Apr 10, 2008

My Newest Grocery Self-Challenge

I went into my chest freezer this morning to grab some hamburger for tonight's dinner, and I have to say, my freezer is FULL. A little later, I went into the freezer of the refrigerator, and guess what? That's full too. Cupboards in the laundry room (right off the kitchen) where I keep my baking items (flours, sugar, etc.)? Full. Canned goods cupboard? Full. Cereal and snacks cupboard? Full. And yet yesterday I was wondering if I needed anything at the grocery store. I do need a quart of milk, 1 dozen eggs, 1 can of coffee and 2 cans of cat food. Now my challenge: With the exception of that small list, no more grocery shopping until the first of next month. The point? What's the use of "stocking up" on grocery store bargains if you just continue to go grocery shopping each week? If I challenge myself to do no more grocery shopping, I'm going to be forced to find out exactly what's in my freezer, what's in my cupboards, and what I can do with it to make decent meals! Automatic savings of at least $200 for the month. This weekend I will do a freezer inventory and write down the contents of both freezers. I'm pretty sure I have beef soup bones and turkey carcases in there, which by itself can account for a dozen meals. I'll do the same with canned goods and baking goods. I know I have plenty of flour, yeast, etc. to make homemade breads, waffles, pancakes. I have plenty of frozen and canned vegetables. The one area we'll be lacking in is lunch items for Jeff, but I will just make enough food at dinner for him to take the leftovers to work the next day. What if I could do this every four or six months? If I purchase stock up items with coupons, rebates and sale items, and do a grocery inventory every four or six months, can I go one, two or even three months of the year without buying any groceries? What a savings that would be! I'll keep you posted on how this goes.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm so excited that you put a slide show on your blog! Isn't it fun? I was too lazy to put captions on mine, but since they're all pics of Emily I guess I didn't really need them. Now I just have an excuse to take even more pictures! (Like I needed an excuse!)

Tipper said...

This is a great post! I bet we all could do this and save money. Wonder why it is so hard to just use what you have. Maybe the weekly grocery trip is so ingrained we think we have to go and spend money.

I'm still enjoying all your tips!

MrsS said...

Hello 'How to be a Housewife' - it's my first visit to you and I hope to return.

I used to fill my big chest freezer to the gunnels, and treated it as a hoard/stash. I had to pull everything out to get to the stuff at the bottom, and I got to the stage where I'd rather have went out and bought more food, then stick my head into that freezer - especially if it was cold outside.

I enjoyed my visit. Thank you.