Almost a year ago, I switched my grocery shopping routine from weekly trips to monthly. It was one of the smartest moves I’ve made in my adult life.
Seriously, shopping once a month for groceries has helped me stick to my (very tight) grocery budget more than any other trick I’ve tried. More than coupons, more than sales, more than stockpiling, more than any other money-saving tip you can name (because I’ve done – and in some cases, continue to do – them all).
It seems counter-intuitive, but it works. Here’s why:
I thought last week’s post about making your OAMS list would be the last in the series, then I started to make my own list for my big shopping trip this weekend. And I realized I hadn’t even scratched the surface!
Let’s get down to the nitty-gritty of how to make a real, workable list with the following features:
makes use of all food sources in your area and online
allows you to use coupons and combine sales
takes advantage of online circulars and deals blogs.
What you will need is some kind of spreadsheet program, like Excel or Google Docs. Although I have Excel, I like to use Google Docs because it becomes a tab in my browser, so I can easily go back and forth from deal blogs, online circulars, coupon databases and more when creating my list. The other thing I love about Google Docs is that it saves automatically, so I don’t have to worry about losing all my hard work.
In the preliminary stages of making my list, I like to use the “Sheets” feature of a spreadsheet program, creating one sheet for each store or food source that I visit on my big trip. On Google docs, just go to the bottom left corner of your spreadsheet, click the + sign to add another sheet. Right click on the tab for the new sheet, and select “Rename”. Type in the name of a store you are including in your shopping trip.
Now you need to set the page up to make the most of sale prices and coupons and other deals you’ve found online and in the store’s circular. You’ll need four columns, labeled with the following:
Item (and quantity you are going to buy if more than one)
Price
Coupon
Final Price
Here’s how to use each column:
Under “Item” , type in the exact name (especially the brand) of the item you want to buy. After the item name, indicate how many you want to buy if you are buying more than one.
Under “Price“, type in the sale price for the item (or regular price if it’s not on sale). If you don’t know the exact regular price, type in your best estimate.
In the “Coupon” column, write the amount and quantity required for any coupons you may be using on that item. For example if you have a coupon good for $1 off 2 items, then type in “$1 off 2″. You’ll develop your own shorthand or code as time goes on.
In the “Final Price” column, subtract the value of the coupon from the price, and type that amount in. I like to set that column to automatically put the money in this format: $00.00. You can do that by highlighting the column, clicking on “Format”, then selecting “Number”. From there, choose the second Currency format.
Now it’s time to make the First Draft of your list. Browse through the store’s ad or your favorite blog’s deal list and coupon match-ups to find any items you wrote down in your list of what you need to purchase for the month.Additionally, if you see any great deals for items you use a lot, even if they’re not on your list of what you need to have, go ahead and throw them on the spreadsheet, too. The first draft is where you put everything you might possibly want to buy this month. We’ll refine it in a minute.
Repeat this process for every store you’re willing to shop at this month. I’ll go to quite a few stores, especially since in my area, they seem to be clustered together. If I’m going to one, I might as well go across the street and go to the other, especially if there are significantly good deals to be had. Also, I spread this process over a few days (usually a Friday, Saturday and Monday), so I’m not spending a whole entire day out grocery shopping.
Your style might be a little different. Maybe you’d rather stick to just a couple tried and true stores, and that’s fine! It all depends on if money or time is your bottom line.
Don’t forget about stores like Walmart, Target, Trader Joe’s, Aldi’s, and warehouse stores. They don’t typically have weekly ads with amazing loss-leader sales like grocery stores can, but they often have the best non-sale prices. Familiarize yourself with the prices at those stores (more on that starting next week!), so you can take advantage of their great pricing in your OAMS trip. If ground beef isn’t on sale at any grocery store, you’ll know where you can get it for the next best price if you need it.
Once you’ve finished your First Draft, it’s time to refine it down to the finished product, your Master List. Go through each of the sheets on your grocery list spreadsheet, and tabulate the Final Price tab. Do this easily by highlighting the column and selecting the Greek E button (Mathematicians: what is that thing called?!) and choosing “SUM”.
Use a calculator (or your head if you’re just that good) to add up each of those sums and find your total estimated cost for the month. If you’re within your budget, hooray! Your list is almost done. If not, you’ve got some fine tuning to do. If you’ve come in over budget, go back through your list and eliminate or reduce the quantity of all non-essential items. Only you can determine what those are, so I’m not even going to go into that. I’ll just give you an example from the list I made yesterday: I wanted to take advantage of Harris Teeter’s great deal on Northland’s Juice, but I just couldn’t do that AND buy the whole case of rice milk at Costco that I want to buy. Since I use rice milk a LOT in baking, and we don’t really drink juice hardly ever, it was an easy call just to delete that row.
Add up your totals again, and repeat the process until you’re under budget.
If you have an Android phone or tablet, then your list is now DONE! All you have to do is use the Android Google Docs App to access your spreadsheet when you’re at the store.
If you don’t have that capability, then you have to print out your list (unless, of course, you want to bring your computer to the store with you…). The easiest way to do that is unfortunately not super easy. I couldn’t find a way on Google Docs to combine all the sheets so that they automatically print onto one piece of paper. I hate wasting all that copy paper and ink, so what I have done is make one more sheet called “Master List”, and copy and paste all the other lists into that one. Print out the Master List (on scrap paper if you have it!), and you’re ready to go shopping!
This is the final installment in my OAMS series. You can start at the beginning if you missed the others.
Making your list for a huge shopping trip that’s supposed to last for a whole month can be a bit daunting. It’s almost like trying to pack for a month-long overseas vacation, trying to make sure you’ve covered all your bases so that you have everything you need for the whole trip. Cold weather, warm weather, swimwear, pajamas… you’ve got to have it all or you’ll be up a creek without a paddle!
It’s even scarier when you’re dealing with food – you know, the stuff that’s supposed to nourish you and keep you alive! If you’ve committed to staying out of the stores between monthly trips (with the exception of weekly mini trips to stock up on produce and the like), you might get a little panicky thinking that you’re not prepared to feed everyone adequately for a whole month without breaking the rules and dashing into the store for a last-minute unbudgeted purchase.
That’s where the list comes in. A well-thought-out, planned list will save you a lot of worry and stress and help make sure you’ve got all the food bases covered for an entire month.
1. Start making your list the minute you’re done with the last month’s shopping trip. I keep a magnetic notepad on my fridge where I jot down what food items are getting low and need to be replaced as I come across them. I’ll notice that I’m almost out of ginger when I’m baking, so I’ll write “ginger” on my list. I use the last of the oatmeal to make a big batch of granola, so I’ll write “oatmeal” on the list.
This is by far the best way to make sure you have the foods you actually need on your list. Continue compiling it for the whole month long, and you will have a pretty accurate representation of the foods you need to buy for the month.
2. Look through your menu plans for the past few weeks or months, if you can. If you don’t have access to those, then just think about what a typical week looks like for your family regarding the foods you eat, particularly meats and main dishes. How often is meat the center of your meal? How often do you eat beans? Rice? Pasta? Potatoes? Do you make eggs every day for breakfast?
Knowing how often you consume a particular food will help you know how much of it you need to buy to cover a whole month. For example, we eat pasta once a week or less, so I know that a couple boxes of pasta will suffice for the whole month. Right now, since my DH is the only one in the house eating them, one dozen lasts a whole month.
This is particularly useful when it comes to meat. Over the years, we have developed a pattern for our weeknight menu that usually includes 1 or 2 meat-based meals with an additional leftover-based meal (soup, casserole, pizza or pasta), plus a meatless meal and a fish-based meal. Knowing this helps me determine how much and what kinds of meat to buy for the month.
3. Don’t forget about lunch supplies. What usually goes into packed lunches for the family? I don’t have kids in school, so I only have to worry about my DH’s lunch, and he has a pretty familiar pattern that we follow. He really likes to have cheese, yogurt, and a banana in every lunch, so I make sure I have enough of those things to last for the whole month. If you pack a lot of sandwiches, make sure you’ve got enough bread and sandwich fillings (meat, cheese, tuna, etc.) to last.
4. Keep your baking cupboard fully stocked. If you make a lot from scratch – and you should, for the benefits to your health and budget! – make sure you always have enough of the following:
flour (whatever kind(s) you use)
sugar
honey, maple syrup, etc.
baking soda and powder
vanilla
common spices (cinnamon, oregano, etc.)
oil and butter
corn, tapioca, or arrowroot starch
eggs or egg replacements
You will learn as you get deeper into OAMS how much of each item you generally go through in a month. I’ve learned that I go through 5lbs of all-purpose flour and 5 lbs of whole wheat flour in about 6 weeks, so I buy accordingly. A big 6lb bag of raw sugar takes us about 2 months to finish, but a 24oz bottle of honey disappears in less than a month.
5. Buy a LOT of produce. If each person in the family is supposed to have at least 5 servings of fruits or vegetables a day, it’s going to take a lot of produce to ensure that they actually do.
Of course, a lot of produce doesn’t last very long, so you can’t buy it all at once (hence, the weekly mini trips). Much of it will last a couple of weeks, though, so plan accordingly. Here are some long-lasting produce options that you can stock up on in your monthly trip:
carrots
apples
citrus
celery
potatoes
winter squash
sweet potatoes
un-cut melon
You can also invest in some products that help keep produce fresh in the fridge to extend the life of certain other foods. Of course, frozen foods will last for quite some time in the freezer, so you can take advantage of that if you have the freezer space. Canned goods will last almost indefinitely, but there’s a trade-off in that they’re not as healthy as fresh or frozen.
Note: One fruit I’ve found that we just can’t keep on hand is bananas. We eat a lot of them, and I have to admit I occasionally go to the store TWICE in one week to replenish our supply. They just don’t keep past a few days.
So you’re thinking about OAMS, but the question comes to mind - what about the food that won’t last for a whole month? Dairy products? Meat? Produce? And what about foods I forgot to buy during the monthly trip but really need?
The truth is that produce is really the only thing that has to be bought on a regular basis before it goes bad.
Dairy products often last as long as a monthif you buy them at their freshest and leave them un-opened until you use them. Excess milk and butter can even be frozen if you have a large freezer. Yogurt often has a shelf-life of at least 2-3 weeks; we don’t have any problem buying one months’ worth at a time. Cheese will start to mold shortly after the package is opened, so consider buying smaller packages (which is unfortunately more expensive), and once opened, repackage it carefully to prevent molding. You can also grate it and freeze the grated cheese: frozen cheese isn’t great eaten straight up, but it can be used in baked goods, casseroles, and pasta dishes.
Meat can be frozen to extend its life by quite some time.I almost always put my meat directly into the freezer unless I know I’m using it within a few days. The only time I don’t is when I plan to use the meat that day or the next. The only trick is remembering to pull meat out of the freezer at least a day before you need it to give it adequate time to thaw (where a menu plan comes in handy!)
That brings us to produce, really the only thing that needs to be replenished on a regular basis. This is where the mini-trip comes in.
A “mini-trip” is a short shopping trip that occurs on the “off” weeks between monthly shopping trips. On a “mini-trip”, you can replenish your supply of fresh produce, and take advantage of any super-good sales that might occur. In a typical month, I take about 30% off my total monthly grocery budget and spread it over the 3-4 off weeks to spend on things as I need them.
For me, that means $15-20 a week to spend on whatever is deemed essential for that week. Typically, this is what I spend that money on:
The vast majority of it goes to produce. Two-thirds or more of the weekly allotment goes to fresh fruits and vegetables, usually from the farmers’ market during the growing season. We go through fruits and veggies fast around here, so a lot of my money goes to that.
I also usually end up at one grocery store to pick up a great sale. I try not to go to more than one grocery store on the off-weeks, so I scan the ads to determine who has the best deals (if any) on things I need or can’t afford to pass up. Usually this means great prices on produce or meat, or occasionally super-cheap and free products.
Once at the store, I check out the clearance and the marked-down produce and meat, too. Sometimes I find really great deals that fit within my budget that I can take advantage of.
If a store is holding a super-doubles or tripled-coupon event, I buy the best deals there. Depending on what foods we need to get through the rest of the week, and how much that leaves in my weekly budget, I’m able to buy more or less of the best deals offered at that store during the week. Because I have a smaller amount of money available to me, I’m able to really prioritize what are the best deals, and what I can leave behind.
I’ll use this week as an example: I spent about $11 at the farmers’ market, so I have about $9 left, which I’ll probably use at Harris Teeter to get some deals I saw in their ad, including some additional produce.
This week, we continue the series with a post that answers your burning question: But does it really save me money?
I do about 70% of my grocery shopping in one huge marathon grocery-shopping weekend each month, with mini-trips the rest of the month to stock up on produce, meat and any can’t-miss loss-leader sales.
Many people are curious about this method of grocery shopping, so I thought I’d devote every Friday in September to posts about this very topic!
If you missed it last week, my post was entitled “How to Make the Most of Your Grocery Budget Dollars“. It’s a quick tutorial on how to jump into the whole business of OAMS and get your feet wet, so to speak.
One question you may have is: does OAMS really save any money? And how? To be honest, I debate within myself on this topic on occasion, and I have come to the conclusion that yes, OAMS can save you money if you do it right. How to “do it right” is another post for another day; for today let’s just focus on exactly how OAMS does save you money.
It keeps you out of the stores. When you do the vast majority of your shopping in one big trip, that means you’re only running to the grocery store for a few items in the remaining weeks of the month. If you shop weekly, then you spend significant time every single week walking through the grocery store aisles, and you will be tempted to spend a lot more. I know that was true for me, regardless of how good I was at sticking to a list.
It makes you aware of how much you are really spending, and what you are really buying. Spending a larger amount of money all at once is a lot more jolting to the senses than throwing away smaller amounts week by week. Even if you are just going over budget by $5 a week, that’s $20-25 that you will notice right away if you do your shopping all at once. That’s a significant amount of money if you’re on a really tight budget! You will also see more clearly what exactly you are buying with that money when you buy it all at once. Ten boxes of cereal, for example, will grab your attention much more quickly than when you buy them 2 or 3 at a time.
It helps you crystallize in your mind what you really need to be buying, and how much you really need to spend. The awareness that comes from a monthly shopping trip helps you determine what is really needful and what is just wasteful. The mini-trips are also eye-opening: when you only have $20, for example, to spend on food for the week, you are forced to limit yourself only to what is absolutely necessary. You will more clearly recognize what are the non-essentials that either can be forgotten about completely or put off for another week or two. When I did my grocery shopping on a weekly basis, I would get so distracted by sales that my grocery list would fill up quickly with a lot of what I now realize are non-essential items. Just because it’s a great sale doesn’t mean you need to buy it!
You can take advantage of bulk pricing. When I used to shop weekly, I had a very difficult time fitting bulk and warehouse shopping into my routine, because I simply didn’t have enough room in my weekly budget to buy a $10-15 item, even if it was a great deal. OAMS is essentially bulk shopping, so you can take advantage of those great warehouse and bulk bin deals. For example, I use a LOT of extra virgin olive oil, and I used to buy a small bottle of it once or twice a month. Now, I can buy a large container for a fraction of the cost, and it will last me a couple of months at least. (Costco has at least one kind that is in a dark glass bottle, so it will keep longer, although I don’t always buy that particular one.)
You can splurge mindfully. As I’ve mentioned already, in my weekly shopping trips, I would frequently buy a lot of great sales items that were good deals, but not really essential. At the same time, I would get frustrated by my inability to occasionally purchase items that I enjoyed or wanted to try but didn’t have any wiggle room in my budget. My one big monthly shopping trip now gives me that opportunity to buy something new or fun: maybe an ingredient for a recipe I want to try, or a new brand or product. Because I am working with more money at one time, I have a little more wiggle room. At the same time, the mindfulness I mentioned earlier helps me to focus my splurging only on those things that I really want, not just mindless things that hold only a passing appeal.
If you happen to be on a limited grocery budget (and “limited” looks differently depending on your situation…. let’s just say mine is definitely “limited”!), then you understand how difficult it can be to provide healthy whole foods for your family without dipping into the retirement fund. OK, maybe a slight exaggeration for most of us, but really, it can be very stressful to keep your grocery budget in the black when you’re working with limited funds.
There are a lot of money-saving tools for your grocery budget toolbox these days, and I believe all of them work well together and all deserve a mention on any frugal foodie blog. But there is one valuable tool in particular that doesn’t get a lot of press yet can be super effective in keeping your grocery spending under budget.
I’m talking about Once a Month Shopping (OAMS). Based on the almost-daily google searches that lead people to my blog, I’m guessing I’m not the only one curious about this method of grocery shopping, how it works, and how it saves money. For my regular readers, and for those who found me through Google (Hello! And welcome!), I want to take this opportunity to briefly describe how I do OAMS, and how it can save money in the long run.
Let me warn you before I get started: It takes a bit of discipline, and it requires more planning than even my previous carefully planned weekly shopping trips. In the end, though, I really believe it saves a lot of money… and time! As a busy WAHM with a toddler and infant, I can totally appreciate anything that saves me those precious commodities.
How to Get Started with OAMS
Just Jump In!
I suppose it would be wiser in some ways to actually spend a month noting and recording your family’s eating habits, so that you could start in on the process with that knowledge under your belt to guide your shopping decisions. And I think there are those whose temperament would really do well with more careful planning, and for them, I’d advise to go ahead and take some time to research before jumping in. For most, though, I think it’s better just to get started and learn as you go; you’ll figure out pretty quickly what your family eats and how much of certain items you need to buy to last a whole month.
To reiterate this point, I will mention that shortly after I was inspired to begin the whole OAMS process, I actually did sit down and come up with a whole list of the foods I thought my family would eat in one month, and the approximate cost, and I was so horrified by the total that I dropped the whole idea for several months. When I finally “jumped in” and just did it, I squeezed my eyes shut, held my breath… and it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought.
So how do you “just jump in”? Easy! You’ll probably be coming off a pretty well-stocked pantry, fridge and freezer like I was, so the first month might even be the easiest. You start by making a list.
Make Your List Wisely
Go around your kitchen, including your pantry, fridge and freezer, and make a list that includes all the following:
Foods you need that you are already out of
Foods that you are almost out of
Foods that you will run out of in the next few weeks AND you know you can’t live more than a day or two without them (chocolate chips are not included in this category. OK, in emergencies, they are.)
If you have access to previous meal plans, read through the meal plans to get an idea of what you ate on a regular basis to help you shape your list.
If your list is largely filled with the following food groups, you should have plenty of food to keep you going for a whole month:
Meats (Fresh meat, as well as cured meats, like bacon and lunch meat)
If your list has a lot of snack foods, junk foods, or processed foods, those are not going to last long, and you will quickly find yourselves hungry.
Fit Your List to Your Budget
There are several parts to this, and depending on how aware you are of your grocery spending, will be more or less difficult than other aspects of OAMS. First of all, if you don’t have a firm monthly budget amount, figure that out right now. You may also need to consider which paycheck you should organize your big shopping trip around. For us, that’s the middle of the month.
Also, keep in mind that while the majority of your shopping is done in one big trip, you’ll need some money for weekly trips to stock up on perishables, essentials you missed in your OAMS, and any loss-leader major sales you can’t afford to skip. For us, that means we spend about 70% of our monthly grocery budget once a month, and spread out the remaining 30% over the remaining weeks (keeping in mind there are sometimes 4 and sometimes 3 remaining weeks before the next big trip).
Once you know how much you can spend, then you need to know how much things will cost. This you can learn as you go, if you don’t already have a firm idea of prices in your area. For the first month, though, just make an estimate of the prices (rounding off higher rather than lower so you’re not surprised in the end). Add up your total estimated cost, and if it’s more than you can spend, go back through your list and cross off anything you can afford to live without or do with less for now. Get rid of any non-essentials for now – if you have any money leftover after buying what is necessary, then, and only then, you can get the marshmallows or the graham crackers or the chips (although you shouldn’t).
Find the Best Price
If you don’t already have a price book – mental, digital, or black-and-white – start one as you go about your first monthly shopping. If you put off OAMS because you don’t have a price book, then you’ll never do it, because it will seem like such a daunting task. However, if you compile it as you go about your shopping, it will help shape your future trips, and you will learn much more about the foods you really want to know where the best price is.
Start looking at every single grocery store circular that comes through your mailbox or with your local paper. Even if you don’t normally go to that store, browse quickly through the ad and see if there are any deals or prices that catch your eye. If you see anything, add it to your list, go to that store to purchase those items, and while you’re at it, make note of their prices on items you buy a lot (milk, eggs, flour, etc.). I was surprised recently to find that a store I never went to very often has absolutely the best bottom dollar price on canned coconut milk, something I use all. the. time!
Don’t forget about the non-grocery stores. I always do some of my shopping at the Walmart Supercenter or Target, because their food prices are often (but not always) considerably cheaper even than grocery store sale prices. The downside is that they don’t double coupons, but even so, the price is often better than I can find elsewhere. Drug stores also always have certain food items on sale, although I’ve found they aren’t usually the healthiest offerings. And along the same lines, don’t forget about the specialty stores – sometimes local bakeries run specials that offer a better price on some baked goods (like really healthy freshly milled whole grain bread) than I can find anywhere, or even make myself. And some ethnic stores (Asian, in particular) often have great deals on certain items unique to their cuisine.
And don’t forget about the world wide web. Now that we live in such a virtual world, we can do our grocery shopping virtually, and I’m not talking about ordering at Safeway for home delivery. No, there’s a lot more variety than that! Amazon.com in particular, often has great deals on groceries, especially through their Subscribe & Save program. I almost always get my brown rice flour through Amazon.com, because they usually have a price that can’t be beat. I’ve also seen excellent prices there for coconut oil and other very healthy products. Also keep your eyes peeled for Groupon-type deals for local food sources… I’ve seen and taken advantage of daily deals for health foods stores, bakeries, organic suppliers and more in my area.
Now That You’ve Started, Keep it Up… and Keep Track of It!
No matter what, once you are done with your big monthly shop, purpose that you are not going to go back to the store except for that weekly replenishment of produce and any other absolute essentials. If you run out of something, make do or do without. You’ll be surprised by how creative you can be… and by how little you actually need what you thought you would die without. So you ran out of rice? OK, eat pasta instead. Or barley. Or that package of quinoa that has been languishing on the shelf for months.
Keep track of how much you spend on foods, and the prices you find as you go about your shopping. Use a spreadsheet or a notebook, but do keep track. That way, when you go to plan your next monthly trip, you’ll have a better idea of where the best prices are so you can shape your list accordingly. Every month, add to this list the new prices you find – I’m still adding to mine because it’s an ongoing, almost-never-ending process.
Also keep track of the food you actually eat. I don’t write this down anywhere, but I make a mental note of how often I have to re-supply certain foods. Some it’s more often, some it’s less. I’ve found that 6lbs of sugar can last over 2 months, but a 32oz container of honey will only last 1 month. I can stretch certain meat cuts into 2 meals, but some never go that far (my DH can plow through any cut of pork like it’s the last meal he’ll ever eat, so I can’t count on anything but a 4lb roast lasting longer than one meal!).
Plan a Menu
What really helps me live off the food I buy once a month is planning for it, and using the food I buy wisely. Posting my weekly menu plan here on my blog has been such a tremendous help to me – so much help that I seriously don’t mind if no one else ever even looks at it but me! (Although I’m always happy if someone finds something useful on my blog.)
Part of using the food I buy wisely means allotting it carefully, so we don’t eat it all up at once, leaving the cupboards bare for the rest of the month. To that end, I’ve come up with some guidelines when developing my weekly menu. In each week, I fix certain foods for only one meal so that I don’t use them all up right away. For example, a weekly meal plan will probably feature:
one rice dish
one pasta dish
one potato dish
one chicken meal plus one meal made from the leftover chicken
one other meat-based meal
one tuna based meal
one breakfast meal
etc.
Not only does this help me plan my menu, it helps keep our grocery consumption in check, a win-win!
Of course, there’s a lot more to OAMS than this, and I plan to visit the topic again as time allows. If you have any questions about my experience, please do ask, and I’ll be happy to answer them to the best of my ability!
Now I want to know about your grocery shopping habits! Do you shop once a month or once a week? Or just whenever you need food? Do you have a grocery budget?
It goes without saying that organic and specialty foods generally cost more than their conventional counterparts… that is because they are worth more! I cannot complain about their higher cost because I am well aware of their higher value.
However, I often think it would be really nice to be able to afford all the organic (and local, grass-fed, free-range, etc. etc.) foods that I want to feed myself and my family. As it is, I do what I can and try to prioritize (according to nutritional and budgetary impact) what foods I do buy in their organic and un-processed state.
One store that helps me do this on a regular basis is a local organic market called MOM’s {MOM’s Organic Market}. They boast that they have the lowest price on “all same brand packaged products of any natural food store”, and at least in my area, it’s definitely true. There are 3 natural food stores within driving distance of my home, and MOM’s is by far the cheapest (and the most easily accessible, which makes it a win-win!).
When you enter the door at MOM’s, you are greeted by a gorgeous array of fresh organic produce:
You can help yourself to a sample or two, and enjoy taking home organic produce at very reasonable prices. Occasionally, they will have seasonal fruits and vegetables at better prices than conventional! Some of the produce is local, and it’s all definitely organic.
Adjacent to the produce section is their bulk section where you can buy dry goods at a substantially lower price than the packaged versions. I’ve just recently started purchasing herbs, spices, and some other items from the bulk bins, having previously been nervous about cross-contamination regarding allergens. (Well, I’m still a little nervous about that, but so far so good. The prices are enough to keep me trying!)
What I really love about MOM’s is that they are always well stocked with So Delicious coconut milk products, like the beverage, coffee creamer (a godsend now that I’m dairy-free while nursing!), yogurt, kefir and ice cream. Even though other grocery stores carry them, I almost always go to MOM’s when I need to stock up on those items, because I know I can rely on them to have them in stock (98% of the time anyway! So Delicious stuff is pretty popular!).
What else do I generally buy at MOM’s? Here are some of the things I buy there on a regular basis:
Wheat-free grains They have the best prices that I’ve seen (except maybe Wal-Mart, but I think even they are comparable, and MOM’s has a wider selection) of Bob’s Red Mill and Ener-G brand wheat-free/gluten-free flours, which are essential for baking for my Certain Little Someone. In particular, I always buy tapioca starch and potato starch there, as well as occasionally sorghum flour, garbanzo bean flour, and brown rice flour.
Local Pastured Eggs They are the only source in my town for these! And they cost $4.29 for a dozen, which I think is reasonable.
Bulk Herbs and Spices This is not my only source for herbs and spices, but it’s definitely on my list, and one I use frequently. I like that they are all organic, and I can buy small amounts for spices I don’t use very often.
Organic Whole Milk Except for when Harris Teeter puts it on sale, MOM’s has the best price for organic milk, even better than Costco.
Bulk Grains and Specialty Foods By “specialty foods” I mean things like wheatberries (which I don’t buy yet because I don’t have a grain mill yet, but I will someday!), sucanat, raw sugar, nutritional yeast (a cheese replacement for vegans and those allergic to dairy and soy products), and the like. They also carry beans, nuts, and a variety of granolas.
Essential Oils They have absolutely the best price I’ve seen anywhere for essential oils, which I don’t buy very often (because they last a long time), but when I do buy them, I go to MOM’s.
They also have a great price for local raw organic honey, and I always check at MOM’s whenever I need a specialty food item for my Certain Little Someone, because I know they are likely to have it (like allergen-free, healthy canned soups to take with us on vacation, and certain snacks).
Where do you like to buy organic and specialty foods? Do you have a local organic market?
As I mentioned yesterday, my Once A Month Shopping trial is officially over, and has been more or less of a success. Once again, I don’t have time to go into the details of my experience, but trust me; I’ll share all the juicy details with you soon.
We were so low on seemingly everything – at least everything we use regularly – this past week. I kept adding things to my list, and the list kept lengthening. It was something of a challenge to keep the total to a decent minimum, leaving me enough money for the rest of the month to spend on produce at the farmer’s market and any other necessities that may arise.
My shopping trip this month was quite extensive, covering 8 stores in 2 days! Oh, and the farmer’s market the day before that, where I indulged in a package of local bacon. I’m going to change up the format a little as I show you what I bought, listing first the foods by category, then pictures grouped by store. I’m not sure if that will make it clearer or muddier, or if it will be more organized or not. Let me know which way you prefer.
Meat
7.5 lbs chicken leg quarters ~ Harris Teeter ~ $3.49
I’ve officially finished my “Once A Month Shopping” trial; and I’m working – at least mentally – on a post and perhaps a series recapping my adventure and sharing what I’ve learned. Suffice it to say at the moment that overall, I have deemed the experiment a success and plan to continue as long as it works for me.
For right now, though, I’m going to share one of my favorite sources of dry goods that I haven’t been able to visit recently until today – just in time for my OAMS extravaganza!
Unfortunately, I did not have my camera with me, so I wasn’t able to take any pictures, but I found the above one online.
The Dutch Country Farmers Market is a weekend market featuring a variety of groceries and prepared foods from Amish country, which is within driving distance. You’ll find things like pretzels (a favorite of DH’s) in all shapes and forms, donuts, cakes, cheesecakes, all kinds of bread and other baked goods (getting hungry yet?), as well as produce and meat. As far as I’m concerned, there’s nothing super special about the meat and produce – it’s not necessarily either organic or local, and the meat is grain-fed rather than grass-fed. I usually don’t bother spending the extra money for those things since I could buy the same quality for less at a regular grocery store.
The dried goods section is the one that always catches my attention. What I love about it is that it has all kinds of foods in bulk, many of them cheaper than you will find elsewhere. What I also love is that the bulk foods are already measured and bagged, so you don’t have to do that yourself: the cost-effectiveness of bulk without all the work!
Today at the farmer’s market, I saw all the following pre-packaged bulk goods for decent prices:
a variety of gluten-free flours, including buckwheat, millet, spelt, corn, oat and more
a variety of wheat flours (whole, white, etc.)
a variety of sugar (raw, evaporated cane juice, refined, etc.)
corn meal
popcorn kernels
tons of beans, all kinds
dried fruits and vegetables of all kinds
hand-made chips and other snacks (not all of them healthy)
cocoa
herbs and spices (a great resource for these!)
You can also find not-so-healthy baking and cooking mixes (for gravy, soup, drinks, you name it); those I usually by-pass.
As part of this month’s grocery shopping, I purchased the following:
4.5 lbs raw sugar – $6.62
cilantro – $1.90
1.5 lbs Red popcorn (how cool is that?!) - $1.48
1.5 lbs corn meal – $1.44
For a special treat, you can also find handmade candies and fudge at the farmer’s market. I didn’t indulge today because of Baby Boy’s allergies, but I gave some luscious-looking chocolate covered strawberries a longing look as I passed by. And a review of the market wouldn’t be complete without mention of their extensive baked goods section that features all kinds of delicious-ness baked up by real Amish cooks, including the famous Whoopie Pies (not healthy, but yummy).
Tomorrow, I’ll catch you up on the rest of my monthly shopping for May – once I’ve finished with it!
After my big monthly grocery shopping trip last week, I had $60 left in the month’s budget, or $20 for each remaining week in the month. This money goes toward produce (which doesn’t last all month), any food needs that arise, and any too-good-to-miss loss leader sales at the grocery stores.
I extended that amount a bit by purchasing a $30 voucher to one of my local organic markets for only $15 at Double Take Deals(This is a referral link – if you subscribe through this link, you will get $5 towards the purchase of your second deal… and so will I!). David’s Natural Market is a local fixture, having been around as long as the town itself I think. It was the first and only natural market here in town until the past couple years, and as such, has developed a lasting reputation as the place for local organic healthy food.
Unfortunately, even though it’s in the same town I am, it’s still out of the way for me. It’s just not near any other grocery stores, other stores, or even people or places that I visit. The “Double Take Deal” made it totally worth it for me, so I made a trip out there today and here’s what I got:
David’s Natural Market
1 bag Arrowhead Mills puffed brown rice 15% off $1.86
1 ginger root %15 off $0.48
1 box Tapioca Starch $2.99
1 box Potato Starch $3.39
1 box Rice Dream 15% off, $1 coupon $2. 39
1 So Delicious Coconut Milk $1 coupon $2.99
1 16oz jar Spectrum Organic Coconut Oil $1 coupon $8.89
1 So Delicious coconut milk creamer 10% off $2.69
1 jar Maranatha Sun Butter 15% off, $1 coupon, $3.67
1 container Spectrum Organic Palm Shortening -sale- $5.39 (the best price I’ve seen anywhere!)
Bulk thyme and spearmint – $0.38 ea.
TOTAL: $35
minus the $30 voucher= $15!
That left me with $15 to spend on the great deals to be found at Safeway (I could not let Easter pass me by without getting a ham!) which is where I headed next.
7 bananas (actually from Target at $0.24/pc) $1.68
TOTAL: $17.25
As you can see, I went over budget by $2.25, so if I want to stay in budget for the whole month, I need to account for that over the next two weeks.
I am trying to be more informative with these shopping posts, as I have received questions from people wanting to know more specific information about my shopping trips. Please, if you have more questions, feel free to ask. And if there’s too much detail, just skip over the non-pertinent information!
One complaint I often hear from healthy-eating non-couponers is that there are no healthy food coupons. That may be true if you are a homesteading traditional foodie (and good for you! Wish I could do that, maybe someday!), but as you can see, I was able to get a better price on things like coconut oil and sun butter with coupons. And while I believe that canning your own pickles is healthier, I ran out of my own stash, and I am thankful that coupons enable me to stock back up until the summer. There are definitely coupons for healthy, staple ingredients, which you can find on a regular basis if you keep your eyes open for them.
* QUICK - because who has time for anything more?
* EASY - because I'm no gourmet.
* CHEAP - because who has money for anything more?
* HEALTHY - because you are what you eat.
Unfortunately, I did not have my camera with me, so I wasn’t able to take any pictures, but I found the above one online.
