Grocery Shopping

OK, people, let's talk food!

Everybody needs to eat and cooking your own food is the easiest way to be healthier and to save money. Now in order for cooking at home to save you time, you have to take a little time to do some planning. Running to the store or the drive through every evening wastes an incredible amount of time, plus knowing ahead of time what you want to make takes the stress out of dinner.

I try to grocery shop only once a week, usually when my list of dinner entrees is down to one and/or the milk is running low. I start with a menu plan. I have a pretty good idea of what food I already have in the house, so I can usually plan most of my meals around what's on hand and what's on sale. So my menu planning is really simple: I pick 6 entrees for dinners. That's it. As I pick the entrees I list ingredients that I don't already have on my shopping list and then I'm mostly all set. I quickly go through the flyer and see what else I "need" then I look in the fridge and pantry to scan for any staples that we're out of. I add that to the list, grab my shopping bags, and I'm ready to go.

Now, you may have noticed that I've been using a lot of singular words, so yes, I only shop at one grocery store and I really like that. It's the store closest to me, the next closest one is 10 minutes further away, and while 10 minutes doesn't sound like much, I'm not driving 10 extra minutes both ways every week just to save 15 cents on apples (or whatever). And even if I lived close to several stores, I still really like only shopping at one. I can find things faster because I am familiar with my store, I only have to stand in line once, and I only have to look through one flyer each week. I don't have to take the time to compare (and keep track of) pricing and sales at several stores.

Also, I have made up a form grocery list with items I buy frequently in an aisle by aisle format for my grocery store in the order I walk through the store. So picture that my piece of paper is divided into 12 squares and each square has several lines listing items (and prices) I frequently buy with a few spaces for other things to be written in. Because when I walk in the store I first come to the produce, deli, and bread departments, the first box has items I buy in those departments listed. (I enter the store, walk around the outside U of the store and then go through the centre aisles.) The second box is the meats and milk, the third is the dairy, frozen foods, eggs, and refrigerated juices. Then I get one box per middle aisle with those items listed and the best thing is that if I don't need anything in aisle 7, I don't have to walk through it!

I hope that form makes sense because it's really helpful to have one and I encourage you to make one. I did mine on the computer, but you don't have to. If you're already shopping at one store, you can start making it now. When you are familiar with a store you can remember roughly where things are. You know if you start in the middle or the outside of the store. Don't make your list in my order, make it in the order you walk around the store. Think about where you go first and write down a few things that you get in that aisle, then think about where you go next and continue the process. If you don't remember if the cereal is in aisle 5 or 6 don't worry about it, try to remember everything that you get from the cereal aisle and the next time you're in the store you can edit your list. It will take a few times to get it the way you want it, but that's ok. I still edit mine on occasion, but for the most part, I have the set up done.

When I started my form I didn't include prices, I added those later. I put down the regular price and the brand(in shorthand) of what I like to buy and that way I can tell if a deal is really all that great. Also, each square in the chart has a column for writing down how much you want and a column for checking it off.

So anyway, thank you for joining me, and I hope I can help you! It really is fun to be a Homemaking Diva!!

Please comment or send your questions to me at homemakingdiva@hotmail.com

Have great day!

Valerie :)
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