The Great Grocery Experiment

For the past 4 years, ever since Farmer Jack closed up shop (anybody remember those?), I have been a fiercely loyal Kroger shopper. I love our Kroger. I know it in and out. I know the sales cycles and I've pretty much memorized all of the regular prices on items we buy all the time. Plus, I've noticed from the few times that I've shopped at other places that they tend to have the lowest prices on our household staples.

But, in the interest of frugality and in an attempt to offset the ever-rising food prices, I decided to try a little experiment this month.

Usually we buy the majority of our groceries for the month in one trip. This month, however, we split the monthly shopping up between two stores and I went to the store twice.

After the first trip, I was feeling a little frustrated. I didn't plan as well as I should have and didn't get as much as I had wanted. I was more focused on purchasing sales items than on the full plan for the month, which usually ends up costing way more than our normal $300-350 food budget. We spent $102. I wasn't feeling too positive about this whole experience.

On Tuesday, I started planning for the next grocery trip and actually completed my monthly menu planning. I was surprised to realize how much we really did get on that first trip. My list for the second trip wasn't as big as I thought it would be. I ended up spending only $121.

Right now, that puts us at only $223 for the month. Our pantry, fridge and freezer are well-stocked and the monthly freezer cooking has begun. We'll still have to make weekly stops for produce and dairy items, but overall we should have everything we'll need. I should also mention that we'll be out of town at my parents for 5 days, so that does kind of skew the budget a bit.

This experiment that I was ready to write off as a flop has instead resulted in some of the best grocery totals in months. I'm excited to see what happens by the end of November. I may just have to reconsider my one monthly trip plan.

I've realized that sometimes frugality means stepping outside of my comfort zone. While I am not at all willing to compromise on the quality or healthfulness of the foods we eat and serve our kids, I am willing to compromise on my normal routine.

Visit Biblical Womanhood for more Frugal Friday.

Also, if you have never stopped by typeamom.net, I highly recommend a visit. Lisa from Crazy Adventures in Parenting has a series over there entitled "Big Families Budget Challenge." Her first post in the series had some great tips on grocery budgets.