Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Saving on Groceries

So, I've come to the realization that most of our money goes to food. You might be asking yourself the same question I always do; how could this be? We aren't fat and don't eat that much and definitely don't buy processed food which tends to be the most pricey and most unhealthy. Unfortunately I think it comes down to us living across the street from Wegmans.






















What I learned helps us to save the most money is making a weekly menu after looking in the fridge and freezer for the ingredients we already have.  This was harder for us before because everything was written down on a pad of paper that we'd usually forget before going to the store.  When our friends told us about an app for our smart phones called OurGroceries, things got much better!

Weekly Menus work for us because we buy most of our meats in the family pack and freeze it in portions perfect for two.  So, if in our freezer we have a lot of chicken, salmon or shrimp our menu is based on that and then I personalize.  We'll do chicken fajitas if we have salsa and tortillas on hand, or shrimp and tortellini's if we have those on hand.  On the weeks when I can occupy Paul well enough that he doesn't get bored and run to Wegmans, this menu making has helped keep our weekly grocery shopping around $60 a week.  For the menu below for this week I only needed to buy the salad, naan and the mozzarella (1 lb for $4 at Costco)

This weeks menu includes:
Shrimp and Salad
Steak Fajitas
Naan Pizza with fresh Mozzarella
Chicken Kabobs
Salmon with brocolli Mash
Burgers
Out

Anyone else have good money saving grocery tips?