First I have to state that I do anything … and I mean ANYTHING to NOT go shopping with my children!!! It is imperative for my sanity and the sanity of everyone around me that the 2 year old Twinadoes in particular are not present. This may be a whole different subject though, so I’ll just leave it at that.
Thankfully there is a very consistent set of basics that I can always count on needing to purchase. It’s getting the specific items for the weekly menu that can get tricky … and expensive. Meal planning is yet another subject, so I’ll just mention that it IS very helpful to actually have a meal plan and shop accordingly … breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Bulk food shopping can help reduce the number of major shopping trips we need to make each month, but surprisingly they DO NOT carry everything that we need in bulk quantities. Oatmeal for example is surprisingly in short supply at stores like Costco, but our local Cash and Carry does have it in 25 lb bags, so hubby makes at least one trip per month there.
The biggest trick is to purchase only the things that we truly need from stores like Costco. Seems like an obvious statement, but it is WAAAAY too easy to grab all sorts of little things that are appealing, but NOT on the list. This makes an already expensive trip even more straining on the pocketbook.
Here’s a typical Costco list for our family: milk, 5 dozen eggs, bread, honey, peanut butter, jam, school lunch needs (organic chocolate milk, chips, baby carrot packs, lunch meat, etc), half and half, grated cheese (look for the best price), frozen ground beef, frozen chicken breast, one or two quick meals from the freezer section, honey, coffee, pasta, spaghetti sauce, brown sugar, contact solution, diapers, wipes, shampoo (or deoderant, etc). I’m sure there’s often a few more things that I can’t think of at the moment, but you get the idea.
There are plenty of things that I get from the regular grocery store as well. For instance, I really don’t like the way Costco offers their apples. The good ones are in strange packaging that makes no sense at all, and isn’t convenient for size or price. Though they do have some great produce, other than grapes I purchase all fruit at the grocery store in town.
There you have the monologue on basic shopping for a large family. Bottom line, shop around, find the best prices and you will probably need to do some shopping each week, so make a general list for each store you shop at and schedule your shopping to hit each of those stores throughout the month to stay up on the daily needs.
No related posts.
