Shopping On A Budget?

Let's face it, with the way the economy is right now, who's not shopping on a budget? I don't know about you but staying on budget can be difficult for me at times. There's always this and that and something else to pay for. But I'm going to share my "Staying On Budget" tips for grocery shopping. I'm no expert, these are just some of the things I do to help myself stay on track. If you've got some other tips you'd like to share feel free to email them to me (megcancook@yahoo.com) =) or simply leave a comment! Here's a list of things I try to do on a weekly basis to stay within budget.

• Give yourself a realistic budget
• Buy Generic Brands
• Buy things in bulk
• Keep your cupboards and freezer stocked up on the things you use most
• STICK TO YOUR LIST!!!!!

I feel like $60.00 a week is plenty to be able to feed my family of 3 breakfast, lunch & dinner. But I haven't always felt like that. My budget used to be way too large for what we actually needed, I always ended up buying things we didn't need. This $60.00 covers all of our groceries for the week, including the basics. Milk, Bread, Juice, Cereal.

Buying generic brands saves a bundle! Trust me! Take Ranch Dressing for an example...when you look at Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing it costs you about $2.49 or more per 16 oz. bottle. I choose Kroger Ranch Dressing, for a 16 oz. bottle it doesn't usually cost me more than $1.69. Right there that saves $0.80 or so? Doesn't sound like a lot? Think of all the other store brand products you buy (fruit snacks, crackers, canned & frozen foods)...compare it to a generic? And add that up for a weekly savings! Then times that by 4...that's what your saving per month! And honestly the generic brands do not taste that different, if at all, than a store brand product. Also Check your weekly ads for savings! If you see something you may not need right now, but probably will next week buy a few of them to save you money next week!

Buying things in bulk may cost you a little up front, but is worth it in the long run. Take my grocery list this week for example. I try to focus on different things each week. So week 1 I would stock up on meat (beef, chicken & pork) and freeze it. Week 2 I would stock up on canned and frozen foods such as cream of mushroom or cream of chicken soup, tomato sauce, veggies or whatever else you use often from a can or that can be frozen. And usually within a decent and workable budget you can stock up enough to last as long as a month. Which means you're saving for the next 2 weeks on things you already have and don't need to buy. During those 2 weeks I usually just grab an extra can here, and extra pound of meat there so that if worse case scenario (you're sick, kids are sick, whatever) you have a week where you're not able to grocery shop you've got things in the house. So back to my list for this week, I used up my last package of chicken tonight for my enchilada's so tomorrow when I go shopping, obviously Chicken is on my list. Luckily the grocery store I like going to is having their boneless skinless chicken breasts on sale for $0.99 cents a lb! I allowed myself $10.00 for Chicken, and usually if you time it right you can hit the sale every time you need to stock up. Which has been my luck lately =) So with this sale (which I read in the weekly ad that comes in the mail) if I want to I'm able to buy 10 lbs of chicken and still be within my budget! 10 lbs of chicken can make for at least 4-5 meals! I used to buy just the Tyson Frozen Breasts but I was spending almost the same amount of money and getting half the product out of it. So it's smarter to freeze your own meat =)

That paragraph basically covered buying things in bulk and keeping your pantry and freezer stocked, don't ya think? Hahaha! Now this is the hardest part for me: STICK TO THE LIST! I always see things on the end aisles and I'm like "ooohh..that looks good" and I'll throw it in the cart, before I know it I get to the register and I'm WAY over budget! Not good! So what I've been doing, is working a little treat into the list...or work a little wiggle room into the budget. Put misc. on the list with a $4.00 limit. That way you're still getting what you really need and you're able to toss some chocolate or ice cream into your budget =)

I hope my tips are helpful and I'll be waiting to hear some of yours! I'll post an example of my grocery list and how my budget works!

Don't forget to e-mail your recipes, tips, questions, or anything you'd like to see on this blog to: megcancook@yahoo.com