QUESTION:
"Hi Mums, I’m struggling with food shopping (family of 5). I want to do the shopping in one go, And I do, but I feel like we run out quickly and we’re going back to the supermarket every day.
I feel when I do the shopping that I get enough and costs a fair bit, it’s like all we spend our money on is food!! Any advice, please? Be nice."
RELATED QUESTION: What do you use to budget for groceries?
TOP ANSWERS (AS SELECTED BY MODERATOR):
“Sit down. Make a meal plan. If you shop for a week or two weeks or a month. Write down 7 days… 14 days… 30 days… Worth of meals. When you do this, plan to use leftovers. Have a leftover night once a week. Make something you can easily transform into something. Write down ALL the ingredients you need. Go through your cabinets/pantry/freezer. Mark out what you do have. Then make a list of snacks. Buy those in bulk and separate them into Ziploc bags.”
“This won’t work for everyone, but I take advantage of the stores that mark meat down the day before it expires and I put it in the freezer. You have to be careful that the meat isn’t discolored or has an ‘off’ odor. I’ve done this for years and haven’t killed anybody yet.”
“Have you tried meal planning as a family? I do this with my family. We all sit at the table and pick out the meals for the week. I do the whole month shopping in one go. We are also a family of 5 and I know how expensive food can be. This was what I started doing to save money. Snacks I let the kids make three choices each of sale snack items. It gives them a choice and says, but it also helps to cut down on costs. Hope this helps.”
“If you have an Aldi nearby, they really are a money saver. Meal planning, buying what’s on sale, buying meat in bulk, and freezing in smaller portions are all good ideas. Also, making things like pancakes, waffles, and biscuits from scratch are super cheap and make a lot.”
“I do a monthly shopping and spend 400-500, a family of 4 with 2 extra kids all weekend every weekend, and that is most of my meats and pantry staples. Then I go once a week the other 3 weeks and grab extra produce and milk (we go through an absolutely INSANE amount of milk) that’s usually 30-40 as there is always something I forgot to grab or ran out of. We eat a lot of the same meals so I have a pretty good idea of what to grab each time. I also buy my meat in bulk and separate it into freezer bags which makes it a little cheaper.”
“Try coupons. When I was really into coupons a few years ago I would save $50 to $100 a week. I went food shopping every week. Also tell your family that this is all and it needs to last. You can also get bins with each name in it and divide up the snacks so they can control how much they eat and when they’re out until the next time you refill.”
“It was a pain at first but I literally sat down with a pen and notebook paper and wrote out ALL the meals that work for my family, breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, and drinks. I keep those meals in a semi-regular rotation and leave room for new recipes to try. Anyway, I make my “menus” every 2 weeks, I write down EVERYTHING needed and check off what I already have. I always watch my Publix app for the BOGO deals and sales. And I love doing grocery pickup, it keeps me from getting distracted in the store.”
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