“Hey, Momma? Is it even possible to stick to a grocery budget if you don’t have a discount grocer available like Aldi?“
I have great news for you! It is actually possible. When we still lived in the Pacific Northwest, we had no Aldi at all available to us and the nearest Walmart was a 45-minute drive from our house. Not so great for a regular shopping week. In fact, after the one local Semi-Not-Expensive store was bought out by the Expensive Store, all that was left without a long haul was Expensive or Hekkin’ Expensive. Or Dollar Tree.
Now while Dollar Tree can be great for a pinch and for staples like dried beans and rice, it’s notsomuch for the fresh produce. So I had to settle for shopping Expensive Store and making extensive use of its sales and digital coupons.
Here’s the unpopular opinion: The tighter your budget (or the higher your general cost of living), the more time you will need to invest in the planning and shopping for groceries. I know. It stinks. Taking your day off and having to spend time combing the sales flyer, and loading digital coupons, is no one’s idea of a good time. But it does make it possible to eat, and eat well, without busting your grocery allowance.
Step One: If your local grocery has a rewards program and/or savings app, get them ASAP.
We were fortunate that the grocery local to us frequently ran sales, which we would use to stock up on staples, including meats and frozen veggies. They also had $5 Fridays in several departments including bakery (for cakes) and deli (for lunchmeat and cheese). They also participated in a Monopoly game once a year, and we frequently won free bagels and donuts, in addition to other free foods and even spices! Then with their rewards program, you could either cash out your points for more free foods, or take a discount on your gas, up to $1 off per gallon. The rewards program also had digital coupons only available to members, so definitely worth it to sign up.
Step Two: Look through the sales flyer to see what’s on sale that week.
The first thing you want to look for is what proteins/meats are on sale. If chicken is 69 cents a pound for a 10 pound bag of leg quarters, it’s all chicken baby! If by some miracle the frozen ground turkey chubs drop to $1 each, plan on making ground turkey the primary protein in the meal. Should the ham go on sale for $1.49 a pound, it’s all things piggy for the week.
From there, make a note of any BOGO sales, any discounts with digital coupons or rewards membership. Just scribble anything that looks useful to you on a spare bit of paper. I know typing things out is a thing, but for now, you’re just taking 15 minutes to note anything you might want. Pruning comes later.
Step Three: Break out your Price Book to compare sale prices to regular price.
What is a price book? It’s a book you keep at hand, with notes under each category of what the standard prices are for the items you typically buy. That way when your grocery has toilet paper “on sale” for $24 down from “regular” $36, you know that’s bull… because it’s regularly $16. (Heyo Covid-era price gouging.) The purpose here is to do a quick double check that the store sale price is actually a deal. Because sometimes even with a BOGO and a coupon, the box of Cheerios is still more costly than the in-house Honey Nut Toasty-Os.
Personally, I happen to love the price book I got over at She’s In Her Apron. I keep my notes in pencil and update them about every three months or so. (I’ll take “What Is Inflation?” for $500, Alex.) Nothing hard and you don’t have to make a special trip to fill it out. Just next time you’re at the store, make pencil notes on the prices of things that you buy on the regular: flour, canned tomatoes, pasta, apples, cereal, milk, etc. No added work beyond a quick five-second note while you’re just doing a shop.
And don’t forget to pick up my FREE Guide of the 30 Best Groceries to Buy When on a Budget. Many of these will be items you use frequently and want to record in your price book.
Step Four: Start coming up with meals based on sales and coupons.
You won’t use everything, but try to come up with approximately 2-3 breakfasts, 3-4 lunches, and 5 dinners. Maybe it’s oatmeal with yogurt some mornings and eggs with toast the other mornings. For lunches, it’s sandwiches, dinner leftovers, and a ham and bean soup. Dinners use that primary protein you found, any veggies that are on sale or inexpensive, and a starch.
This is where that pruning mentioned before comes in. You want to try to stick to two, maybe three, main starches. Bread, rice and potatoes. Or grits, pasta, and sweet potatoes. You’ve got your main protein, but maybe hot dogs are on sale for $1 a pack; add those into the mix too. Pick a couple of fruits to have with breakfast and lunch. Or if the canned versions of a brand are at an amazing pricepoint, spring for variety.
As you go through the meals you’re thinking of, look for places where items can be used in multiple meals. Plan on elbow macaroni to make mac n’ cheese one day, and then added to a veggie soup another night.
Step Five: Make your grocery list. (But be ready to be flexible.)
You never know when there’s an unadvertised in-store special. Recently I found chubs of sausage marked 49 cents per pound. You’ll want to stock up on those if they happen. But also be ready for that Cheerios scenario mentioned above. Once you’re at the store, you realize that the base price is up from what’s listed in your price book, and now the in-house brand is still less expensive, even with the BOGO and the digital coupon. Have your list and stick to it for the sake of your meal plan, but be ready to pivot if a better deal shows up.
Step Six: Check in with Ibotta to see if there are any rebates for items on your list.
Lemme tell you how unhappy I have been when I forget this step and come home to find all the money I left on the table in rebates. Especially when I would have hit one of the bonuses that give an extra $5-$10 back in rebates. T_T
Just a quick 10-15 minutes to check in on Ibotta for rebates on items you plan to buy, or need as a necessity.
As a disclaimer, the link for Ibotta above is my referral link. If you use it, we both get bonus money! Looking for more info on Ibotta? Check out my post on how I used Ibotta to get a free turkey for Thanksgiving!
Step Seven: Do the shop!
Yes, I acknowledge that there is something to be said for pickup or delivery. However. It’s been my persistent experience that pickup invariably leaves out something I was really depending on, gives me unripe/rotten produce, or makes a costly substitution. Delivery always has an upcharge on all the items, and that’s before the delivery fee and the tip.
If you use these methods to shop because you cannot resist the siren call of Doritos at full-price, may I suggest you do not walk down the snackies aisle. Just don’t do it. It doesn’t exist for you anymore than the baby aisle does when you don’t have a baby. I understand–easier said than done.
But also remember, there are often in-store sales and markdowns that you would be unaware of if you don’t enter the building. It’s worth the danger of Doritos to get sausage for 49 cents per pound.
I hope you’ve found this process useful for your own efforts. If this is your first attempt at really planning off the sales, don’t give in to discouragement. The first few tilts in this joust will take you more time than it will take you later. The more you practice scanning ads, making a meal plan and building a list, the quicker you will become in completing those tasks. My first few runs at it took me an hour to just look at ads and coupons. Another hour for meal planning. And gosh about two hours to do the shop because I had to be exact about the brands. If that sounds like a lot… it is. But it does get better. And easier. Do this on your day off so you have time to devote to it. Like riding a bike or playing piano, budget shopping is a skill that requires practice for efficient execution.
But don’t worry! You’ve got this!
Let me know what your best budget find or money saving sales hack is in the comments. And check out my most recent example of what this sort of shop looks like at Publix, complete with the grocery list and meal plan.
What is your biggest challenge in sticking to your grocery budget?
Eat well! Momma
P.S. Don’t forget to pick up my new Free Guide: How to Make an Extra $1000.
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