Shared Jun 3, 2009
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This week’s $30 shopping trip
I skipped Super Savings Saturday last week due to Mr. Linky's issues and the fact that we were attending the homeschool conference here instead of doing our usual grocery shopping.
However, I did make it to the store yesterday to hit the sales at Dillons and to snag some deals at another local store's Double Coupon Days. I'm still a long way from feeling completely recovered from having a baby or that things are all organized and running smoothly with three littles, but the fact that I took all of them and went grocery shopping by myself felt like a huge victory!
Here's what we bought:
Before coupons and sales, our total for all of that would have been well over $120. After coupons and sales, we paid a whopping $30 for all of it!
After two successful couponing transactions yesterday, I realized just how much I've missed bargain-shopping over the last two months. In fact, I believe I'm going to have to restrain myself to over the next few weeks while I get back into my "groove" so that I don't go overboard on the coupon-clipping and shopping-trip-planning! 🙂
I'm feeling more and more like my old non-nine-months-pregnant, non-sleep-deprived self is coming back so I'm hopeful to slowly work back into my usual blogging mode over the next few weeks. You all have been incredibly patient as I've taken a break and only posted deals and guest posts for the last number of weeks and I'm looking forward to picking back up some of the well-loved features and writing more posts of substance in the not-too-distant future. Stay tuned!
Wow! I didn't mean to take a 3-day break from blogging but sometimes life happens and blogging just has to get put on the back burner.
Thank you to the many of you who wrote in with concern as to my unexplained silence. You all are very kind! Gratefully, nothing traumatic happened here, we just had a jam-packed weekend. We were at a homeschool conference Thursday evening through Saturday evening and then were gone all day Sunday and most of Monday due to various other events.
I had every intention of fitting in blogging time in the midst of our busy weekend, but it just didn't happen as I opted to get to bed early instead. I guess when it's your third time around with a newborn, you decide sleep is one of your most valuable commodities! 🙂
In addition to getting sleep, my husband and I were able to plan out our homeschooling year (which we're hoping to begin next week!), re-work our daily schedule to hopefully have a workable schedule, and just iron out a lot of details to enable our home life to run more smoothly in the next few weeks and months. It feels so good to have some semblance of organization planned and in place now.
Thanks for your patience with me in taking an impromptu breather from blogging. While it was great to take a break for a few days, I missed you all and am glad to be back. And I have a huge backlog of deals and posts to share so expect an avalanche of blog posts over the next few days so I can catch up!
Guest Post: Teaching Your Children About Money Management
Guest Post by Jill Savage from Hearts at Home
Every child has their own financial personality. Three of our children are savers. Two are spenders. Of course, they take after both my husband and me, who sit at opposite ends of the spending/saving spectrum ourselves.
Regardless of our default tendencies in money matters, it is vital that as parents we teach our children sound financial principles. Their ability to handle money as an adult will be influenced by the financial education we impart as well as the habits we model ourselves.
Because faith is an important part of our life, we base our financial education on the 10-10-80 principle: 10% to God, 10% to savings, and 80% for spending. This provides us a foundation for all of our money lessons.
If you are trying to teach your kids good money management skills, here are some practical financial strategies to consider:
1) Resist making loans. Invariably, the kids will ask for an advance on their allowance or a short-term loan until their allowance or next paycheck and it is tempting to front them the money. However, this can plant the seed that borrowing is an optional financial strategy for short-term pleasures.
2) Teach them to spend based upon a budget rather than a paycheck. Help your children to identify budget categories like entertainment, future events (concerts, ski trips, etc), gas and auto expenses (if they are driving), clothing, and Christmas to allow them to learn the value of truly "managing" their money. If they sock away a certain amount or percentage into each category each time they are paid, then they will most likely have money for the things they want to do. This also teaches delayed gratification where they learn to wait for the things they want through short-term sacrifice rather than getting short-term gratification with long-term consequences (debt).
3) Open a checking account with your teen. Ideally this would happen a year or two before they go to college so they can learn to manage the account with your guiding hand. Teach them how to keep good records and how to reconcile their account each month. Set aside a regular time each week to financially "check in" with your teen, going over their register, checking the account online, and overseeing their reconciliation.
4) Rather than starting your teen with a debit card, ask the bank for an ATM card. There is a common misunderstanding that a debit card purchase will be denied if the bank account is overdrawn. However, a debit purchase is only denied after the account is already overdrawn and fees have likely been incurred. This is because the bank doesn’t know what purchases haven’t yet posted to the account. Therefore, it won’t stop a new purchase because it isn’t aware of recent purchases until it’s too late.
An ATM card allows access to cash anytime, but keeps teens from over-drafting the account with unrecorded debit purchases. There is still a risk of overdraft with an ATM card if the teen is writing checks and not keeping good records, but the risk is definitely less than if they are using a debit card.
5) Teach kids to shop wisely. Kids can use their fledgling math skills to divide the cost of a product by the ounces in the container to get a per-ounce price that allows them to make cost comparisons. Taking along a small calculator can come in handy.
6) Educate your kids about confusing marketing tactics, misleading credit card offers, and hidden costs in purchases. Television commercials provide many examples of misleading marketing tactics that our kids need to understand. The dozens of credit card offers we get in the mail can become an instant lesson in the dangers of borrowing money and how the minimum payment keeps a person in debt for years. Online purchases include shipping and handling costs that kids need to figure into the final price for an item they might want to purchase.
Certainly our spenders need to learn to be savers and our savers need to learn how to spend wisely. However, the most important lesson our children need to learn is money can manage us or we can manage our money!
Jill Savage is the founder and Executive Director of Hearts at Home. A mother of five, Jill is the author of seven books including My Heart's at Home.You can find Jill's website and blog at www.JillSavage.org.
Freezer Jam
Guest Post by Hannah and Abby from Safely Gathered InEvery considered making your own freezer jam? It can be inexpensive, fast, and easy to do! Best of all, it’s delicious!
The most economical way to make this jam is usually by buying strawberries when they are in season at Farmer’s Markets or U-Pick Farms. However, you can also make it with frozen berries.
The ingredients you’ll need:
Strawberries (you can also use other berries, if you prefer)
Sugar
Pectin
You’ll need enough strawberries to have four cups of crushed strawberries. We picked a gallon bucket, and then ate strawberries out of it all weekend, and then I made jam from the rest.
You can pick up pectin in your local grocery store in the canning section. It’s usually by the ketchup and salad dressing. The directions for making jam are on the back of the pectin, so it’s really simple. (There are also similar recipes here and here.)
First, mix the pectin and the sugar together in a bowl until combined.
Then, get to work on the strawberries. I let my faucet trickle so I can rinse the strawberries one at a time and remove the tops. If they are large strawberries I slice them, if they are wee ones then I just toss them into the blender. After all, they are just going to be pureed.
Once your strawberries are washed and hulled, put them into a blender and puree them. If you like chunky jam, don’t blend it quite as much. Make sure you have the right amount of crushed fruit it calls for. If, after I blend my berries, the mixture is under the four-cup line, I just add more strawberries and blend again.
Add the strawberries to pectin/sugar mixture and stir. My directions say to stir for three minutes. So set the timer and go.
An important component of jam making is the containers! The beauty of freezer jam is that since it’s going in your freezer, you can put it in anything and it doesn’t need to have a seal on it. I use yogurt, sour cream containers, old jars, and baby food jars for the jam I’m going to gift away.
Ladle the jam into your containers, label the contents and date, and set on your counter top for 30 minutes to set, or until the time indicated in your directions. The freezer jam will last for up to 3 weeks in your refrigerator and up to a year in your freezer.
Hannah and Abby share recipe ideas, food preservation tutorials, and more information regarding food storage at SafelyGatheredIn.blogspot.com.
Shared May 23, 2009
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An exercise in juggling: Our first coupon-shopping trip with three little ones
An exercise in juggling: Our first coupon-shopping trip with three little ones
Whew! Don't ask me what my hubby and I were thinking when we decided to take all three little ones (4 years old, 23 months old, and 16 days old) out to visit Great-Grandma and then to Dillons, Aldi, and Target for groceries. We're typically a little overly-ambitious and I think today was no different.
That said, we did make it through all four stops, plus a stop at Sonic for Happy Hour half-priced drinks. But I wouldn't say it was the smoothest outing ever. And I certainly don't think I'm quite ready to tackle three stores with three children all by myself–at least not until Silas gets a little better nursing schedule (he's currently nursing every two hours for 30-45 minutes–which adds up to a lot of time spent nursing!) and I'm a bit more back to my normal stamina and energy!
It's funny, though, how your perspective changes. I remember when taking one child out seemed like a big undertaking. Now that seems like a vacation! So, hopefully soon, juggling three little ones and coupon-shopping will be old hat. Maybe. 🙂
At any rate, it was a fun adventure and we scored some pretty good deals. Here's what we ended up with:
All totaled, at Dillons, Aldi, and Target, we spent right at $31 for all of this! Of course, I did have $9 in Target gift cards that I used (earned from previous deals), so our total would have been $40 had it not been for those.
I was especially excited with the deals we snagged at Target:
All that pictured above was only $3.06 after the coupons and $9 in gift cards. Sweet!
After not grocery shopping myself for quite some time, I was happy to have a successful shopping trip–even if I haven't quite mastered the art of juggling three little ones, nursing every two hours, and my coupon box. I'm hoping I'll eventually get that all figured out… maybe?
What are your tricks and tips for shopping with multiple little ones? I'd love to hear!
Super Savings Saturday
I just finished planning our shopping trip to Target, Dillons, and Aldi. Now we're off to navigate the stores and deals with three littles in tow for the first time. It should be an adventure!
I'll post an update when we get home… stay tuned!
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Did you snag any great deals or bargains this week or save money in other ways? If so, be sure to post about them on your blog and leave your link below.
Note: Please remember that this weekly round-up is to share deals you personally got and/or money you were able to save this week. In order to keep this weekly round-up focused on helping and inspiring others in their efforts to save money, links which have little-to-no content other than promoting affiliate links, etc. will be deleted. Also, to make it easy for everyone to navigate quickly through the links, your link must link directly to your Super Savings Saturday post.
A hodge-podge of links
I've been collecting some note-worthy links over the past few days which I wanted to share here for those interested:
::See this beautiful cookie platter here? My sister made those yummy-looking brownies yesterday at our house and, let me tell you, the recipe is quite a winner!
::Amy posted an excellent piece on Seven Tips For Leading a Balanced Blogger Life which every blogger out there should take the time to read. Excellent food for thought!
::Have you ever stopped to think about how much trash your family produces each year? This family committed to go a whole year without sending any garbage to the landfill. They ended up with a single bag of trash for the whole year. Quite inspiring!
::My friend, Amy, has a great post up on Grocery Stewardship
which I highly recommend that everyone go read. It's so important to
not get caught up in the comparison game. We are all in different
situations in life with different needs.
I hope that our $40-$60 grocery trips/menus are an inspiration to you all,
but I never want it to come across like this is the "gold standard" of
grocery budgets. I know many people who have smaller budgets and much
larger budgets and the budget number is not what matters; the fact that
they are seeking to be a wise steward of the resources they have is
what matters most. So be free to do what works for your family and
don't feel the need to apologize!
::And finally, for the many of you who have asked, I wrote a post here on how our family is adjusting to life with three littles.
Guest Post: My Journey Towards Cutting Our Grocery Budget
photo by roadside pictures
Guest Post by Jessie from VanderbuiltWife.com
Not too many months ago, I was spending $80 to $100 a week on groceries. For two people. I knew that wasn't quite right, that I didn’t need to spend so much; yet, how would I get to cook the things I wanted if I tried to pinch pennies? Wouldn’t we end up eating macaroni and cheese and cereal for every meal?
I read many blogs on saving money and using coupons, but I could not get it to click in my head very well. I thrived on trying new recipes, exciting and exotic meals from the pages of Cooking Light and Southern Living. I planned my meals, made out a list of ingredients I needed, and zipped off to the store each week.
Then, in October, I had my first child. Suddenly the cost of daycare, pediatrician visits, diapers, wipes, and other baby paraphernalia was eating at our loosely planned budget. In January, once I was back at work and more in the swing of things, I decided it was time to tackle my grocery spending. I thought surely the two of us could eat for $40 a week if I were more careful.
It’s not been nearly as difficult as I imagined. Mostly I just flipped around my way of doing things: instead of choosing meals and then making my list, I make the list and then choose meals. First, I cut out the coupons from that week’s circular that I might use at some point. I flip back through my coupon box to remind myself what I have. Then, I scour the ads of my two local grocery stores to find the great deals for the week, and match up items for which I have coupons.
After that, I use my list of items I can get for a steal to plan my menu. I’ve found that doing it this way, I can still make many meals from those magazines I love. Some of my recent favorites have been Gnocchi with Italian Sausage and Swiss Chard, Pork Tenderloin with Shallot-Cider Sauce, and Grilled Chicken Burritos with Jalapeno Sauce. I use healthy, whole ingredients to make our dinners—with an occasional side of frozen veggies or Rice-a-Roni.
I never thought I would be the kind of person to go through the grocery store with a calculator, but I do now, every week. I get everything on my list, then use any extra money I have for the week for unadvertised deals, manager’s specials, or treats for my husband.
Some weeks I still groan at the idea of laboring through the coupons and ads; but truly, it is just an hour of my time each Sunday while the baby naps, and it saves a great deal of money. Some day I would like to stay home with my daughter, and having these habits now is great practice for the future, when I might be on an ever tighter budget!
Right now my $40 budget is just for the week’s groceries, but I hope as I get more and more used to it I’ll be able to squeeze my household items in there as well. And I desperately want to get over my fear of CVSing…anyone know where I could get some tips on that? 😉
Jessie is wife to Adam and mom to baby Libbie. She lives in Nashville, TN, where she works as an editor for a Christian publishing house. She blogs about trying to keep up her household while being a full-time working mom at VanderbiltWife.com.
Guest Post: Making Your Own Homemade Cleaners
photo by Brittney Bush
Guest Post by Heidi from Frugal Girls
One way I've found to save our family a lot of money is to make our own cleaners. It took me awhile before I was willing to try this, but after I did a quick analysis of how much money I could save, I knew it was time to start making up some frugal cleaning solutions of my own!
These solutions literally cost approximately $0.40 to make, as opposed to the $3 or $4 price tag you’ll often see on cleaners at the store. Here are two of my favorite tried and true “recipes” for homemade cleaning solutions:
Homemade 409
2 Tablespoon distilled white vinegar
1 teaspoon Borax
1/8 cup Dawn dish soap
1 cup hot water
Pour vinegar, borax, and hot water into spray bottle. Then continue filling spray bottle with cool water.
Add dish soap last. There is no need to shake.
Homemade Laundry Stain Remover
1/3 cup Dawn dish soap
1/3 cup ammonia
3 Tablespoon baking soda
1 cup water
Mix all ingredients together and store in an empty spray bottle. I was skeptical of this one at first, but since I have two boys
who are dirt and grass-stain magnets I gave it a try and I've found
that it has never let me down!
If you haven’t tried making your own cleaning solutions, I’d highly encourage you to try! You just need a few simple ingredients and you’re on your way to some effective and thrifty solutions. It’s easy to do, and you might be amazed at how much money you’ll save!
Frugal Girls is a positive and fun site dedicated to helping you save money and stretch your dollars by finding the best bargains, hottest coupons, thrifty meals, and outrageous deals!
Tired of Missing Deals?Join Our Hot Deals List!
Click here to sign upA great way to recycle your cut-up credit cards
If you're a Dave Ramsey fan like me, you probably have become quite adept at cutting up credit cards. Up until now, I'd never considered a way to recycle them, but this mosaic idea is brilliant. Not only is it a way to show your disdain for credit cards, but you can do it in a beautiful way!
Check out the detailed instructions for making your own mosaic here (thanks to Rachael for passing along the link!)
Oh and if you are still sold on using plastic, you can go here to read why you should cut up those cards forever and find freedom in using real money.
Super Savings Saturday
Well, we skipped grocery shopping entirely this week except for a quick run my husband made for bananas and chocolate milk. Our church friends have generously been providing food for us all week long so I haven't had to cook anything and we've been eating exceptionally well. What a blessing!
And we haven't even touched our After-The-Baby Freezer Stash of 25 meals I made up before Silas was born so it looks like it's going to be quite a while before I'm going to have to do much cooking or baking around here–which is wonderful since I'm pretty busy right now just keeping up with three little ones!
I have to say, though, I'm really missing cooking, baking, and bargain
shopping–even if my time is a bit limited right now!–and I am looking
forward to jumping back into it soon. But in the mean time, I've been
spending my free time snuggling with and loving on my adorable little children.
Thanks for your patience with me as I've been blogging less here this past week. My husband went back to work on Monday so I've been on my own most of this week. Gratefully, it's going really well and we're making good headway in getting into a routine around here but it will likely be at least a few more weeks before things are back into order and we have a good schedule going.
Until then, I'm just blogging in the little spare moments of time that avail themselves throughout the day–and some days, those spare moments are pretty sparse! At any rate, I appreciate your understanding as we make this transition here and thank the many of you who have gone out of your way to pass along deals and links to help me out.
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Did you snag any great deals or bargains this week or save
money in other ways? If so, be sure to post about them on your blog and
leave your link below.
Note: Please remember that this weekly round-up is to share
deals you personally got and/or money you were able to save this week.
In order to keep this weekly round-up focused on helping and inspiring
others in their efforts to save money, links which have little-to-no
content other than promoting affiliate links, etc. will be deleted.
Also, to make it easy for everyone to navigate quickly through the
links, your link must link directly to your Super Savings Saturday
post.
Italian Roast Wraps
Guest Post by Laura from HeavenlyHomemakers.com
I’ve learned four simple things about healthful eating:
- It is not as difficult as you might think.
- It is not as expensive as you might think.
- It is not as time-consuming as you might think.
- It is more delicious than you might think.
Really. I have a husband and four kids–four boys to be exact. We are a single income family and we eat a very healthful diet on a very tight budget. So I know from first-hand experience that it can be done and it can taste really yummy, too!
Recently on my blog I’ve been writing a series called High Five Recipes, featuring high quality recipes all using five ingredients or less. You would be amazed at the great dishes you can make using only five ingredients or even three ingredients. Of the recipes I’ve come up with to share so far not only are they healthy and simple, but many of them only take five minutes to prepare.
Here’s one of our favorite High Five Recipes: Italian Roast Wraps. These are so flavorful and juicy. However, if you were looking forward to seeing a five-ingredient recipe which only takes five minutes to prepare you may be disappointed with this one. You see, this one only takes two minutes to prepare. Sorry about that. 🙂
Italian Roast Wraps
- 2 to 3 pounds of frozen roast (beef, deer, or lamb)
- 1/2 pouch Italian dressing mix (I use the Simply Organic brand.)
- Whole wheat tortillas
- Sour cream
- Chopped fresh tomatoes
Place frozen roast in a crock pot. Sprinkle 1/2 pouch Italian dressing mix onto roast. Cook on low for 5 hours.
Shred meat or slice thinly. Spoon meat onto a warm tortilla and top with tomatoes and sour cream. Wrap and eat! Served with a fresh fruit salad these Italian Roast Wraps are a great lunch or dinner.
Want to see more High Five Recipes? I have a whole category on my blog featuring these five-ingredient or less recipes including main dishes, side dishes, snacks, and desserts all using healthful ingredients here. Stop by and learn how simple healthful eating can be!
Laura blogs at Heavenly Homemakers, a site dedicated to encouraging women as they make their homes heavenly and strive toward their Heavenly Home. She shares about how she and her husband work to live simply, eat healthfully, spend wisely, and raise four boys (ages 4, 7, 9 and 11). The raising four boys part of her life is usually loud, busy, and full of lots of soccer balls and light sabers.
Italian Roast Wraps
- 2 to 3 pounds of frozen roast (beef, deer, or lamb)
- 1/2 pouch Italian dressing mix (I use the Simply Organic brand.)
- Whole wheat tortillas
- Sour cream
- Chopped fresh tomatoes
Place frozen roast in a crock pot. Sprinkle 1/2 pouch Italian dressing mix onto roast. Cook on low for 5 hours.
Shred meat or slice thinly. Spoon meat onto a warm tortilla and top with tomatoes and sour cream. Wrap and eat! Served with a fresh fruit salad these Italian Roast Wraps are a great lunch or dinner.
Ask the Readers: Printing coupons inexpensively?
With all the great printable coupons which have been available recently, I thought it would be great to post this question that Andrea recently emailed and asked:
I am new to printing internet coupons and it has taken a toll on
my printer cartridges. Where have you found/heard to be the cheapest
place to buy/refill them? -Andrea
my printer cartridges. Where have you found/heard to be the cheapest
place to buy/refill them? -Andrea
I'd love to hear your best money-saving suggestions and ideas for printing coupons (and everything else!) inexpensively.
Guest Post: Finding Joy in the Journey
photo by stukinha
Guest Post by Amanda from Trent Tribe Refreshment Company
I once heard a story about two brothers who set out to dig a deep hole in their backyard. “What are you doing?” some older boys asked.
“We are digging a hole through the earth!” the brothers replied.
The older boys laughed. Digging a hole all the way through the earth was impossible.
After a few moments, one of the diggers picked up a jar full of spiders, worms, and other treasures. “Even if we don’t dig all the way through the earth, look what we found along the way!”
The moral of the story: It is in the digging that life is lived.
In our journey towards debt-free living, how many times do we say, “I’ll be happy when I’m debt-free?” “I’ll be happy when the emergency fund is fully-funded.” or “I’ll be happy when the mortgage is paid off.”
We’re distracted by crisis. We all face frustration, boredom, pain. But joy is a choice.
By recognizing the positives in my life, I feel joy. Celebrating the everyday blessings is a deliberate action. It’s a purposeful mindset which transforms my life.
Blessings are all around us; they are just waiting to be noticed. We can choose to dwell on the difficulties or we can look for the joy.
I still have problems. I still have inconveniences and discomforts. However, I am allowing them to be less important, less significant by choosing to acknowledge the wonderful things in my life. I am practicing praise and attempting to do away with complaining.
There is joy in the journey.
Amanda Trent blogs at Trent Tribe Refreshment Company. There she posts about loving her husband, mothering/homeschooling her four children, clipping coupons, seeking God, and finding encouragement along the way.
Allison left the following comment on my picture of this week's $30 shopping trip:
I've
enjoyed reading this blog the past month or so since I've discovered
it, and you've really helped me snag some good deals. And I think it's
neat when you come home from the store with a pile of groceries for
only a few dollars.
But every time I see the picture of your groceries, I wonder
something like, "What is she going to cook for dinner with easy mac,
salad dressing, and jello?"
Is this all the grocery shopping you do? Do you have a garden? Or
raise your own beef? How do you round out your bargain purchases to get
a meal on the table?
One of my biggest secrets for grocery saving success is that I practice the Buy Ahead Principle. What's that, you ask?
Well, basically, other than dairy products and produce, I aim to never pay full price for anything. Instead, I stock up when an item is on sale to tide me over until the next sale.
For instance, in this shopping trip picture, you'll see that I mainly stocked up on cereal. In fact, I bought 16 boxes of cereal–enough to last us for at least 6 weeks, likely longer. Did we only eat cereal that week? No way! We ate a few boxes of cereal that week and the rest of what we ate mostly came from items I'd stocked up on during previous sales.
You see, because I stock up on items when they are on sale at my target price (providing I can afford it in our budget), my grocery shopping trips will usually look quite strange and will certainly not be the basis for a balanced menu. But you can check out some of our menus here to see that we do eat a fairly balanced diet. Well, at least we're certainly not subsisting on Easy Mac and Jell-O every meal!
How is it that we can eat a fairly balanced diet when I buy such an odd assortment of groceries each week? It's because the bulk of our meals are based upon what we already have in our refrigerator, pantry, and freezer.
To give you an idea of how this works, here's a rundown of our menu this week:
Breakfasts: Cereal or Kashi waffles and fruit (The cereal was from our big stock-up mentioned above, the waffles were purchased two weeks ago at Target for $0.29/box, and the fruit is from what we purchased this week and leftovers from last week.)
Lunches: Sandwiches or leftovers and carrots or fruit (I had lots of bread in the freezer I'd gotten for $0.50/loaf from Aldi last month and the peanut butter was from our pantry. My mom also gave us some extra lunch meat she had leftover from a lunch they served so we've used that, too. The carrots and fruit were purchased this week or leftover from last week's purchases.)
Dinners: We're eating meals from our After-The-Baby Freezer Stash paired with homemade bread from the freezer and frozen veggies from the freezer. All of the items in our After-The-Baby Freezer Stash were purchased within our usual grocery budget over the course of a few weeks' time as I had a little extra wiggle room in the budget or items were on sale.
Snacks: Fruit, cheese, crackers, granola bars, yogurt (The fruit, cheese, crackers, and yogurt were all purchased this week. The granola bars were from the pantry.)
When I plan the menu for the week, I first check out what we already have on hand. This gives me the inspiration for the majority of the menu. I then consult the sales fliers and my coupon box to decide what items are on sale and in-budget that I want (or need) to stock up on. I also add in any specific ingredients I need to round out a recipe or meal I've planned from the freezer and pantry ingredients.
For many people who are used to buying only what groceries you'll use in the next week, the concept of buying ahead can be mind-boggling. However, I highly recommend you at least give it a try as it can save you a great deal of money. In fact, I would estimate that we routinely save at least $30-$50 each week by doing so.
If this is a new concept for you, don't go out and spend $500 tomorrow trying to build up a stockpile. Instead, just designate a small percentage of your grocery budget each week to buying extra of those heavily-discounted items which you know you will use sometime in the next few months.
Slowly
start to build up a stockpile of items you regularly use as you find
them discounted by 50% or more with a sale and coupon. Over time, your
stockpile will grow until you come to a point where you can begin to
pretty much only buy items which are at rock-bottom prices, in addition to produce and perishable items.
Just by adopting the Buy Ahead Principle, you will see a significant savings in your grocery bill. And you'll likely be shopping less and eating better than ever before!