Frugal Grocery Shopping Six Weeks at a Time

Seems every mom of more than one or two children really dislikes grocery shopping. I don’t think it is so much a matter of taking our children with us, but the time and money involved.

I would like to say that grocery shopping is fun, but it isn’t. As prices increase and the tummies grow and become bottomless, grocery shopping is becoming a little more stressful. There is hope though, God will provide and at times it is at the last minute.

Matthew 6:31-33

31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

First, I do not do your normal menu plan. My menu plan consist of a list of meals that our family enjoys that our fairly easy to make in a short amount of time. On my list, I have a place to write out what we will need. This allows me to be able to have flexibility. As I use up ingredients for different items on my list, I put an X along side it, letting me know I do not have the stuff to make it. We rotate through these meals and add a few others. Each page is for a week’s worth of meals. I make out six of these for our rotation.

I cook nearly everything from scratch, this saves a ton of money. I buy a lot of our flour, sugar, rice and such in bulk at an area bulk food store. All our spices are purchased in bulk too.

We purchase ALL beef from a Mennonite farmer who only raises grass fed beef, same with chicken, only we get it from a friend. Grass fed beef is typically more expensive to purchase, but you do get more for your dollar, as there is not any fat to drain and the fat there is, is the good fats. Also, it is healthier as it is not loaded with growth hormones like so much of the grocery store meat is. In the next year or two we will be eating our own beef, as we now have a beef cow herd.

We avoid nearly all processed foods to avoid high fructose corn syrup, coloring, additives preservatives and such. We have found that we get full faster with healthy foods. We have more energy and feel better too.

We grow a garden for nearly all of our salsa, pickles, onions, green beans, bell peppers, and such. We only buy carrots and salad for most of the winter months. If we run out of our garden veggies, we do buy at the store. This past year we had a horrible drought and well…got VERY little from our garden. So, we have had to purchase veggies this year.

We buy fresh fruits when they are in season. Right now, we are going through about 3 pounds of oranges a day. We eat fruits for dessert most meals and have fruits for snacks. Carrot sticks are also a snack staple. Lots of snacks are apples and peanut butter…natural peanut butter those a little more to buy, is much better for you.

We purchase our yogurt, but I buy the Greek yogurt that has at least 19 g of protein per serving. There is no high fructose corn syrup in it. I hope to someday make our own yogurt.

I make all of our gravy and cream soups. This saves us a ton. All leftover gravy, whether it is turkey, chicken or beef gets turned into a creamed soup. My family can’t stand canned cream soups in our casseroles anymore. I freeze this and keep it ready for all casseroles.

Milk: We do not drink much milk. I use it in cooking a lot. We also try not to use milk at all when our friend’s cow is not being milked. A few of our children have health issues that are exaggerated with store bought milk. They can have all the raw milk they want though. and we are able to get it locally. At some point, I do want to get our own cow, and so does my husband.

I don’t use many coupons, as most are for processed foods. I do use a few of the store issued coupons. I use them for non food items mostly.

I make a LOT of casseroles. They last a little longer and feed more. I then add a few sides, rice, potatoes and such.

The big thing, is not to waste the food you buy. I only buy flour, canned goods and such for our six week at a time shopping. We buy fresh produce every few days. I watch store sales too, which helps.

I buy our meat every six weeks and typically get about 50 pounds of beef, 20 lbs of chicken and 8 lbs of fish (Tilapia). Most of the time, this does last a bit longer then six weeks.

During a good summer, (we have a steady summer income and very little during the winter), I stock our freezer full. This helps us have a better winter.

In my home management binder, I have a column along the sides for each day that has a place for me to write out a short list of things we need. At the end of that day, I add these to my master grocery list. This makes creating a grocery list fairly easy.

If I have a coupon or there is a sale for an item, I also add a c or s next to the item. This helps me know whether I need to ask my hubby to run and grab something that is on sale on one of his parts runs. We don’t have a big grocery store locally.

Let God guide your shopping. He knows what your family needs.

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