How often do you grocery shop? 

 Do you have a regular schedule that you follow– every week, 2 weeks or once a month?   

Or do you wait until you are close to being out of everything?   

No matter what your grocery routine is it could be costing you.  Personally, I wait until everything is just about out before I go back to the grocery store. I didn’t always shop this way but have adopted this routine over recent years.  Let me be clear, there are certain items that I pick up weekly, but most of my grocery shopping is on an “as I run out” basis. 

In speaking with my clients and trying to identify “leaks” in their budget, I discovered that some go to the grocery store every week whether they run out of groceries or not.  And it’s for different reasons, including “there was a sale”, or they needed to pick up one thing but ended up buying other things not necessarily needed at that moment.  No matter what the reason was, there seemed to be an opportunity reduces the amount of waste and save some money.  One client had to throw out about 1 months’ worth of food (about $150 worth) due to expired dates.  The client didn’t rotate their existing food when additional items were purchased so the older food tended to be left towards the back of the freezer.  Out of sight, out of mind right???  It happens, I get it.  But developing a process within your grocery shopping routine can help minimize, if not eliminate the waste.  Below I am sharing some strategies on how to minimize waste.

1. Meal Plan-Even if you don’t plan a specific meal for each day, plan out which meats & veggies you’re going to have for the week. Sometimes I plan my meals around what’s on sale that week.
2. Rotate Your Groceries- When you come home with new items rotate them to the back of your freezer and pantry .
3. Meal Prep– Even if you don’t prep the entire meal when you return home from the grocery store, chop veggies for easy use during the week.
4. Use a Cash Budget– This has been the most significant aspect of me saving on groceries. Pull out the cash every week, month etc. and put it in an envelope.  That way you can only spend what you have available in the envelope. Grab a FREE Budget Template to help keep you on track.

In the comments below let me know your grocery shopping habits and what ways you save.