Grocery Bootcamp Week 4: Cut Coupons

Wow! I can't believe it's already week 4. How's everyone doing? Does anyone have any questions? If so, feel free to comment on this post, send me an email, or contact me on our facebook page: Parenting & Living Our Way


Here's this week's assignment:

Grab your Sunday paper and coupon mailers and start cutting. Pretty simple, right? Well, almost. Now that you have an inventory and have been shopping for a few weeks, you know what items you buy and what you are missing. Just because there's a coupon, doesn't mean that you need to buy the item. If it's not an item you regularly buy or an item you want to stock in your pantry, don't cut the coupon. I see coupons for fruit snacks, candy, and breakfast bars all the time, but we don't eat those things so I don't clip those coupons. I store my coupons in an index card holder that has 9 divided sections. They're organized into these categories: produce, boxed/canned, dairy, bread, meat, baking, cleaning, hygiene, other. You will have to play around with different organizing items and decide what is best for you.

Here's a tip on getting more coupons: subscribe to just the Sunday paper, but order two copies! I get coupons from my parents and my in laws, so I don't even order the paper :) Don't be shy about asking for coupons, most people through them in the trash or recycling, so they don't mind saving them for you.

Grocery Bootcamp Week 3: Learn to make a grocery list my way

I don't plan a menu for the week and then make a list of things I need. Instead, I look at my inventory and the minimums I like to keep in the house and make my list to fill in my minimums. For meat and produce, I decide how many meals I will be making at home and list that. Then when I go to the store, i buy meat and produce that meets my rules requirements to fulfill those needs. It's tough at first, but you get used to shopping that way. After I buy all my list items, I figure out how much money I have left in my grocery budget (remember our overall goal is to get to $25 a week per person) and buy items that we use regularly that are on sale to help fill my pantry and freezer.

Good luck and have fun! Feel free to ask me questions, either her or on our facebook fan page.

Grocery Boot camp Week 2

This week's asdignment is short, but not so simple until you get used to it.

Shop following the rules:
1. Purchase produce that is $1 or less per pound
2. Purchase meat that is $2 or less per pound.

Just those two changes make a huge impact on your grocery budget.

Good luck & have fun!

Grocery Boot Camp Week 1

Welcome to grocery boot camp. I'm so excited that you're going on this adventure with us. If you've done your pre-work, you have two weeks of receipts and an inventory.

Now that you know what you have in your pantry, it's time to get it organized. You need to sort your pantry items into categories so you can easily see what you need to replace. Here are the categories I use (feel free to add/delete to meet your needs.):

staples (flour, sugar, ect.),
pasta
rice
beans (dry and canned),
pasta sauce
tomato sauce/tomato paste
canned fruit
canned veggies
soup
broth
cereal
oil
salad dressing
condiments
convenience meals (hamburger helper, etc.)
seasonings
syrup/honey/jelly/jam
drink mixes, tea, coffee
milk (we are a non-dairy house so we only use rice milk and soy milk, so it's kept in the pantry until we are ready to use it).

Once your pantry is organized, you can organize your inventory in the same order so that it's easy to check and see what you need to buy.

Grocery Bootcamp

Do you want to reduce your grocery bill while increasing your pantry stash?

Starting April 1st we will have our 90 day grocery bootcamp.

Your assignments to get started are relatively easy.

1. Collect 2 weeks of grocery receipts. This includes Costco/Sams and your grocery store.

2. Total how much you spend and subtract pet food, cleaning supplies and paper products. Those are their own budget items. If you can't eat or drink it, it doesn't belong in your food/grocery budget. You now have your 2 week starting amount.

3. Take inventory of all the food and drink you have in your fridge, freezer and pantry.

Stay tuned for what to do next.