Episode 6
6: 7 Tips to Take Control of Your Grocery Budget
The grocery budget causes a lot of financial stress, but it doesn't have to be a category you just cut! In this episode, I'm sharing my seven most actionable tips to help you stop overspending on groceries.
RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
My favorite crock pot recipe book: https://amzn.to/4bSW9NQ
Printable Meal Planners: https://www.theexuberantelephant.com/printable-meal-planners
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Transcript
today, we are diving into one spending area that causes a lot
Speaker:of financial stress for the majority of my my clients.
Speaker:and that is the grocery budget. we all have to eat.
Speaker:right? it's not like this is a category you can just cut out of
Speaker:your budget today, i'm giving you my seven most actionable grocery
Speaker:budget tips. this includes some smart shopping tips,
Speaker:but also i'll share what to do before you even leave the house.
Speaker:hello and welcome back to another episode.
Speaker:i'm so happy that you've shown up today because that means you are
Speaker:taking another step towards creating a more positive
Speaker:relationship with your money and using it as a tool to live your
Speaker:greatest life. today, we are diving into one spending area
Speaker:that causes a lot of financial stress for the majority of my my
Speaker:clients. and that is the grocery budget.
Speaker:we all have to eat. right? it's not like this is a category you
Speaker:can just cut out of your budget. cold turkey.
Speaker:pun intended. anyone? anyone? anyway.
Speaker:also, it really doesn't help that grocery prices have been
Speaker:skyrocketing recently. but there still are a few ways that you can
Speaker:help keep your costs down at the grocery store.
Speaker:today, i'm giving you my seven most actionable grocery budget
Speaker:tips. this includes some smart shopping tips,
Speaker:but also i'll share what to do before you even leave the house.
Speaker:because the truth is one of the biggest ways to save money on
Speaker:groceries doesn't happen in the store.
Speaker:it happens in your kitchen before you ever even head out the door.
Speaker:the number one reason we overspend usually isn't because
Speaker:of the price of organic kale, but rather a lack of planning and
Speaker:awareness of what you already have on your shelves at home.
Speaker:so let's go ahead and dive into these seven tips.
Speaker:tip number one, plan out your meals.
Speaker:i started doing this a few years ago,
Speaker:and it has been such a game changer.
Speaker:every sunday, i take about twenty minutes and plan out our meals
Speaker:for the week. this has become so incredibly helpful because
Speaker:it takes the decision making out of the equation for later in the
Speaker:week when you are already tired and hungry after a day of work.
Speaker:you make the decision on sunday, then you just have to execute the
Speaker:plan. let me go ahead and walk you through what i do.
Speaker:so the first thing i do is take a look at our week ahead.
Speaker:what do we have going on this week that will interfere with or
Speaker:just limit our meal prep time. for example,
Speaker:a lot of the times i go to a yoga class on monday nights at 05:30.
Speaker:so that's not a lot of time that i'm available.
Speaker:so i usually make sure that dinner is something that is easy
Speaker:for my husband to get started while i'm away.
Speaker:or maybe you're busy on a tuesday night with your kids' soccer
Speaker:games. so then tuesday's meal should be something like
Speaker:leftovers or something quick that you can throw together in fifteen
Speaker:minutes. there's no reason to be cooking a complex meal that night
Speaker:when you have no time. again, just by making the decision ahead
Speaker:of time, it removes the fatigue where you'd normally probably
Speaker:just order takeout or grab something on the way home.
Speaker:the second thing i do is open up my fridge and take a look at what
Speaker:needs to be used up soon. maybe maybe there are some leftovers
Speaker:from the weekend. i will put those on the menu for monday or
Speaker:tuesday night. maybe there's some salad items that won't last the
Speaker:full week, so i'll put those on the lunch menu for early in the
Speaker:week. i've also heard this called reverse meal planning where
Speaker:instead of finding a recipe that you want to cook first and then
Speaker:needing to buy 10 random ingredients,
Speaker:you find your ingredients and say,
Speaker:what can i make from these things?
Speaker:chat g p t, i've heard, is great for this,
Speaker:putting in the things you have in your pantry and saying,
Speaker:what could i make with this? use the resources you already have on
Speaker:hand. another thing is to embrace leftovers and
Speaker:then focus on using up ingredients that you've already
Speaker:spent money on before you buy something new to make.
Speaker:then the third step is to see what do i already have in the
Speaker:pantry that can go into meals for the rest of the week,
Speaker:which leads me nicely into my second tip.
Speaker:tip number two, shop your pantry first.
Speaker:now that you've added the leftovers to the menu,
Speaker:what do you have hiding in your pantry that can make your next
Speaker:meal? do you have a forgotten piece of meat in the freezer?
Speaker:that is perfect for a crock pot meal that you can let simmer all
Speaker:day long. i've turned some slightly freezer burnt meat into
Speaker:some pretty amazing things in the past.
Speaker:maybe you have a bunch of canned veggies and beans.
Speaker:those are great for an easy chili or a thing called a dump it in
Speaker:soup. this idea actually comes from one of my favorite crock pot
Speaker:recipe books. i'll link to it in the show notes,
Speaker:but remember to check and see if your local library has a copy
Speaker:before you run out and buy it. this is actually what i did for
Speaker:this exact same crockpot book. checked it out from my library,
Speaker:tried a few recipes to see if it was worth buying,
Speaker:if there were enough recipes in it that i liked.
Speaker:turned out there was, but check it out at your library first.
Speaker:another thing, don't be afraid to experiment.
Speaker:maybe pretend you are on the tv show chopped and you have five
Speaker:random ingredients from your pantry and fridge.
Speaker:how can you combine them into a meal?
Speaker:honestly, i do this all the time and call it a lindsay concoction.
Speaker:i look at it this way. either it creates something delicious and
Speaker:you can enjoy the heck out of your frugal meal,
Speaker:or maybe it's not the best thing you've ever had,
Speaker:but you'll never recreate it because you'll likely never have
Speaker:that same combination of ingredients again.
Speaker:so get creative. see what works. see what doesn't.
Speaker:you'll learn each time you do. tip number three.
Speaker:make your list and and check it twice.
Speaker:before heading out to the store, make a list of the items you
Speaker:need. i like a physical list on a piece of paper.
Speaker:but you can also use the note app on your phone if you prefer.
Speaker:most weeks, i don't need more than a few fresh staples like
Speaker:milk, bananas, or salad fixings. because because i've already made
Speaker:the most of what i have in my house,
Speaker:i don't tend to need all that much.
Speaker:tip number four. check your grocery store ad and app.
Speaker:one final tip before leaving home is to check and see what is on
Speaker:sale at your store that week. if there's something you can stock
Speaker:up on and it's on sale, maybe add it to your list.
Speaker:but remember, it's only a good deal if it's something you will
Speaker:actually use. maybe pasta or canned veggies are on sale.
Speaker:those are always good things to have on hand.
Speaker:or you can grab a frozen pizza if it's on sale.
Speaker:i always have one of those in my freezer because,
Speaker:honestly, every single friday in my house is pizza friday.
Speaker:no. that doesn't mean we spend a lot of money grabbing pizza at a
Speaker:pizzeria. most of the time, it's a frozen pizza that costs 3 to
Speaker:$4. also, take a few minutes to scroll through your grocery
Speaker:store's app if they have one. there are usually digital coupons
Speaker:that you can clip. so take a look and see if there are any coupons
Speaker:for anything that is already on your list or,
Speaker:again, anything that you could add to your pantry for next week
Speaker:or next month. just make sure that the coupons that you clip
Speaker:are for products that you would normally buy.
Speaker:it really is not a great deal if you end up saving a dollar,
Speaker:but then not end up eating the thing that you bought.
Speaker:also, make sure to combine this with checking the store brands
Speaker:and the unit price, which i will talk about in a second.
Speaker:i actually had a couple of coupons clipped in my app this
Speaker:weekend that i ended up not using because the store brand was still
Speaker:a better deal. so don't just assume that because there's a
Speaker:coupon, it's the better deal. okay.
Speaker:so you have your meal plan, you have your shopping list,
Speaker:and you've checked the ad and the coupons on your app.
Speaker:now let's talk about a few in store tips.
Speaker:tip number five. unit price is your new best friend.
Speaker:so forget about the big yellow sale tag.
Speaker:it is designed to distract you. the real secret to saving money
Speaker:is in the tiny little number in the corner of the price tag,
Speaker:which is known as the unit price. this breaks down the
Speaker:cost of the item by ounce or pound or number of
Speaker:items in the package so that you can actually compare apples to
Speaker:apples, or one jar of pasta sauce to another.
Speaker:one item might be on sale, but it's still actually a higher
Speaker:price per unit when you compare it to the other one.
Speaker:yes, this takes a little bit of extra work to look at the
Speaker:numbers, but the savings can add up.
Speaker:just make sure that you are in fact comparing the same unit.
Speaker:for whatever reason, sometimes one tag will show the price per
Speaker:ounce and the other one will show it per liter.
Speaker:so just make sure you are double checking your numbers.
Speaker:also, the larger size of something is generally the better
Speaker:deal, but not always. again, it pays to take a few seconds to
Speaker:look. occasionally you will have to pull out your calculator and
Speaker:figure out the per unit price. to do that,
Speaker:you take the price of the item and divide it by how big the
Speaker:product is to get the unit price. so for example,
Speaker:if something is $5 and 40 ounces, you take $5
Speaker:and divide it by 40 to get your unit price.
Speaker:tip number six. embrace store brands.
Speaker:store brands or private labels as they're sometimes known are often
Speaker:made in the exact same factories as the big name brands.
Speaker:sometimes they even have the same ingredients,
Speaker:just with a different label and a lower price tag.
Speaker:try challenging yourself to buy one store brand item per trip
Speaker:that you would normally buy in the name brand.
Speaker:start with something simple like canned beans or spices.
Speaker:most of the time, the difference is barely noticeable,
Speaker:especially with something like beans that are generally going to
Speaker:be mixed in with other ingredients.
Speaker:while i buy the store brand for the majority of my grocery items,
Speaker:i will admit that there is one thing that i have yet to find an
Speaker:acceptable generic of. that one thing is cheerios.
Speaker:and just the original ones. there are actually some decent honey
Speaker:nut generics, but the original cheerios are one thing i do stick
Speaker:to the name brand on. but i've tried the other ones,
Speaker:and now i know. i'm willing to pay a little bit more for the
Speaker:brand name on that particular item.
Speaker:and finally, tip number seven. stick to your list.
Speaker:this sounds like the easiest one, but honestly is probably the most
Speaker:challenging. right? you came to the store with a plan.
Speaker:now it's the hard part. the discipline to ignore all of the
Speaker:colorful displays, the end caps, all of the sale price tags that
Speaker:are trying to grab your attention.
Speaker:this is where your willpower muscle will be tested.
Speaker:because those end caps and those tempting displays and the impulse
Speaker:buys near the register are all designed to separate you from
Speaker:your money. and they can derail your plan and your budget
Speaker:if you let them. if you find yourself reaching for something
Speaker:extra, take a moment to pause, take a deep breath,
Speaker:and remember your bigger goals. then ask yourself,
Speaker:is this something you truly need, or can it wait until next time?
Speaker:or perhaps not even at all. okay, friends.
Speaker:we've covered a lot today. shopping your pantry,
Speaker:making and sticking to a list, comparing the unit price,
Speaker:checking the ads and app for coupons,
Speaker:and embracing store brands. but let's circle back to where
Speaker:the magic truly begins. making your meal plan ahead of time.
Speaker:and if you're sitting there thinking,
Speaker:meal planning sounds great, but it also sounds like another chore
Speaker:that i will just fail at, i hear you.
Speaker:i see you. but that's exactly why i created my printable meal
Speaker:planners. this process does not have to be complicated or
Speaker:complex. these meal planners are designed to take the stress out
Speaker:of the process and give you a clear simple way to map out your
Speaker:week intentionally so you can stop asking what's for dinner at
:00. it will help you do a quick check of your pantry in
:order to make sure you are using up the items that you've actually
:paid for first. and it will help you create an intentional
:shopping list so that you can follow it because it aligns with
:the plan you just set. also, this is the exact
:same planner i use every single week.
:plus, i also share even more recipes,
:super easy recipes, crock pot recipes,
:and some bonus tips inside. you can grab the printable meal
:planners on my everything page at the
:exuberantelephant.com/everything. and,
:of course, that link will be in the show notes for you.
:alright. that is all for today. remember,
:every single penny you save today on a loaf of bread or a container
:of milk is a penny that you can send towards a bigger,
:more important goal. don't discount it just because it seems
:like it's only a penny. those pennies will add up over time.
:you have the power to negotiate for a better financial life,
:and it all starts with small confident steps just like the
:ones i've shared with you here today.
:so you've got this. i am here cheering you on every step of the
:way. and remember, your biggest wildest dreams are
:within reach. let's go make some money moves so that you too can
:start to experience financial freedom.
