Every month I look forward to the first Tuesday of the month. Why you may ask? Grocery day! Sounds silly to be excited about something as simple as getting groceries but Jade and I make an event out of it. Since we try to only go once a month, we start off by listing out what we'll need over the month. I found this awesome list online that you can modify and check off the items you're wanting to get. I print mine off and then highlight the items I'm wanting to get.
We go grocery shopping only once a month because it'll save money in the end. Save On Foods has a promotion that on the first Tuesday of the month you'll get 15% off. When you're buying in mass quantities it makes a difference.
Last month I wanted to walk up and down each isle and I read through every label while Jade waited about patiently for me to be done. We were there for over two hours! This month to cut back on our shopping time I promised to do the following things:
- No walking up and down each isle.
- No impulse buying! Unless it's something I meant to add to the list and forgot.
- No reading the labels for five minutes each time while trying to decide between to products.
- Go to produce first because they're the items that sell out the fastest.
- Eat before we go to avoid wanting to buy everything.
I ended up being successful at everything on that list except eating before we went. BIG mistake. It wasn't that I bought too much but being around all the food that I couldn't eat was making me grumpy. Luckily because of how effective we've gotten over the last couple of months we were out of there in an hour! 50% time decrease!
This time Jade and I went our separate ways to try to save some time. Another big mistake. It was definitely not as fun as it usually is. Next month I'm making sure we stick together so that we can joke around and talk while we're there. Plus I love seeing what she ends up getting because it gives me ideas for what I may want to buy. Now I get to enjoy looking at full fridge with so many eating choices!
I think it's super cool that you grocery shop once a month - I imagine it saves a ton of time (and money) in the long run! I just can't seem to do it that way, since I find produce goes bad so quickly...how do you manage the "rotting factor"?
ReplyDeleteI've noticed a huge decrease in my monthly food bill since I've started getting groceries only on 15% Tuesday. It's been rare that I've had to run to the store to get something I need (maybe once or twice in three months).
DeleteI haven't had many fruits or veggies go bad during the month either. I plan my meals based on which ones I know stay fresh the least amount of time and work my way towards which ones can withstand the month.
I know that my prewashed lettuce, cucumbers, and milks will only last (if I'm lucky) two weeks or so. I make sure that's what I eat first. Celery, green peppers, apple, oranges, etc I've found last up until the end of that month so I focus on eating those during the last two weeks.
I doubt that it has anything with special storage because I keep them all individually wrapped on the bottom shelf of my fridge. Nothing special about that!