Grocery Shopping Twice A Month

My family is trying to take charge of our finances, across the board.  One of the hardest areas to track is grocery shopping and meals.  We don't eat out a lot but we like to get the occasional Starbucks or pizza slice.  It feels like we go to the store every few days for something or other that we need.  Or we will have the opposite problem and have way too much to eat through before it goes bad.  This happens often with onions and potatoes.  So my new plan is to go grocery shopping after every paycheck. I'm going to make a monthly Costco run for specific things, like dog food and laundry detergent,  that I can save money buying in bulk. And I'm going to hit the farmer's market every weekend, for fresh fruits and veggies.

A problem with the bi monthly shopping trip is that you have to plan ahead. This is trickier than you might imagine.  This week (our first full week), I realized that we were entirely out of TP.  My husband cashed in the cans and bottles we had been gathering in the garage to pay for that extra trip.  I also had him get lemons for tabouli because I am no good at following rules, even my own. But I'm trying!

I also forgot to plan for Cinco de Mayo, which is next Tuesday.  Normally we would go to a local Mexican restaurant, because it is a fun holiday and I love Mexican food. Or, if we were feeling less flush, we would make fajitas and margaritas at home.  But this year, I have no fajita meat, no peppers, no tequila; so no way to make my own Cinco de Mayo feast. The saddest thing (to me) is that we just had tacos for dinner this week and I could have certainly rearranged meals to accomodate this.  I have an enchilada casserole in the freezer from some leftover Mexican food earlier in the year so I will defrost that and it will have to do.

One week to go before I can stock up again. Perhaps doing without will sharpen my planning and help me appreciate what I have, when I have it.

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I really try not to waste anything. And I am so careful when it comes to food. You can just cut up onions and put them in zippy bags (I date them) and pop them right in the freezer. Same with peppers. I wash, seed and cut them in strips for fajitas. When I have potatoes that need to be used, i either make mashed potatoes and freeze, or twice-baked and freeze. Just bake the potatoes. Cool. Cut in half. Scop out the potato. Mash with a little milk and butter. Add cheese (any) Scoop back in skin and freeze on a cookie sheet. When frozen, put them in a gallon zippy bag. Individual servings . Reheat in the microwave for 3 miutes or bake for 1/2 hour at 350. I never buy anything that isn't on sale and I am quite the Coupon Queen (if I do say so myself!)

I also shop bi monthly. I do not plan meals ahead....I spent a few months stockpiling staples. We set up our basement with shelves, a second refridgerator, and a deep freeze. I buy sale items in bulk, use coupons, rotate the stock.....we make a game out of it and save quite a bit of money. We also have a graden this year and will can the harvest.

I also stockpile and do what the above poster says. It does feel like a game. We just got three 16oz bottles of Kraft Salad DRessing for around .56 cents! Things like that. If we know we will need the item or will use it or if I can plan it into a meal, we will stock it. Boy, it is still a game-in-process for us. I am also learning to plan menues. I at least plan meals rather than menues so I know I can fill a few days in cast I don't want to have (or make) what's on the menu list for the day. On going!

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