grocery shopping Archives

Even if you’re rational, it’s hard not to panic when you go to the grocery store and see empty shelves. You may wonder how not to overspend when stocking up for a home quarantine. That sense of panic can fuel you to spend more than you normally do on groceries because you feel a desperation to just.get.food. But calm down, take a deep breath, and realize there is enough food in the supply chain. You will have food, but perhaps not the food you want.

How Not to Overspend When Stocking Up for a Home Quarantine

Take these steps to keep your budget in line, even during times of crisis.

Do a Pantry and Freezer Inventory

Before you go to the grocery store, take the time to do a complete pantry and freezer inventory. You may be surprised what you find in the depths of your freezer. I had more meat than I thought I did. I even a found a homemade pie crust in a ball that we had made two years ago. You bet that we’re still going to use that.

Likewise, you may have more in your pantry than you think. Plus, taking all of the items out and inventorying them can help you feel less desperate. You DO have food in the house.

See what recipes you can create from what you have on hand. Likely you can come up with many meals than you thought. Don’t forget to use sites like Supercook, a site where you can put in the ingredients you have on hand, and the site produces recipes using those ingredients.

Be Flexible with Food Choices

When you do get to the grocery store or place your order for pick up, don’t be surprised if many of the items you want to buy are unavailable or limited. I’ve placed two orders for pick up now and both times the store couldn’t completely fulfill my order. For instance, the first trip, there were no eggs available. The second trip, we were allowed to buy two dozen—for our family of five.

How Not to Overspend When Preparing for a Home Quarantine — Photo by Semi O on Unsplash

Clearly we won’t be eating eggs for breakfast every day, and that’s okay. Instead, we’ve branched into other breakfast foods that we typically don’t eat like homemade muffins, oatmeal, and even sometimes leftover soup from the previous night’s dinner. Be willing to be as flexible as possible with what you eat and when during this time, and you will be able to keep your budget in check.

Allocate Money from Other Budget Categories

If you still have your regular income coming in and you find that you are overspending in your groceries category, one way you can resolve this is to take money from a different category. For instance, we overspent this month on groceries. I can’t shop many stores for the clearance items as I used to do, so our spending increased. However, we put $140 in our gas category every two weeks, and now, being self-quarantined, we don’t need that money. I simply funnel it to our groceries category.

Of course, if you’re currently unemployed, you’ll want to use as little money as possible for groceries so you’ll be able to meet your other financial responsibilities.

Final Thoughts

We’re living in strange times the likes of which our country hasn’t seen in over 100 years, not since the time of the Spanish Flu. However, rest assured that you can still get the groceries you need without seriously overspending. Just plan ahead with your purchases and be resigned to the fact that you won’t be able to eat the way you can when we’re not under quarantine.

Make a Monthly Meal Plan

How do you meal plan?

Some people lower their grocery costs by making a monthly meal plan and shopping once a month. Of course, when I say shopping once a month, that doesn’t mean it’s the only time that they go to the store. Rather, they have one large shopping trip at the beginning of the month, and then they go to the store 1 to 3 more times during the month to get fresh produce and milk as needed.

This technique can save money mainly because you keep yourself out of the stores and avoid impulse buys by doing so. You’ve likely gone into the store to buy one or two items and found yourself walking out with a cartload of groceries. Those impulse buys, even if there a good deal, can destroy your budget. Those who shop once a month reduce their spending simply by reducing the number of times they allow themselves access to the grocery store and impulse buys.

Make a Menu Plan

Another technique is to make a weekly menu plan based on what you find on sale in the grocery store flyers. Between the items that you see on sale and the items that you already have in your house, you make a menu plan and shop for the loss leaders and whatever other items you need to make your meals.

Shop First

Still others go to their favorite store first and scout out the good, unadvertised deals. For instance, if pasta is on clearance, they may buy many bags of it and have several pasta meals that week. If they find a great deal on beef, they may make a stroganoff using the beef and pasta for one meal, and a spaghetti bolognese for another meal. These planners find the good sales and then make a menu plan. Once they get home, they rely on Pinterest, the internet and sites like MyFridgeFood to help them decide what to serve based on the great sales they found.

For years I have debated about which method works best and which one saves the most money. But, the bottom line is that you must choose the method that works best for you and your family. In this season of our family life, method two works best for us.

However, it doesn’t matter which method works best for your family. What really matters if you want to cut your grocery costs is that you have a plan and you utilize one of these three methods.

What is your favorite way to menu plan and save money? Do you prefer one of these methods or a different one?