Weekly Shopping?

I think if I followed method 2, I'd spend way more than I can afford! I know some people who do that, but they don't have money problems so that's fine.

Personally, I prefer method 1 and always have done. It just seems to work better for us. Then in between if we need perishables like bananas, tomatoes,etc we just pick them up as we know it won't break the bank

 

I shop for the week. I found that I saved the most money by shopping for the whole month and having a month of planned menus and a stack of coupons. But I got burned out on doing it after a year because it took weeks of planning and one brutal day of nonstop grocery shopping.

 

I usually buy bulk foods fortnightly and fresh fruit and vegetables twice a week. I set myself a budget and I stick to it. That means I buy whatever is in season and affordable. As for my bulk purchases, I get them at the local health food store where I take along my own jars and bottles for a refill. It's a lot cheaper to buy vegetable oils, grains and nuts directly from containers instead of having to pay for all the fancy packaging.

 

When it was just me, my older sister, and my mother, we used to have to do one bulk shopping once a week, or sometimes it would be every two weeks Now that there are three more children to consider, and my mother's boyfriend, my mother is constantly doing little shops here and there. She must spend an absolute fortune!!! She just found out today that she has won ten grand though, so she won't have to worry about money for quite some time

 

I used to be very disciplined when I first moved out on my own, and would only shop once every two weeks and spend around $100 each time, so my grocery budget was about $200-$225 per month. I would typically buy the same stuff each time, and only the bare minimum of what I needed. A case of Hot Pockets or those $1 Michalena's TV dinners to bring to work for lunch, some toast and peanut butter and coffee for breakfast, then for dinner it was usually burgers and fries baked in the oven, or sometimes pizza, then a few cases of diet soda.

Then as I started getting hooked on Food Network in the evenings when I got home from work, I started blowing a lot more money on food trying out new recipes all the time. Initially I thought I was saving money by purchasing things each day as I needed them instead of shopping for a whole two weeks, but in reality I was blowing a lot more money. It would be easy for me to blow like $25 or more just to buy the stuff to make one recipe, when previously my dinners of burgers and fries or pizza were costing me less than $5.

 

I think the constant travel here and there to the grocery store is what puts most families out of budget. You suddenly see something in the grocery, only to found out that you still actually have it at home. Or you get more temptation to buy more because of the fact that you expose yourself more to the things in the grocery. Personally, I would really try to limit my trips to the grocery to times that I really really need to. But hey, your mom's very lucky, ten grand is huge!

 

I definitely agree to a certain extent. My mother is the kind of person who, if she sees something - even if she knows that he budget is going to be stretched if she purchases it - she will still get it, and then worries about it all later. The temptation thing is a definite truth too!!! Now she doesn't have to worry about money for a while, so let's see how her shopping trips increase lol.

 

I do my grocery on a weekly basis. I make a list of items that I need to buy and I stick to my budget. Sometimes I tend to spend more when I buy some extra food that is not within my list (pizza, doritos, lays, etc.). Doing grocery on a weekly basis saves me a lot of time. The only downside is that it is heavy to carry all the items. But then I get to do it once a week, so rather than be burdened with carrying those heavy loads, I just consider it as my weekly workout.

 

I shop as often as needed. When it comes to fresh items like produce, I prefer to only get what I need - meaning what I will actually use - for a few days. That way if I get too busy I don't have to worry about the food spoiling before I use it.

For everything else - tissue, soap, etc,. I look at the sale ads and stock up on what I need as things start to run low.

 

I definitely keep my shopping to once a week or less. It is myself, my husband and our daughter at home and we purchase as much as we can in bulk and prepackage into smaller packages and freeze. Having a big freezer really does help with this. I also make massive portions of things like soup, stews or chili and freeze portions that are good for 3-4 people. Our budget typically comes in around $200 a month, but I have also been trying to empty out our pantry over this time, going through things that have been there for a while and using things up!