Some of the best advice I ever received for being a good home manager was to run my home like a business, but with a lot more love! After being raised in the business world in my family's business, attending business school, and working in the world of supply chain management for 5 years I find this advice very practical! I take the tools I used in supply purchasing and planning and apply them to my home management practices!One thing I found helpful in business was that there was always a plan, always a strategy, always a standard procedure in place. Often in business, especially in supplychain there is a "stocking strategy" or a plan for getting material into your stock room either at the raw materials level or at the finished goods level.
I would not say I was deliberate in creating a stocking plan or grocery strategy in Southern California, but my shopping always followed a monthly pattern:
- 1 monthly Costco trip - it replaced the grocery store that week.
- Weekly Henry's trip, occasionally skipping a week if we were stocked up.
- 2 grocery store trips a month (once was always canceled because of Costco, and it seemed like once a month the sales were mediocre and I could not be bothered!)
- CVS - as sales or extrabuck rolling dictated, but usually twice a month.
- Target as required - about once a month
Since moving we have been rethinking our grocery shopping strategy, and being much more deliberate in our planning of a strategy. There were a couple key reasons for this:
- There is no Henry's Marketplace up here - that was my go-to store for produce and bulk spices, rice, beans, coconut and other assorted bulk baking things at excellent prices. Also where I would look for healthier and organic stuff.
- They don't double coupons up here.
- We want to eat an increasingly healthier diet, and are especially motivated by the girls health issues this past winter. (not that we eat a lot of junk now, we just want to do better.)
- We were encouraged in our efforts to seek out more organic produce by our pediatrician who was talking about a new study that determined just how much pesticides build up in children's bodies! She said to go organic on fruits and veggies as much as we could afford, and that it was more important than worrying about hormones in meat and dairy!
- We do not want to increase our grocery budget, not even to stock our pantry.
Now, these are our reasons, and if your strategy and philosophy is different, there is no reason we have to agree.
In addition to this we would like to carry a well stocked freezer and pantry at all times to deal more effectively with the ups and downs of life and to make what could be an emergency a minor inconvenience! This will also make life with one car easier.
So here is the strategy I am working too.
1. I signed up for a
CSA that can adapt our box so we do not get peanuts or potatoes. We are currently getting the standard box every second week, but if this is not enough we will go to the family sized box every second week. Our CSA is organic, cheaper than buying produce at the store, a better quality and flavor than the store, will allow us to adjust the contents of our box each week, and will allow us to order extra. Plus the pick up is only a small detour on my husband's way home from work, and right next to a popular family area. Perfect for us!
2. After checking out the stores I found the one I like the best. So the plan is to cherry pick the sales there each week unless there is a screaming deal somewhere else. It seems like they have the best prices overall and on sale items, and with 2 children and 1 car we prefer to not be making multiple stops at grocery stores each week.
3. Continue to use Costco for dairy, bananas, baking supplies and a lot of meat. I know I can get a better price on meat if I shop the sales, but have had such terrible experiences with quality when I do that it is rarely worth it when the girls prefer to be herbivores and we are trying to coax them more along the continuum towards the carnivore so they at least eat some meat without coaxing and bribery. This will probably result in going every 2 weeks-ish for milk, but that will also mean I don't have to do a gargantuan shop once a month, and I can be very disciplined to stick to my list!
4. Utilize online sources. We like some stuff from Tropical Traditions, and they often have a couple screaming deals, but the prices are often undermined by their shipping, so we took advantage of the offer they had of ground shipping for $5. I needed to order something and by doing this even saved on our first order. Now I can cherry-pick the sales there. We also are checking out a few other things like Shelf Reliance for longer term pantry storage items that are a great quality and we like to use anyways, and Prairie Hill Grain for organic beans and the like. It is also on my list to check into Azure Standard and see if they have a regular run into our neighborhood. More and more I am finding that the shipping costs are no long driving up the prices, but you do have to be careful.
5. Watch for excellent deals at Walgreens as we go right past them to get almost everywhere.
What is great for us is that we can do this without upping our grocery and household items budget! I have been able to hold our grocery budget at the same level for about 4 years now. I find that by having a strategy I actually save money by not running all over the place as if I am in a new store or one I rarely go to I am more likely to impulse shop or pick up extras than if it is the store I am at all the time. I know, I am weird that way, but this saves us money and helps me stay disciplined.
What is your shopping strategy? How do you determine where to shop? Are you finding you are able to hold your grocery budget firm or is it creeping up?
Is this a series you are interested in? What would you like to see covered?
, our favorite Advent devotional.
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