Latest / The Money Clarity Podcast / 6: 7 Tips to Take Control of Your Grocery Budget

Transcript

6: 7 Tips to Take Control of Your Grocery Budget · The Money Clarity Podcast

• 0:00
  today, we are diving into one spending area that causes a lot
• 0:04
  of financial stress for the majority of my my clients.
• 0:08
  and that is the grocery budget. we all have to eat.
• 0:12
  right? it's not like this is a category you can just cut out of
• 0:17
  your budget today, i'm giving you my seven most actionable grocery
• 0:22
  budget tips. this includes some smart shopping tips,
• 0:27
  but also i'll share what to do before you even leave the house.
• 1:01
  hello and welcome back to another episode.
• 1:03
  i'm so happy that you've shown up today because that means you are
• 1:08
  taking another step towards creating a more positive
• 1:11
  relationship with your money and using it as a tool to live your
• 1:15
  greatest life. today, we are diving into one spending area
• 1:20
  that causes a lot of financial stress for the majority of my my
• 1:25
  clients. and that is the grocery budget.
• 1:28
  we all have to eat. right? it's not like this is a category you
• 1:33
  can just cut out of your budget. cold turkey.
• 1:37
  pun intended. anyone? anyone? anyway.
• 1:42
  also, it really doesn't help that grocery prices have been
• 1:46
  skyrocketing recently. but there still are a few ways that you can
• 1:50
  help keep your costs down at the grocery store.
• 1:54
  today, i'm giving you my seven most actionable grocery budget
• 1:58
  tips. this includes some smart shopping tips,
• 2:02
  but also i'll share what to do before you even leave the house.
• 2:07
  because the truth is one of the biggest ways to save money on
• 2:11
  groceries doesn't happen in the store.
• 2:14
  it happens in your kitchen before you ever even head out the door.
• 2:18
  the number one reason we overspend usually isn't because
• 2:23
  of the price of organic kale, but rather a lack of planning and
• 2:27
  awareness of what you already have on your shelves at home.
• 2:32
  so let's go ahead and dive into these seven tips.
• 2:36
  tip number one, plan out your meals.
• 2:41
  i started doing this a few years ago,
• 2:43
  and it has been such a game changer.
• 2:47
  every sunday, i take about twenty minutes and plan out our meals
• 2:51
  for the week. this has become so incredibly helpful because
• 2:56
  it takes the decision making out of the equation for later in the
• 3:00
  week when you are already tired and hungry after a day of work.
• 3:05
  you make the decision on sunday, then you just have to execute the
• 3:09
  plan. let me go ahead and walk you through what i do.
• 3:13
  so the first thing i do is take a look at our week ahead.
• 3:16
  what do we have going on this week that will interfere with or
• 3:20
  just limit our meal prep time. for example,
• 3:23
  a lot of the times i go to a yoga class on monday nights at 05:30.
• 3:28
  so that's not a lot of time that i'm available.
• 3:32
  so i usually make sure that dinner is something that is easy
• 3:36
  for my husband to get started while i'm away.
• 3:40
  or maybe you're busy on a tuesday night with your kids' soccer
• 3:44
  games. so then tuesday's meal should be something like
• 3:48
  leftovers or something quick that you can throw together in fifteen
• 3:52
  minutes. there's no reason to be cooking a complex meal that night
• 3:57
  when you have no time. again, just by making the decision ahead
• 4:02
  of time, it removes the fatigue where you'd normally probably
• 4:07
  just order takeout or grab something on the way home.
• 4:11
  the second thing i do is open up my fridge and take a look at what
• 4:14
  needs to be used up soon. maybe maybe there are some leftovers
• 4:18
  from the weekend. i will put those on the menu for monday or
• 4:22
  tuesday night. maybe there's some salad items that won't last the
• 4:26
  full week, so i'll put those on the lunch menu for early in the
• 4:30
  week. i've also heard this called reverse meal planning where
• 4:35
  instead of finding a recipe that you want to cook first and then
• 4:39
  needing to buy 10 random ingredients,
• 4:42
  you find your ingredients and say,
• 4:45
  what can i make from these things?
• 4:48
  chat g p t, i've heard, is great for this,
• 4:50
  putting in the things you have in your pantry and saying,
• 4:53
  what could i make with this? use the resources you already have on
• 4:57
  hand. another thing is to embrace leftovers and
• 5:03
  then focus on using up ingredients that you've already
• 5:06
  spent money on before you buy something new to make.
• 5:11
  then the third step is to see what do i already have in the
• 5:14
  pantry that can go into meals for the rest of the week,
• 5:17
  which leads me nicely into my second tip.
• 5:21
  tip number two, shop your pantry first.
• 5:25
  now that you've added the leftovers to the menu,
• 5:29
  what do you have hiding in your pantry that can make your next
• 5:32
  meal? do you have a forgotten piece of meat in the freezer?
• 5:38
  that is perfect for a crock pot meal that you can let simmer all
• 5:42
  day long. i've turned some slightly freezer burnt meat into
• 5:47
  some pretty amazing things in the past.
• 5:51
  maybe you have a bunch of canned veggies and beans.
• 5:54
  those are great for an easy chili or a thing called a dump it in
• 5:59
  soup. this idea actually comes from one of my favorite crock pot
• 6:02
  recipe books. i'll link to it in the show notes,
• 6:06
  but remember to check and see if your local library has a copy
• 6:09
  before you run out and buy it. this is actually what i did for
• 6:12
  this exact same crockpot book. checked it out from my library,
• 6:16
  tried a few recipes to see if it was worth buying,
• 6:19
  if there were enough recipes in it that i liked.
• 6:21
  turned out there was, but check it out at your library first.
• 6:27
  another thing, don't be afraid to experiment.
• 6:31
  maybe pretend you are on the tv show chopped and you have five
• 6:36
  random ingredients from your pantry and fridge.
• 6:40
  how can you combine them into a meal?
• 6:43
  honestly, i do this all the time and call it a lindsay concoction.
• 6:48
  i look at it this way. either it creates something delicious and
• 6:53
  you can enjoy the heck out of your frugal meal,
• 6:56
  or maybe it's not the best thing you've ever had,
• 7:01
  but you'll never recreate it because you'll likely never have
• 7:04
  that same combination of ingredients again.
• 7:08
  so get creative. see what works. see what doesn't.
• 7:11
  you'll learn each time you do. tip number three.
• 7:17
  make your list and and check it twice.
• 7:21
  before heading out to the store, make a list of the items you
• 7:24
  need. i like a physical list on a piece of paper.
• 7:28
  but you can also use the note app on your phone if you prefer.
• 7:33
  most weeks, i don't need more than a few fresh staples like
• 7:37
  milk, bananas, or salad fixings. because because i've already made
• 7:41
  the most of what i have in my house,
• 7:43
  i don't tend to need all that much.
• 7:47
  tip number four. check your grocery store ad and app.
• 7:53
  one final tip before leaving home is to check and see what is on
• 7:57
  sale at your store that week. if there's something you can stock
• 8:01
  up on and it's on sale, maybe add it to your list.
• 8:04
  but remember, it's only a good deal if it's something you will
• 8:08
  actually use. maybe pasta or canned veggies are on sale.
• 8:13
  those are always good things to have on hand.
• 8:15
  or you can grab a frozen pizza if it's on sale.
• 8:19
  i always have one of those in my freezer because,
• 8:21
  honestly, every single friday in my house is pizza friday.
• 8:26
  no. that doesn't mean we spend a lot of money grabbing pizza at a
• 8:30
  pizzeria. most of the time, it's a frozen pizza that costs 3 to
• 8:35
  $4. also, take a few minutes to scroll through your grocery
• 8:40
  store's app if they have one. there are usually digital coupons
• 8:44
  that you can clip. so take a look and see if there are any coupons
• 8:48
  for anything that is already on your list or,
• 8:51
  again, anything that you could add to your pantry for next week
• 8:55
  or next month. just make sure that the coupons that you clip
• 9:00
  are for products that you would normally buy.
• 9:02
  it really is not a great deal if you end up saving a dollar,
• 9:07
  but then not end up eating the thing that you bought.
• 9:11
  also, make sure to combine this with checking the store brands
• 9:14
  and the unit price, which i will talk about in a second.
• 9:19
  i actually had a couple of coupons clipped in my app this
• 9:22
  weekend that i ended up not using because the store brand was still
• 9:26
  a better deal. so don't just assume that because there's a
• 9:30
  coupon, it's the better deal. okay.
• 9:33
  so you have your meal plan, you have your shopping list,
• 9:36
  and you've checked the ad and the coupons on your app.
• 9:40
  now let's talk about a few in store tips.
• 9:44
  tip number five. unit price is your new best friend.
• 9:49
  so forget about the big yellow sale tag.
• 9:51
  it is designed to distract you. the real secret to saving money
• 9:56
  is in the tiny little number in the corner of the price tag,
• 9:59
  which is known as the unit price. this breaks down the
• 10:04
  cost of the item by ounce or pound or number of
• 10:10
  items in the package so that you can actually compare apples to
• 10:15
  apples, or one jar of pasta sauce to another.
• 10:19
  one item might be on sale, but it's still actually a higher
• 10:24
  price per unit when you compare it to the other one.
• 10:28
  yes, this takes a little bit of extra work to look at the
• 10:31
  numbers, but the savings can add up.
• 10:35
  just make sure that you are in fact comparing the same unit.
• 10:39
  for whatever reason, sometimes one tag will show the price per
• 10:43
  ounce and the other one will show it per liter.
• 10:45
  so just make sure you are double checking your numbers.
• 10:49
  also, the larger size of something is generally the better
• 10:53
  deal, but not always. again, it pays to take a few seconds to
• 10:58
  look. occasionally you will have to pull out your calculator and
• 11:02
  figure out the per unit price. to do that,
• 11:05
  you take the price of the item and divide it by how big the
• 11:09
  product is to get the unit price. so for example,
• 11:13
  if something is $5 and 40 ounces, you take $5
• 11:18
  and divide it by 40 to get your unit price.
• 11:24
  tip number six. embrace store brands.
• 11:27
  store brands or private labels as they're sometimes known are often
• 11:31
  made in the exact same factories as the big name brands.
• 11:36
  sometimes they even have the same ingredients,
• 11:38
  just with a different label and a lower price tag.
• 11:43
  try challenging yourself to buy one store brand item per trip
• 11:47
  that you would normally buy in the name brand.
• 11:51
  start with something simple like canned beans or spices.
• 11:56
  most of the time, the difference is barely noticeable,
• 12:00
  especially with something like beans that are generally going to
• 12:03
  be mixed in with other ingredients.
• 12:05
  while i buy the store brand for the majority of my grocery items,
• 12:09
  i will admit that there is one thing that i have yet to find an
• 12:12
  acceptable generic of. that one thing is cheerios.
• 12:18
  and just the original ones. there are actually some decent honey
• 12:22
  nut generics, but the original cheerios are one thing i do stick
• 12:26
  to the name brand on. but i've tried the other ones,
• 12:30
  and now i know. i'm willing to pay a little bit more for the
• 12:34
  brand name on that particular item.
• 12:37
  and finally, tip number seven. stick to your list.
• 12:42
  this sounds like the easiest one, but honestly is probably the most
• 12:46
  challenging. right? you came to the store with a plan.
• 12:50
  now it's the hard part. the discipline to ignore all of the
• 12:54
  colorful displays, the end caps, all of the sale price tags that
• 12:59
  are trying to grab your attention.
• 13:02
  this is where your willpower muscle will be tested.
• 13:06
  because those end caps and those tempting displays and the impulse
• 13:11
  buys near the register are all designed to separate you from
• 13:16
  your money. and they can derail your plan and your budget
• 13:21
  if you let them. if you find yourself reaching for something
• 13:25
  extra, take a moment to pause, take a deep breath,
• 13:30
  and remember your bigger goals. then ask yourself,
• 13:35
  is this something you truly need, or can it wait until next time?
• 13:41
  or perhaps not even at all. okay, friends.
• 13:47
  we've covered a lot today. shopping your pantry,
• 13:51
  making and sticking to a list, comparing the unit price,
• 13:55
  checking the ads and app for coupons,
• 13:58
  and embracing store brands. but let's circle back to where
• 14:03
  the magic truly begins. making your meal plan ahead of time.
• 14:09
  and if you're sitting there thinking,
• 14:11
  meal planning sounds great, but it also sounds like another chore
• 14:14
  that i will just fail at, i hear you.
• 14:17
  i see you. but that's exactly why i created my printable meal
• 14:21
  planners. this process does not have to be complicated or
• 14:25
  complex. these meal planners are designed to take the stress out
• 14:29
  of the process and give you a clear simple way to map out your
• 14:34
  week intentionally so you can stop asking what's for dinner at
• 14:39
  05:00. it will help you do a quick check of your pantry in
• 14:44
  order to make sure you are using up the items that you've actually
• 14:47
  paid for first. and it will help you create an intentional
• 14:51
  shopping list so that you can follow it because it aligns with
• 14:55
  the plan you just set. also, this is the exact
• 15:00
  same planner i use every single week.
• 15:03
  plus, i also share even more recipes,
• 15:06
  super easy recipes, crock pot recipes,
• 15:08
  and some bonus tips inside. you can grab the printable meal
• 15:12
  planners on my everything page at the
• 15:14
  exuberantelephant.com/everything. and,
• 15:19
  of course, that link will be in the show notes for you.
• 15:23
  alright. that is all for today. remember,
• 15:26
  every single penny you save today on a loaf of bread or a container
• 15:31
  of milk is a penny that you can send towards a bigger,
• 15:36
  more important goal. don't discount it just because it seems
• 15:40
  like it's only a penny. those pennies will add up over time.
• 15:45
  you have the power to negotiate for a better financial life,
• 15:49
  and it all starts with small confident steps just like the
• 15:54
  ones i've shared with you here today.
• 15:57
  so you've got this. i am here cheering you on every step of the
• 16:01
  way. and remember, your biggest wildest dreams are
• 16:07
  within reach. let's go make some money moves so that you too can
• 16:12
  start to experience financial freedom.