04 February 2010

My Stockpile, My Meal Planner and My Best Grocery Guess

Why wait until you have to live on rice and beans before you take a good look at your kitchen and come up with a budget?

There are a few easy things you can do that can help not only keep your kitchen kingdom organized, it can organize your spending!

Stockpiling - Finding the best deals on the non-perishable things and then buying not one or two, but as many as you feel comfortable buying at the super deal price. I am not saying run out and stockpile everything on sale, but a few items here and there, things you use anyways. A 20 pound bag of rice for $10.00 may be a great buy for me, but if the only time you eat rice is when it is accompanied by Kung Pao Chicken, you may want to pass. Don't limit it to just groceries, I admit it - I have a toilet paper stash!

Meal Planning - Plan what you will be making for a week, or a month, or a year if you really want to be that ambitious! No need to go out and purchase anything special, any calendar will do. Mine is the Google calendar. I had been slacking when it came to a meal planner. Had. It's something I have been trying to stay ahead of once again. Now that I am back to making out my meal planner, I spend less time and money at the grocery store.

Now that I can put the chalkboard away, back to me.

I am going to make a 'best guess' when it comes to how much I will spend to feed my family of three for a week. I do have some things already on hand, basic staples - flour, sugar, spices, veggies and rice. After planning out the week, I am going to say I will spend $50.00 - total.