons of milk in 2 weeks. Luckily, our old store was just a short 30 minute drive so we continued to use them. I’m not just rambling, I promise.

The point is, we bring our food from far away sometimes because it gives us a better deal and we also get points to use towards money off gas. For us, it makes more sense. I don’t know how y’all buy groceries, but typically for me, it’s a good 30-45 minute process before I even leave for the store. However, it saves me some time on the back end while I’m there because I already know exactly what I’m getting. I’m going to share my little secret with you that not only helps me keep my family fed, but also usually end up doing it under $150-200 (I have a family of 4 and sometimes more).

**Reader beware: I DO sometimes buy pre-canned, boxed or processed foods. If this isn’t your style, you make have to do some tweaking!

1. Make a list.

If you are a meal planner, that will go into this. We will typically try to plan dinners at least, so even if we don’t follow through, we still have the ingredients on hand to make it. Like I said, most of our supplies will either keep in the pantry shelf or we will freeze if we see we won’t be using them for a while.

You want to make sure you leave room on your list for other writing. You’ll see why in a moment.

2. Check sales and coupons.

This is going to be the bulk of your time aside from the actual shopping. Kroger has an app, so once I make my list, I go through and check to see if there are any sales going on or if there are any coupons that match with what I’m needing to buy. I know Walmart and Aldi have apps that will allow you to check prices, and Dollar General has one that you can check prices and add coupons. You can also check online or in your local paper for manufacturer’s coupons. At this point, sometimes I will make amends to my list if I see something is on sale that we will eat and I may cross something off that’s not. If you don’t have an app, most stores have a sale paper that you could pick up.

The great thing about the app is that I can check the prices of just about everything on my list at my store location with the exception of fresh meat cuts like pork chops, steaks, or chicken wings. I can also go to a coupon on the Kroger app and click on "Show all items" and it will show me which items this coupon will apply to and how much they are. This way I don't accidentally get something I can't use my coupon on.

I will often make three columns next to each item and write the store/sale price, any coupons I have, and the price with the coupon. Now if you’re really trying to pinch and HAVE to stay below a certain amount, you might also check the store brands versus name brands. Most coupons are for name brand items and often times it’s cheaper to buy the store brand. However, there have been a few times that I’ve gotten lucky and caught a coupon for an item that was also on sale which brought the price down lower than the comparable store product.

*It is important to make sure the places will double up coupons for some items. I know Kroger will and Dollar General will not. So that means that if somethings on sale, you can’t always use the coupon for it. I am by no means an extreme couponer and I can give no advice on how to do this. I just know what works for us.*

I then total up what I have done to see how close I am to my total budget. If you know your city’s sales tax amount, you can go ahead and calculate it. If you don’t, I would leave at least a $1 for every $10 you spend (so for a budget of $200, I would stop adding stuff when I reached $180 to allow for tax).

3. Head to the store.

If you have kids and no will power, I would suggest going shopping without them if at all possible. Kids will kill your budget quick! They are the worst impulse buyers. I would also suggest not shopping when you are hungry as you will be more likely to buy everything that looks good.

When I shop, I will bring my list and match prices as I put things in the buggy (yes that’s what we call it down here :D). I also mark off when I get something and if it’s a quantity item such as 4/$5 I will make sure to only get what I wrote down. This process usually takes as long as however it would take to walk through and throw things in then check out.

However, sometimes I have not always had time to prepare before hand so that’s when you see me being the weirdo in the grocery store. I will have my list still, but I will write down prices as I go and keep a running total on my phone so I know when I’ve topped out. This makes shopping take a little longer and can sometimes lead to annoyed customers behind me, but they can get over it! It’s my life. :)

At check out, I will hand them any coupons I have printed, but most of mine are linked digitally to my loyalty card so I just scan it. I like to do it in the middle or end because when they hit the total out button, I love to see the list scroll through on the screen of all the savings. The thrill of seeing the total go down, sometimes drastically, makes my heart all warm and fuzzy…don’t judge me.

And that’s it. It seems so simple when I type it out. I always feel like it’s super complicated when I’m trying to explain it in person to people! Oh well. If you have any questions or are confused by anything, just shoot me an message. You can find this on my “About” page! I’d love to hear from you!

Until next time.