Sunday, December 26, 2010

Once a month shopping???

A new year is upon us and I'm really going to try to do my grocery shopping once a month. There are several reasons I want to try this....
1) I have a monthly grocery budget and just going once per month should really help to detour "extras".
2) We don't live in town, it takes a while for us to get to town, go the grocery store and get home. We should save on gas also, if we just go once per month.
3) This will FORCE me to stick to my monthly meal planning lists.
4) More family time at home on the weekends which typically would be my "trip to town" day.

Also, before I divulge my Monthly shopping list and my monthly budget I think it is fair to tell you a few things about my deep freeze and pantry.
1) We only eat deer meat ( or venison as some people call it) and  fish ( Crappie and catfish are our faves), we will eat canned tuna occasionally as my 5 year old adores it. VERY VERY occasionaly , like if we go to the Gulf , we will bring home shrimp. The freezer is full of deer meat, but most days we are strictly vegetarians.
2) I coupon, and I have a very nice stockpile of rice, whole grain pasta,oats and a few other things. So you may notice that even though I may list oatmeal for breakfast, that I don't buy oatmeal that month, it's because I've got a TON of it already. Same with pasta. I have boxes and boxes of whole grain pasta I caught on sale and had coupons for. I will not buy pasta for a very long time, and actually will probably make it before I pay more than a few cents a box for it.
3) We can a LOT of our garden each year. You may notice things in my menu, especially things that are tomato based like salsa,diced tomatoes, tomato soup etc. that I never buy at the grocery store, it's because we can them. Same thing with pesto, jelly, jam, jalepenos etc. If you notice that it's not on my grocery list it's probably because I can it, ( or freeze it, like corn).
4) My girls stay with my mother in law part time and a private babysitter part time, so I don't buy food for them for breakfast or lunch during the week ( unless it's a special snack).

So.....
I have Staples that I will need to stock up on , and I have a list of Health and Beauty Aides that our family needs, but I should be stocked up on the majority of that also due to my couponing.

I will post my monthly budget ( which should help hold me accountable), tomorrow, and will also post my staples list and my menu soon. I plan to go grocery shopping this coming Friday, so we will see what happens.

I would love to hear stories of you all and your adventures in once a month shopping.

2 comments:

  1. I wish you the best with your once-a-month shopping. It makes a lot of sense. I haven't yet begun to can things, as my garden has been only sporadically sucessful. I do have a menu-by-the-month though, that I've been using for quite a while. Saves a lot of time and energy!
    Being self-sufficient is a wonderful thing, huh?

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  2. I'm excited to see how it all works. I really hope it works well. I love reading everyone else's blogs and get some great inspiration!

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