The Two Week Grocery Challenge

Hello again, friends! I'm already back with another post!

Back in February I checked out an audiobook from the library (Did you know you can do this and it’s totally for free? You can check out ebooks to read too – not to mention television shows and movies electronically. Seriously. Look into it!). The name of this book was called “America’s Cheapest Family Gets You Right on the Money: Your Guide to Living Better, Spending Less, and Cashing in on Your Dreams” by Steve and Annette Economides. The authors of this book are a married couple with five children living on one income. The have a paid off mortgage and avoid debt. Their extreme, frugal nature got them labeled as “America’s Cheapest Family” – a title they don’t love but have come to embrace.

Why am I telling you about this book? Well, for one, I enjoyed listening to most of their suggestions. This book covered many, many topics. In fact, I would like to own a hard copy of it at some point to review their pointers on dealing with prescription medications, shopping around for the best quotes for home repairs and dealing with health insurance companies. But my biggest take away had to do with a simple, weekly activity that now as a mom of a toddler I loathe – shopping in the grocery store. (For the record, The JuJuBe loves to grocery shop, but she also loves to “help”. I still haven’t recovered from the dozen broken eggs from our last trip together.)

Here’s what the Economides family does: They clip coupons and shop once a month. They have a deep freezer they scored at a major bargain and will freeze anything and everything from milk to bread. Am I able to do such a huge shopping trip at once? No. Here’s what I did challenge myself to do:

1.      Shop for groceries once every two weeks.

2.      Meal plan for these two weeks.

3.      Review and inventory the refrigerator, freezer and pantry to review what you already have on hand or what you did not use.

4.      Go to a bargain grocery store so you don’t have to bother with coupons.

I started putting this into practice in late February and oh my goodness – it is a total game changer. It forced me to plan out a menu and made me think about how to structure our meals. Recipes that contain items that quickly perish must be made first if those items can't be frozen.

This strategy for shopping also encourages me to food prep so I don’t waste key, repeat ingredients like chopped onions, carrots and celery. The first couple of tries I miscalculated how much food we would consume in a two week period. Then, of course COVID-19 struck, and I seriously miscalculated how much the three of us snack in one day with everyone home. Plus, now with me, baby brother and The JuJuBe officially self-quarantining until well after baby brother's arrival, this only leaves my husband to be the grocery runner. His first trip resulted in numerous phone calls, lots of stress and him swearing off our new way of life. His second trip was much easier. He found everything we needed and was home within an hour.

I mentioned earlier that I didn’t want to have to bother with coupons. For me, that is a personal choice. I don’t want to chase down newspapers, cross reference different stores and manage expiration dates. Some people love the thrill of the coupon chase. However, for our family, we are ALDI shoppers and will continue to shop there. The week of our big shopping trips I will check ALDI’s website on Wednesday of that week. That is the day that they release their weekly specials. I review my menu again and make adjustments as needed. I then substitute different kinds of fruits or vegetables that are on sale to help maximize our savings even further.

I cannot recommend this subtle lifestyle shift enough. We spend less time in the store and less money overall. If you aren’t sure if this is really for you or your family, I would challenge you to start smaller. If you find yourself going to the store multiple times a week, really push yourself to go one time. Then, increase slightly from there. I promise you the benefits outweigh the negatives! Plus, with shelter in place orders issued, it is preferential to shop this way. This is less time you are potentially exposed to any lurking illness.  

Funnily enough, I was explaining our new way of grocery life to a friend who said she, "Didn't think it would work or was a good idea." Any time we do things that are slightly counter-cultural, this is the typical response. We clearly all have opinions. I'm writing an entire blog about my non-professional opinion on personal and family finance! You may not feel like this subtle shift is right for you. That's totally fine. Is it going to hurt to try? Absolutely not! 

If you read all of this post about changing up the grocery game, I applaud your perseverance! This is not the most exciting topic but I couldn’t believe what a positive experience it has been to make this switch. Thank you for reading! See you again next time!