Supermarket Steals: Your Preliminary Grocery List

For years, Donnie and I approached grocery shopping in a manner I’ve since come to view as “backwards thinking.” We decided what we wanted to eat, made a list of the ingredients we would need, and maybe (or maybe not!) checked the weekly paper to see if there were any coupons for those things. When we got to the store, we usually bought not only the items on our list, but also anything else that caught our attention. We spent about $150 (or more) every two weeks, and we usually ended up throwing away food.

Now we do things differently. The amount of time we spend planning our grocery shopping isn’t much greater than it used to be, but the amount of money we spend at the store is significantly less. We have had to learn to be a bit more creative and flexible in our cooking, but we still eat very well. Neither of us feels the slightest bit deprived, and we even have room in our budget for splurges. The secret to our success is no secret at all—it’s just good, careful planning.

Every week, before I even think about what we’ll be having for dinner over the next seven days, I sit down with the circulars for two local grocery stores and two local drug stores, a pen, a notepad, and my coupon box. I read all the circulars cover-to-cover, jotting down the name and price of any item I feel is a good (or potentially good) value. Some frugal people keep a master list of non-sale prices at local grocery stores, and refer to that as they read the weekly ads. Donnie and I considered doing this, but we have been shopping at the same stores for so long that we feel we’re able to identify a good price when we see one. However, if you believe a master price list would be useful to you, then by all means, make one. Erin at About.com: Frugal Living shows you how here.

After I have jotted down my potential purchases, I refer to my coupon file and see if I can bring the prices down further with coupons. If I have coupons for any of the products on my list (which I usually do), I adjust the price on my list to reflect the savings. I do a quick check to make sure I am within my budget for the week (which is $30). I include the price of free-after-rebate items in my total, since I will be paying for them out of pocket (unless I’m shopping at CVS and paying with Extra Care Bucks—which I’ll discuss in a later post).

If my total is significantly higher than I would like, I immediately eliminate costlier free-after-rebate items I don’t really need, and also deals that are good but not great. However, if my total is below, slightly above, or just at budget, I don’t make any changes for the time being. Instead, I turn my attention to the topic of meal planning. After I’ve spent some time working out a menu, I’ll return to my list and make some final adjustments.

If you haven’t already guessed, the next Supermarket Steals post will be all about planning a menu using items from your preliminary shopping list and ingredients you already have on hand, then tweaking your list to create a final draft. Stay tuned!