I am planning to approach my grocery shopping in 2020 a
little bit differently this year. While
I still plan to purchase the very best food I can afford at the best possible
prices I am hoping to purchase a little
less of it. I am also hoping to spend
less time shopping.
Food management absorbs a lot of my time. I spend a great deal of time planning,
looking at ads and for coupons, storing, meal prepping and all the clean up and
storage of leftovers. It has become a
huge job and I want to make it more efficient this year. If that is possible.
I do like the whole process of managing our food and it is
the one type of shopping I truly to enjoy.
I love to plan our meals, cook and bake, but I wouldn't mind simplifying
the process a little more so I could spend more time on other things.
We are blessed to still have a very full freezer at the
moment and quite a bit in our pantry as well.
To begin the year I will be shaving down our grocery budget to a mere
$100 a month for January and February and using a lot of what we already have
on hand. In March I will see where we
are at and decide then if I will carry it on that month as well. In the meantime I will concentrate more on
fresh produce and just replacing items we are low or out of.
Food waste is something I try to be very mindful of and will
continue to be this year as well. I
rarely through food out. Between the
three of us and our chickens we have plenty to eat with little waste. In that same vein I also want to be more
mindful of what I purchase and the amount of trash it generates. I shop with reusable shopping bags and have
used mesh produce bags off and on to keep the plastic to a minimum. I could do better on those plastic produce
bags.
As is my usual, I will continue to shop the ads as well as make
my purchases at the stores I know will have the best prices on certain
items. I still want to make sure I am
getting the best value for my dollars spent.
Mindful and intentional spending will be my mantra this year. Especially if I only have a $100 grocery
budget to start with.
I would love an easier approach to shopping & planning. For now, we will continue to meal plan & ensure we are eating down our freezer/pantry. But, I do feel there have to be more organized systems to ensure we don't build up extra inventory. I'll have to give more thought to this in 2020 as well, because I do love a good planning project!
ReplyDeleteMe too! We can do this. I have faith that we can. :0)
DeleteDear Hawaii, Disclaimer: I know it's more work. Consider an excel tracking sheet. with column for:
Delete1. Item/unit
2. Price per unit
3. Multiplier 1X2
4. Estimated waste.
5. Multiplier 2x4
Then have totals at the base. I created a mini sample to see if this works. It's super easy.
I buy the same things regularly so I could copy the "item and cost" columns each trip and enter new quantity. Keep that tally at the bottom by inserting and you've got some very fast math!
Can you tell I've tracked every penny we've spend/earned since 2000? :-)
My other thought on this: I don't know about you but if I tracked our meals we probably eat 15 combos of meals 99% of the time. So I could make a fairly complete list of items I would buy over the course of 1 month and then those items that are irregular but part of my overall pantry arsenal such as wheat germ, whole wheat flour, whole wheat pasta etc.
DeleteI grow enough in the garden to fill 2/3 of our 14cf freezer so I don't buy tomato products (except tom paste) nor salsa. I freeze all our kale for winter when organics go high $. I dried a year's worth of basil but the other herbs got frostbite :-(
Prices have been up in my area. I can't seem to stay on budget (which is small) no matter what I try. The single biggest impact I believe I can make in 2020 is to try harder to control food waste. I am making smaller pots of soups,stews,etc so we eat it up within 2-3 days and it doesn't have to be frozen(forgotten). I am shopping with a list now 2 times a week for produce and necessities only - trying to keep each trip at 15-20. So far I believe it is working and we seem to be eating up/using up stuff better. According to statistics we waste 40-50% of food so hopefully by staying on top of it I can stay on budget despite the higher prices.
ReplyDeleteFood prices are up here too. I'm going to have to be even more creative to find good prices and lower my spending.
DeleteI see a lot of foods I know you don't eat as you live Keto. If I may be so bold, could you spend a bit more time regularly posting about this lifestyle? I haven't jumped but I am pondering.....
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, groceries in Boise have absolutely jumped. I will say though, organic whole foods have gone up very little at Costco. I have saved 1 big trip receipt each year since 2008. Many items have barely gone up AND they are organic! Even though there are only 2 of us, we can get through those large quantity veggies without spoil.
Keto or a whole foods diet is a wonderful way to go. I heartily recommend it.
Delete