Skip to main content

The Biggest Change I Ever Made...

...and the word change in this sentence has two contexts - I made a change to my life and consequently now receive MORE change at the supermarket!!

There are many age old theories and also plenty of new ones regarding how to save money with your groceries.

One that I have never applied nor followed is the art of making a meal plan and thus a shopping list....and then sticking to it.

For the last 2 - 3 months, that is exactly what I've done and by geez has it worked. Combining the meal plan and shopping list with some other tried and true shopping tricks I have kept my grocery budget and we have eaten beautiful, yummy food every day and every night.

This week for me is shopping week so as I complete each step I'll blog it and hopefully you'll see how it actually works. Before we begin, below are my KEY shopping tips to save money that I undertake every shop (for me this is fortnightly)... and because I'm all about sharing my personal grocery budget for a fortnight is $350 - this is for 2 adults (both working), 1 little boy (18 months old, still in nappies) and 2 little dogs. That figure is inclusive of nappies, wipes, dog food, meat, fruit & vegies and all our treats. We allow an extra $20 for a quick supermarket trip throughout the fortnight for additional milk / bread / treats (i.e. chocolate or ice cream!)

  • Make a meal plan for your shopping period, include enough dinners for every night you'll be cooking.
  • Shop from your pantry first e.g if you have a lot of mince leftover from a previous shop include meals with mince as the meat ingredient
  • Go through the specials catalogue from your local major supermarkets and circle anything you need / want (for me these are Woolworths, Coles & Kmart)
  • Take the time to buy those items that you need that are on special at each supermarket.
  • Read the BIG W and Kmart catalogue if you receive them - they sell some grocery items in bulk
  • Shop at ALDI for as much as you possibly can - if you're buying home brand at the other supermarkets, Aldi WILL be cheaper and 99% of the time tastes better
  • Buy your meat from a butcher (bulk / budget if possible) and your fruit & vegetables from a fruit shop or market...YOU WILL SAVE $$$$$$ JUST BY DOING THIS ALONE
  • Check Big W for their bulk items - dishwasher tablets, toilet paper and washing powder, be familiar with their prices. These items work out cheaper everyday than buying smaller amounts at the supermarkets.
I know this seems tedious, but once you start and get into the rhythm and routine it won't feel like extra work.

Once I have created my meal plan for the coming fortnight I will post it so you can see how it works!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Welcome to Year 1.

A whirlwind is the only way to explain the first three weeks of school. Who can ever believe their baby has grown another year older and is now playing in the "big kids" playground or doesn't necessarily need to be walked to and from the classroom? In the past three weeks I have learnt a lot about me as a Mum too! I have learnt that homework is another layer in our already very busy lives that needs to be managed, or it just won't get done due to time constraints, and that it will cause me more stress than it will Cas, or his teacher, if it doesn't get done. I have also learnt that as Cas grows I am struggling to keep up with a varied and reasonably healthy lunchbox. From this I have learnt that you can cook fish fingers and then fridge them for lunch the next day! Read half of a blog post last night about all the kinds of Mums at the school gate. Why there is a need to label everyone I don't know. I just know that I have also learnt that real friends ca...
Post a Comment
Read more

New Direction

Today I discussed with a friend, what next. My little boy starts prep next January, we aren't having any more children. And after doing some recent research into a franchise, we aren't moving forward with our own business for some time yet. So, what next, was the question I put to my "bestie" She says "Have you thought about writing a book?" I nearly spat my coffee on her, laughing I asked, "About What?!" The serious look she gave me made me realise it wasn't a joke. A book is far from my reach, and commitment level I'm sure. I reminded her I do blog, or more to the point, I HAVE blogs, that I don't write in. But that I did have some ideas about what those said blogs could contain. Tonight, I decided to test myself. Can I write, in a blog I already have, rather than open another blank page and start again. I'm here. I did it. One step closer to the book my best friend would clearly love to read.... (shame about...
Post a Comment
Read more

Are You Looking After Yourself?

I recently had an eye opening experience in regards to my health. It was nothing serious - thankfully. But enough for me to realise something had to change. I HAD to change. Do you remember that old Aussie TV ad, where the parents call the daughter and say "are you looking after yourself?" To which she would reply "yes, I'm looking after myself" as she tucked into a frozen meal (if I remember correctly)? If YOU asked yourself that question today, and answered it truthfully, what would your answer be? I was not honest with myself for a long time. Believing that 5-7 hours of broken sleep every night was okay. That 5 espressos a day was par for the course with my job. That I truly was far too busy to exercise. (Lets save the stop being busy for the sake of being busy for another day) None of this is true. Over a short period of time after a foot injury, I gained some weight, enough to go up a clothing size. Prior to that I had maintained the same rela...
Post a Comment
Read more