5 Ways OAMS Saves You Money

Last week, I encouraged you to just jump in and try Once a Month {Grocery} Shopping for yourself. Was anyone brave enough to give it a try?

This week, we continue the series with a post that answers your burning question: But does it really save me money?

I do about 70% of my grocery shopping in one huge marathon grocery-shopping weekend each month, with mini-trips the rest of the month to stock up on produce, meat and any can’t-miss loss-leader sales.

Many people are curious about this method of grocery shopping, so I thought I’d devote every Friday in September to posts about this very topic!

If you missed it last week, my post was entitled “How to Make the Most of Your Grocery Budget Dollars“. It’s a quick tutorial on how to jump into the whole business of OAMS and get your feet wet, so to speak.

One question you may have is: does OAMS really save any money? And how? To be honest, I debate within myself on this topic on occasion, and I have come to the conclusion that yes, OAMS can save you money if you do it right. How to “do it right” is another post for another day; for today let’s just focus on exactly how OAMS does save you money.

  1. It keeps you out of the stores. When you do the vast majority of your shopping in one big trip, that means you’re only running to the grocery store for a few items in the remaining weeks of the month. If you shop weekly, then you spend significant time every single week walking through the grocery store aisles, and you will be tempted to spend a lot more. I know that was true for me, regardless of how good I was at sticking to a list.
  2. It makes you aware of how much you are really spending, and what you are really buying. Spending a larger amount of money all at once is a lot more jolting to the senses than throwing away smaller amounts week by week. Even if you are just going over budget by $5 a week, that’s $20-25 that you will notice right away if you do your shopping all at once. That’s a significant amount of money if you’re on a really tight budget! You will also see more clearly what exactly you are buying with that money when you buy it all at once. Ten boxes of cereal, for example, will grab your attention much more quickly than when you buy them 2 or 3 at a time.
  3. It helps you crystallize in your mind what you really need to be buying, and how much you really need to spend. The awareness that comes from a monthly shopping trip helps you determine what is really needful and what is just wasteful. The mini-trips are also eye-opening: when you only have $20, for example, to spend on food for the week, you are forced to limit yourself only to what is absolutely necessary. You will more clearly recognize what are the non-essentials that either can be forgotten about completely or put off for another week or two. When I did my grocery shopping on a weekly basis, I would get so distracted by sales that my grocery list would fill up quickly with a lot of what I now realize are non-essential items. Just because it’s a great sale doesn’t mean you need to buy it!
  4. You can take advantage of bulk pricing. When I used to shop weekly, I had a very difficult time fitting bulk and warehouse shopping into my routine, because I simply didn’t have enough room in my weekly budget to buy a $10-15 item, even if it was a great deal. OAMS is essentially bulk shopping, so you can take advantage of those great warehouse and bulk bin deals. For example, I use a LOT of extra virgin olive oil, and I used to buy a small bottle of it once or twice a month. Now, I can buy a large container for a fraction of the cost, and it will last me a couple of months at least. (Costco has at least one kind that is in a dark glass bottle, so it will keep longer, although I don’t always buy that particular one.)
  5. You can splurge mindfully. As I’ve mentioned already, in my weekly shopping trips, I would frequently buy a lot of great sales items that were good deals, but not really essential. At the same time, I would get frustrated by my inability to occasionally purchase items that I enjoyed or wanted to try but didn’t have any wiggle room in my budget. My one big monthly shopping trip now gives me that opportunity to buy something new or fun: maybe an ingredient for a recipe I want to try, or a new brand or product. Because I am working with more money at one time, I have a little more wiggle room. At the same time, the mindfulness I mentioned earlier helps me to focus my splurging only on those things that I really want, not just mindless things that hold only a passing appeal.

Find the complete series here:
How to Make the Most of Your Grocery Budget Dollars: Just Jump In to OAMS!
Five Ways OAMS Saves You Money
How the “Mini Trips” Work
How to Make Your OAMS List, Part 1
How to Make Your OAMS List, Part 2
Sample OAMS Trip

How to Make the Most of your Grocery Budget Dollars

If you happen to be on a limited grocery budget (and “limited” looks differently depending on your situation…. let’s just say mine is definitely “limited”!), then you understand how difficult it can be to provide healthy whole foods for your family without dipping into the retirement fund. OK, maybe a slight exaggeration for most of us, but really, it can be very stressful to keep your grocery budget in the black when you’re working with limited funds.

There are a lot of money-saving tools for your grocery budget toolbox these days, and I believe all of them work well together and all deserve a mention on any frugal foodie blog. But there is one valuable tool in particular that doesn’t get a lot of press yet can be super effective in keeping your grocery spending under budget.

I’m talking about Once a Month Shopping (OAMS). Based on the almost-daily google searches that lead people to my blog, I’m guessing I’m not the only one curious about this method of grocery shopping, how it works, and how it saves money. For my regular readers, and for those who found me through Google (Hello! And welcome!), I want to take this opportunity to briefly describe how I do OAMS, and how it can save money in the long run.

Let me warn you before I get started: It takes a bit of discipline, and it requires more planning than even my previous carefully planned weekly shopping trips. In the end, though, I really believe it saves a lot of money… and time! As a busy WAHM with a toddler and infant, I can totally appreciate anything that saves me those precious commodities.

How to Get Started with OAMS

Just Jump In!

I suppose it would be wiser in some ways to actually spend a month noting and recording your family’s eating habits, so that you could start in on the process with that knowledge under your belt to guide your shopping decisions. And I think there are those whose temperament would really do well with more careful planning, and for them, I’d advise to go ahead and take some time to research before jumping in. For most, though, I think it’s better just to get started and learn as you go; you’ll figure out pretty quickly what your family eats and how much of certain items you need to buy to last a whole month.

To reiterate this point, I will mention that shortly after I was inspired to begin the whole OAMS process, I actually did sit down and come up with a whole list of the foods I thought my family would eat in one month, and the approximate cost, and I was so horrified by the total that I dropped the whole idea for several months. When I finally “jumped in” and just did it, I squeezed my eyes shut, held my breath… and it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought.

So how do you “just jump in”? Easy! You’ll probably be coming off a pretty well-stocked pantry, fridge and freezer like I was, so the first month might even be the easiest. You start by making a list.

Make Your List Wisely

Go around your kitchen, including your pantry, fridge and freezer, and make a list that includes all the following:

  • Foods you need that you are already out of
  • Foods that you are almost out of
  • Foods that you will run out of in the next few weeks AND you know you can’t live more than a day or two without them (chocolate chips are not included in this category. OK, in emergencies, they are.)

If you have access to previous meal plans, read through the meal plans to get an idea of what you ate on a regular basis to help you shape your list.

If your list is largely filled with the following food groups, you should have plenty of food to keep you going for a whole month:

  • Meats (Fresh meat, as well as cured meats, like bacon and lunch meat)
  • Produce (lots and lots of produce)
  • Dairy (milk, eggs, cheese, yogurt)
  • Baking supplies (flour, sugar, honey, butter, oil)
  • Starches and grains (rice, pasta, oats, etc.)

If your list has a lot of snack foods, junk foods, or processed foods, those are not going to last long, and you will quickly find yourselves hungry.


Fit Your List to Your Budget

There are several parts to this, and depending on how aware you are of your grocery spending, will be more or less difficult than other aspects of OAMS. First of all, if you don’t have a firm monthly budget amount, figure that out right now. You may also need to consider which paycheck you should organize your big shopping trip around. For us, that’s the middle of the month.

Also, keep in mind that while the majority of your shopping is done in one big trip, you’ll need some money for weekly trips to stock up on perishables, essentials you missed in your OAMS, and any loss-leader major sales you can’t afford to skip. For us, that means we spend about 70% of our monthly grocery budget once a month, and spread out the remaining 30% over the remaining weeks (keeping in mind there are sometimes 4 and sometimes 3 remaining weeks before the next big trip).

Once you know how much you can spend, then you need to know how much things will cost. This you can learn as you go, if you don’t already have a firm idea of prices in your area. For the first month, though, just make an estimate of the prices (rounding off higher rather than lower so you’re not surprised in the end). Add up your total estimated cost, and if it’s more than you can spend, go back through your list and cross off anything you can afford to live without or do with less for now. Get rid of any non-essentials for now - if you have any money leftover after buying what is necessary, then, and only then, you can get the marshmallows or the graham crackers or the chips (although you shouldn’t).

Find the Best Price

If you don’t already have a price book - mental, digital, or black-and-white - start one as you go about your first monthly shopping. If you put off OAMS because you don’t have a price book, then you’ll never do it, because it will seem like such a daunting task. However, if you compile it as you go about your shopping, it will help shape your future trips, and you will learn much more about the foods you really want to know where the best price is.

Start looking at every single grocery store circular that comes through your mailbox or with your local paper. Even if you don’t normally go to that store, browse quickly through the ad and see if there are any deals or prices that catch your eye. If you see anything, add it to your list, go to that store to purchase those items, and while you’re at it, make note of their prices on items you buy a lot (milk, eggs, flour, etc.). I was surprised recently to find that a store I never went to very often has absolutely the best bottom dollar price on canned coconut milk, something I use all. the. time!

Don’t forget about the non-grocery stores. I always do some of my shopping at the Walmart Supercenter or Target, because their food prices are often (but not always) considerably cheaper even than grocery store sale prices. The downside is that they don’t double coupons, but even so, the price is often better than I can find elsewhere. Drug stores also always have certain food items on sale, although I’ve found they aren’t usually the healthiest offerings. And along the same lines, don’t forget about the specialty stores - sometimes local bakeries run specials that offer a better price on some baked goods (like really healthy freshly milled whole grain bread) than I can find anywhere, or even make myself. And some ethnic stores (Asian, in particular) often have great deals on certain items unique to their cuisine.

And don’t forget about the world wide web. Now that we live in such a virtual world, we can do our grocery shopping virtually, and I’m not talking about ordering at Safeway for home delivery. No, there’s a lot more variety than that! Amazon.com in particular, often has great deals on groceries, especially through their Subscribe & Save program. I almost always get my brown rice flour through Amazon.com, because they usually have a price that can’t be beat. I’ve also seen excellent prices there for coconut oil and other very healthy products. Also keep your eyes peeled for Groupon-type deals for local food sources… I’ve seen and taken advantage of daily deals for health foods stores, bakeries, organic suppliers and more in my area.

Now That You’ve Started, Keep it Up… and Keep Track of It!

No matter what, once you are done with your big monthly shop, purpose that you are not going to go back to the store except for that weekly replenishment of produce and any other absolute essentials. If you run out of something, make do or do without. You’ll be surprised by how creative you can be… and by how little you actually need what you thought you would die without. So you ran out of rice? OK, eat pasta instead. Or barley. Or that package of quinoa that has been languishing on the shelf for months.

Keep track of how much you spend on foods, and the prices you find as you go about your shopping. Use a spreadsheet or a notebook, but do keep track. That way, when you go to plan your next monthly trip, you’ll have a better idea of where the best prices are so you can shape your list accordingly. Every month, add to this list the new prices you find - I’m still adding to mine because it’s an ongoing, almost-never-ending process.

Also keep track of the food you actually eat. I don’t write this down anywhere, but I make a mental note of how often I have to re-supply certain foods. Some it’s more often, some it’s less. I’ve found that 6lbs of sugar can last over 2 months, but a 32oz container of honey will only last 1 month. I can stretch certain meat cuts into 2 meals, but some never go that far (my DH can plow through any cut of pork like it’s the last meal he’ll ever eat, so I can’t count on anything but a 4lb roast lasting longer than one meal!).

Plan a Menu

What really helps me live off the food I buy once a month is planning for it, and using the food I buy wisely. Posting my weekly menu plan here on my blog has been such a tremendous help to me - so much help that I seriously don’t mind if no one else ever even looks at it but me! (Although I’m always happy if someone finds something useful on my blog.)

Part of using the food I buy wisely means allotting it carefully, so we don’t eat it all up at once, leaving the cupboards bare for the rest of the month. To that end, I’ve come up with some guidelines when developing my weekly menu. In each week, I fix certain foods for only one meal so that I don’t use them all up right away. For example, a weekly meal plan will probably feature:

  • one rice dish
  • one pasta dish
  • one potato dish
  • one chicken meal plus one meal made from the leftover chicken
  • one other meat-based meal
  • one tuna based meal
  • one breakfast meal
  • etc.

Not only does this help me plan my menu, it helps keep our grocery consumption in check, a win-win!

Of course, there’s a lot more to OAMS than this, and I plan to visit the topic again as time allows. If you have any questions about my experience, please do ask, and I’ll be happy to answer them to the best of my ability!

Now I want to know about your grocery shopping habits! Do you shop once a month or once a week? Or just whenever you need food? Do you have a grocery budget?


Find the complete series here:
How to Make the Most of Your Grocery Budget Dollars: Just Jump In to OAMS!
Five Ways OAMS Saves You Money
How the “Mini Trips” Work
How to Make Your OAMS List, Part 1
How to Make Your OAMS List, Part 2
Sample OAMS Trip

Your Grocery Budget Toolbox Hungry for more information about reducing your grocery budget? These tips and many many more can be found in my eBook, Your Grocery Budget Toolbox. It’s available in .PDF format, as well as Kindle and Nook, for only $7.99. Click here for more information.

May OAMS Report

As I mentioned yesterday, my Once A Month Shopping trial is officially over, and has been more or less of a success. Once again, I don’t have time to go into the details of my experience, but trust me; I’ll share all the juicy details with you soon.

We were so low on seemingly everything - at least everything we use regularly - this past week. I kept adding things to my list, and the list kept lengthening. It was something of a challenge to keep the total to a decent minimum, leaving me enough money for the rest of the month to spend on produce at the farmer’s market and any other necessities that may arise.

My shopping trip this month was quite extensive, covering 8 stores in 2 days! Oh, and the farmer’s market the day before that, where I indulged in a package of local bacon. I’m going to change up the format a little as I show you what I bought, listing first the foods by category, then pictures grouped by store. I’m not sure if that will make it clearer or muddier, or if it will be more organized or not. Let me know which way you prefer.

Meat

7.5 lbs chicken leg quarters ~ Harris Teeter ~ $3.49

1 lb smoked bacon ~ TLV Farms ~ $7.00

1 lb ground turkey ~ Safeway ~ $1.99

1 dozen Eggland’s Best eggs ~ Giant ~ $0.78

Produce

1 cucumber ~ Safeway ~ $0.79

2 green bell peppers ~Safeway ~ $1.00

4 white corn ~ Safeway ~ $1.00

1 mango ~ Safeway ~ $1.00

3 lbs strawberries ~ Safeway ~ $4.50

2 organic garlic bulbs ~ Trader Joes ~ $1.49

2 lbs organic Fuji apples ~ Trader Joes ~ $2.49

1 lb organic carrots ~ Trader Joes ~ $0.89

8 bananas ~ Trader Joes ~ $1.52

5 kiwi ~ Giant ~ $1.00

2 cantaloupe ~ Bloom ~ $2.99

Dry & Canned Goods

1.5 lbs corn meal ~ Dutch Country Farmers Market ~ $1.44

4.5 lbs raw sugar ~ Dutch Country Farmers Market ~ $6.65

1.5 lbs red popcorn ~ Dutch Country Farmer’s Market ~ $1.48

cilantro ~ Dutch Country Farmer’s Market ~ $1.90

1 can coffee ~ Giant ~ $2.50

1 lb raisins ~ Trader Joes ~ $2.29

1 pkg chocolate chips ~ Trader Joes ~ $2.29

8 oz dried cranberries ~ Trader Joes ~ $1.99

16 oz sunflower seed butter ~ Trader Joes ~ $3.99

16 oz raw organic honey ~ Trader Joes ~ $5.99

24 oz clover honey ~ Trader Joes ~ $4.49

2 lbs Besan flour ~ Walmart Supercenter ~ $4.92

2 cans Thai Kitchen coconut milk ~ Walmart Supercenter ~ $2. 84

1 bag dry chickpeas ~ Walmart Supercenter ~ $1.42

1 bag dry Northern Beans ~ Walmart Supercenter ~ $1.08

31.5 oz coconut oil ~ Walmart supercenter ~ $5.62

2 64oz Langers juice ~ Safeway ~ $3.99

16 oz vanilla ~ Costco ~ $6.75

8 oz dried organic coconut ~ Bloom ~ $2.00

Dairy and Non-Dairy

48 oz Polly-O String cheese ~ Costco ~ $8.79

2 64oz Silk coconut milk ~ Walmart Supercenter ~ $6.50

20 6oz yogurt cups ~ Walmart Supercenter ~ $7.70

1 32oz rice milk ~ Trader Joes ~ $1.70

GRAND TOTAL: $125.67


Whew! Glad that’s done for another month!

“Dutch Country Farmers Market” and OAMS

I’ve officially finished my “Once A Month Shopping” trial; and I’m working - at least mentally - on a post and perhaps a series recapping my adventure and sharing what I’ve learned. Suffice it to say at the moment that overall, I have deemed the experiment a success and plan to continue as long as it works for me.

For right now, though, I’m going to share one of my favorite sources of dry goods that I haven’t been able to visit recently until today - just in time for my OAMS extravaganza!

Unfortunately, I did not have my camera with me, so I wasn’t able to take any pictures, but I found the above one online.

The Dutch Country Farmers Market is a weekend market featuring a variety of groceries and prepared foods from Amish country, which is within driving distance. You’ll find things like pretzels (a favorite of DH’s) in all shapes and forms, donuts, cakes, cheesecakes, all kinds of bread and other baked goods (getting hungry yet?), as well as produce and meat. As far as I’m concerned, there’s nothing super special about the meat and produce - it’s not necessarily either organic or local, and the meat is grain-fed rather than grass-fed. I usually don’t bother spending the extra money for those things since I could buy the same quality for less at a regular grocery store.

The dried goods section is the one that always catches my attention. What I love about it is that it has all kinds of foods in bulk, many of them cheaper than you will find elsewhere. What I also love is that the bulk foods are already measured and bagged, so you don’t have to do that yourself: the cost-effectiveness of bulk without all the work!

Today at the farmer’s market, I saw all the following pre-packaged bulk goods for decent prices:

  • a variety of gluten-free flours, including buckwheat, millet, spelt, corn, oat and more
  • a variety of wheat flours (whole, white, etc.)
  • a variety of sugar (raw, evaporated cane juice, refined, etc.)
  • corn meal
  • popcorn kernels
  • tons of beans, all kinds
  • dried fruits and vegetables of all kinds
  • hand-made chips and other snacks (not all of them healthy)
  • cocoa
  • herbs and spices (a great resource for these!)

You can also find not-so-healthy baking and cooking mixes (for gravy, soup, drinks, you name it); those I usually by-pass.

As part of this month’s grocery shopping, I purchased the following:

4.5 lbs raw sugar - $6.62

cilantro - $1.90

1.5 lbs Red popcorn (how cool is that?!) - $1.48

1.5 lbs corn meal - $1.44

For a special treat, you can also find handmade candies and fudge at the farmer’s market. I didn’t indulge today because of Baby Boy’s allergies, but I gave some luscious-looking chocolate covered strawberries a longing look as I passed by. And a review of the market wouldn’t be complete without mention of their extensive baked goods section that features all kinds of delicious-ness baked up by real Amish cooks, including the famous Whoopie Pies (not healthy, but yummy).

Tomorrow, I’ll catch you up on the rest of my monthly shopping for May - once I’ve finished with it!

Grocery Shopping with $20, and, Grocery Shopping at a Local Organic Market

What can you buy for $20? Turns out a lot.

After my big monthly grocery shopping trip last week, I had $60 left in the month’s budget, or $20 for each remaining week in the month. This money goes toward produce (which doesn’t last all month), any food needs that arise, and any too-good-to-miss loss leader sales at the grocery stores.

I extended that amount a bit by purchasing a $30 voucher to one of my local organic markets for only $15 at Double Take Deals (This is a referral link - if you subscribe through this link, you will get $5 towards the purchase of your second deal… and so will I!). David’s Natural Market is a local fixture, having been around as long as the town itself I think. It was the first and only natural market here in town until the past couple years, and as such, has developed a lasting reputation as the place for local organic healthy food.

Unfortunately, even though it’s in the same town I am, it’s still out of the way for me. It’s just not near any other grocery stores, other stores, or even people or places that I visit. The “Double Take Deal” made it totally worth it for me, so I made a trip out there today and here’s what I got:

David’s Natural Market

1 bag Arrowhead Mills puffed brown rice 15% off $1.86

1 ginger root %15 off $0.48

1 box Tapioca Starch $2.99

1 box Potato Starch $3.39

1 box Rice Dream 15% off, $1 coupon $2. 39

1 So Delicious Coconut Milk $1 coupon $2.99

1 16oz jar Spectrum Organic Coconut Oil $1 coupon $8.89

1 So Delicious coconut milk creamer 10% off $2.69

1 jar Maranatha Sun Butter 15% off, $1 coupon, $3.67

1 container Spectrum Organic Palm Shortening -sale- $5.39 (the best price I’ve seen anywhere!)

Bulk thyme and spearmint - $0.38 ea.

TOTAL: $35

minus the $30 voucher= $15!

That left me with $15 to spend on the great deals to be found at Safeway (I could not let Easter pass me by without getting a ham!) which is where I headed next.

Safeway

9.68 lb Ham $0.99/lb $9.58

2 24oz jars Mt Olive Pickles BOGO + doubled $0.50 coupons $1.00

2 McCormick GrillMates 10/10 + $1 coupon $1.00

2 boxes strawberries BOGO = $3.99

7 bananas (actually from Target at $0.24/pc) $1.68

TOTAL: $17.25

As you can see, I went over budget by $2.25, so if I want to stay in budget for the whole month, I need to account for that over the next two weeks.

I am trying to be more informative with these shopping posts, as I have received questions from people wanting to know more specific information about my shopping trips. Please, if you have more questions, feel free to ask. And if there’s too much detail, just skip over the non-pertinent information!

One complaint I often hear from healthy-eating non-couponers is that there are no healthy food coupons. That may be true if you are a homesteading traditional foodie (and good for you! Wish I could do that, maybe someday!), but as you can see, I was able to get a better price on things like coconut oil and sun butter with coupons. And while I believe that canning your own pickles is healthier, I ran out of my own stash, and I am thankful that coupons enable me to stock back up until the summer. There are definitely coupons for healthy, staple ingredients, which you can find on a regular basis if you keep your eyes open for them.

My OAMS Trial - Month #2 is Underway

I am happy to announce that I successfully completed my first “OAMS” trial, by which I mean “Once a Month Shopping”, and by shopping I mean grocery shopping. I know many of you are anxious to see how it goes for me so you can decide if you would like to take the leap, too.

So far, it’s been a mixed bag. There are definitely both pros and cons as I have discovered.

Pros:

  • I did spend less overall. I went about $6.00 over the monthly grocery budget, which is pretty good, considering on a normal weekly shopping trip, I would easily go as much as $5 over the budget. I also included all my Certain Little Someone’s special food in my budget this time (like coconut milk for drinking, rice milk for baking, and special flours). Previously, I didn’t include that in the grocery budget because I kind of figured it took the place of the expensive Nutramigen formula we used to have to buy for him.
  • I really really enjoy having one big shopping trip. It’s so nice to be able to just buy everything we need all at once instead of trying to decide, “should I hold off on this item until next week or get it right away?”. It feels good to start out the cycle with a fully stocked kitchen.
  • It has made meal planning easier. I am now planning meals 2 weeks out, whereas I used to plan only one. I know this is nothing to those of you who regularly plan at least a month at a time (which will be my next step!), but for me, it’s a big thing.

Cons:

  • My kitchen was really getting very bare by the end of the month and my list was growing longer and longer by the minute, it seemed. Although it all worked out in the end for this month, I am concerned about the next cycle. Last time, I was coming off a fairly well stocked kitchen before embarking on this trial. This time, I’m coming from a barely stocked kitchen: big difference! We will see how it goes.
  • Somehow I miscalculated and we didn’t have *quite* enough of a few items to last through the month, so we just did without them for a few days until my big grocery shopping began.
  • One thing I felt consistently short of was adequate amounts of fruits and veggies. I will have to work on that this time around.

Overall, I was very pleased with the experiment, and excited about trying it again.

In the picture above, you can see my first stop this month, which was Trader Joe’s. Here’s what I bought and what it cost:

Trader Joe’s

8oz dried cranberries 1.99

16oz raisins 2.29

16oz ground flax seed 2.69

12oz semi-sweet choc. chips 2.29

2 lbs organic apples 2.49

2 lbs organic carrots 1.78

1 can garbanzo beans $0.89

8 bananas 1.69

24 oz honey - 4.49

16.9 oz olive oil - 3.49

TOT: $25.61

MOM’s

2 64oz carton So Delicious coconut milk 7.00

2 gal organic whole milk 11.20

1 dozen pastured local eggs 4.29

<1 oz. ginger root 1.36

2/3 lb popcorn kernels $0.93

TOT: $24.74

Costco

1 massive box of Quaker Oats 6.89

1 qt heavy cream 3.89

2 lbs Monterey Jack cheese 4.69

2 lbs Mozzarella cheese 5.79

TOT: 21.26

Super Fresh

3 16oz cans Hunts tomato sauce 2.00

1 lb frozen broccoli 1.00

1 lb frozen peas and carrots 1.00

2 6oz cans Chicken of the Sea tuna 3.18*

1 cantaloupe 1.99

5 lbs potatoes .99

3pc pkgSplit Chicken Breasts 4.32

2 pkgs Perdue boneless skinless chicken breasts 4.85

TOT: 19.33

*This was a mistake. My DH very sweetly did this leg of my shopping trip because I was under the weather, and accidentally grabbed the tuna that was not on sale.

Safeway

3 64oz bottles Mott’s Apple Juice 5.00

4 12oz pkgs Sorrento string cheese 6.00

1.3 lbs grapes 1.28

3 kiwi .99

1 lb onion 1.03

3 lbs Cutie clementines 2.50

TOT: 16.77

Note: the last store will reveal some of my compromises for the sake of relationships and other considerations. I mentioned last month that DH won’t touch my homemade yogurt so I always get him the yucky storebought kind. I actually don’ t mind Dannon yogurt, especially their all-natural line, but unfortunately, they were out of almost everything but Light and Fit (which has fake sugar, something I abhor). And the cereal is a snack for my Certain Little Someone, because there are so many things he can’t eat, I like to give him some yummy foods he can … at least when they cost next to nothing!

Giant

1 pkg Eight O’Clock coffee 3.99 (supposed to be 2.50 but the coupon didn’t make it to the store)

3 boxes very unhealthy cereal 1.70

1 lb Smithfield bacon 2.40

2 cans Blue Diamond almonds 3.50

20 Dannon yogurts 8.00

TOT: 22.94

GRAND TOTAL: approx. $130.00

That leaves me with about $70 to finish out the month, around $23/week. Think I can do it?

 

Old Mother Hubbard: Continuing the “OAMS” Trial

By “OAMS” I mean, of course, my “Once a Month Shopping” trial, wherein I am attempting to do the majority of my grocery shopping once a month rather than weekly. And by Old Mother Hubbard I mean, of course, that my cupboards (and refrigerator) are getting rather bare!

I have one more week to go before I can do another big shopping trip, and my mantra is, “I can make it. I can make it.” And I really hope I can.

I have $15.00 left in the grocery budget tomorrow and I hope to get the following absolutely-must-haves:

  1. milk
  2. coconut milk
  3. flour
  4. produce

Think I can do it? I might go a little over, but if it’s only by a few dollars, I’ll have counted the first month more or less a success!

After all, thankfully, my freezer looks a little better than my fridge:

My menu for next week is all set, and at least on paper, everything is looking good, so we’ll see what happens. I’ll keep you posted…

 

Once-a-Month Shopping Trial

A couple months ago, I read an article about a woman who did the majority of her grocery shopping once a month. I can’t remember the details anymore, but I remember being astounded by how little money she spent every month to feed her family of four (including two teenagers!). And she didn’t buy a lot of junk either (which can be easy to do very cheaply using coupons and sales); she focused on mostly whole foods, although not necessarily organic or local. At any rate, I was duly impressed and decided it was worth a try, especially after reading her comment that “the less often you enter the grocery store, the less money you’ll spend”.

Hmmm. Makes sense.

So I decided to give it a try. Mind you, I’m not convinced yet. This is definitely still in the trial stages and I’m not committing to it until I see that it works. However, I’m certainly willing to give it a fair trial, so I’m going to go for 3 months at least and see what happens.

Of course, not all the grocery shopping can be done once a month. A lot of produce simply won’t last that long, and of course, it makes good sense to stock up on the really cheap loss-leaders from the weekly grocery circular. So my idea is to spend50-75% of my monthly grocery budget once a month (in the middle of the month because that works best with our cash flow), and then spread out the remaining 25-50% throughout the other weeks in the month to stock up on fresh produce and any super deals I can’t pass up.

This was my first attempt, and it was very haphazard. For one thing, I did my grocery shopping at the end of a long day that included waking up early at 5:30am, traveling for 6+hours, going to a realtor’s office to sign an offer on a house, unpacking from the trip, and every other little thing that crowds every day. I hadn’t even had a chance to make a proper list, and I ended up augmenting the minimal list I had made quite a bit.

Even so, I was pleased with the results. I did feel that I was able to buy more useful and practical food than I usually do, and it feels good to know that there are certain things I don’t need to buy for another month.

Here’s how my trip went:

Safeway (pictured above) (and actually my DH went to Safeway for me)

20 Yoplait yogurt .49/ea - 2 $1 coupons = $7.80

2 16oz. Johnsonville sausage BOGO -$1 coupon = $3.00

4 lbs pork chops = $5.06

1 whole chicken = $4.92

2 lbs grapes @ .99/lb = 2.21

4 grapefruit @ 2 for $1 = $2.00

1 3lb bag organic apples = 4.99

TOT: $29.97

(I do not recommend Yoplait as a healthy yogurt, but my DH is picky and most of the time I’m just happy he’s eating yogurt at all. He steadfastly refuses to eat my homemade yogurt, silly boy. And the Johnsonville sausage is not the healthiest on the market, but it’s a cheap protein that is safe for My Certain Little Someone, so I buy it when it’s a really good deal.)

Costco

48oz Polly-O string cheese = $7.49

6 lb Sugar in the Raw = $7.75

2 lbs Sharp Cheddar = $4.99

2 lbs Strawberries = $4.49

TOT: $24.72

(The string cheese is for my DH’s lunch. See what I do for that guy? 😉 And isn’t that an amazing price this time of year for strawberries? So what if it isn’t in season - strawberries are strawberries!)

MOM’s (My Organic Market)

1 box Potato Starch = $3.39

1 box Tapioca Starch = $2.59

1 gal. Organic Whole Milk = $5.59

1 container Spectrum Palm Shortening = $6.69

1/4 lb Arrowroot Powder = $8.35

TOT: $26.61

(The potato and tapioca starches and also the shortening are for My Certain Little Someone; I use them in his baking. And the arrowroot powder is one of my healthy changes for this year. We’ll see how long it lasts at that price! Perhaps I should find a cheaper source…)

Superfresh

1 6pc pkg Applesauce = $1.50

5lbs Organic Potatoes = $3.49

2 lbs Reduced Apples = $1.99

2 lbs Reduced Tomatoes = $2.06

2 1/2-gallons So Delicious Coconut Milk = $7.00

2 640z Hansen Juice on clearance = $3.99

1 Cantaloupe = $1.99

TOT: 21.99

(The coconut milk is for My Certain Little Someone. The reduced apples have been made into applesauce, and the tomatoes have been made into tomato sauce.)

Trader Joe’s

1 quart Rice Milk = $1.69

2pk Soap = $1.49

1 pkg Unsweetened Baking Chocolate - $1.99

2 lbs Organic Carrots @ .89/ea = $1.78

7 Bananas @.19/ea = $1.33

1 lb Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate = $1.99

16 oz Raw Organic Honey = $5.99

TOT: $16.28

Grand Total: $119.57

Considering my goal was to spend between $100-$150, I think I did pretty good!

So there you have it folks! Let’s see how long this food lasts us and if I’m able to stay on budget for the whole month. I’ll keep you posted!

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