That, my friends, is how much I spent on groceries for this week’s menu. This, is a milestone. I don’t think I’ve ever spent less than $75.00 before.

After much conversation with some of my Twitter Mommas regarding how they save money while doing the (sometimes) daunting household task of grocery shopping, one lesson that I learned and feel the need to share with you is that when planning your menu, plan for foods that use similar ingredients. This avoids buying lots of different types of food, which in turn, will hike up your grocery bill.

I know many of you don’t like Walmart, but as I’ve said before, this store is my savior. It is my one-stop shop, literally. The only thing we could not find on our trip to Walmart yesterday was a football tee, for Chris obviously, and I’d just like to think that they were out of stock.

My grocery shopping process usually goes something like this:
1. Scan our pantry and refrigerator. I look to see what items we have and what I can make for dinner using these items.

2. Create the menu- this sometimes takes forEVER. I try not to bore Hubby by making the same thing every week, but it can be difficult when you and your Hubs don’t really eat the same things. Hubs loves steak, I don’t. Hubs LOVES sushi, I don’t. Hubs LOVES, LOVES a good pulled pork sandwich- I don’t eat pork. So we usually end up eating things like pasta and chicken often.

3. Make the grocery list. I add whatever items I need to make this weeks dinner and any staple kitchen items (such as condiments, milk, WAFFLES) that may be missing or running low. It is VERY important to stick to your list.

4. Go shopping!

My shopping plan really revolves around buying store brand whenever possible. I realize that cheaper is not always better, but my philosophy is: I can try the store brand and if it’s not a quality product- then I know for next time. The store brand usually runs anywhere from a few cents to a few dollars less than the name brand items- why wouldn’t I want to save that money.

Of course, the hubs has his items that you “just can’t skimp on.” Some of these items include:
- Cheese. Cheese must always be Kraft- no exceptions.
- Pasta Sauce. Pasta Sauce has to be Ragu, preferably Mama’s Special Garden Sauce.
- BBQ Sauce. This is tricky, because bbq sauce can be store brand IF they have the spicy honey flavor, which they do not. Therefore, we buy Kraft.
- Bread. The Hubs likes Nature’s Own White Wheat bread- period.
- Golden Oreos. These are really my favorite and I bought Walmart brand last month. The Hubs said uh-uh, they don’t taste the same.

I get teased by Hubby for always buying store brand. He said to me that my Walmart coffee probably tastes like water, but he’s wrong. It tastes just like Colombian coffee, thank you very much. It’s $1 less than Folgers! That’s a lot!

When we were at checkout, I was very excited because I knew that I had done good. I had stuck to my list, I only picked up 2 things that weren’t on my list. One was a luxury item and one was a new sippy cup for the baby. I rationalize the sippy cup because she just recently learned how to drink out of a straw, of course she needs a sippy cup with a straw attached, duh!

Hubs proclaimed that he wouldn’t be impressed unless the bill was under $90. I began my victory dance prematurely (the cashier probably thought I was out of my mind) because I knew that we would come in WAY below $90. I turned the register screen so he couldn’t see and told him to guess. “$92″ he said. Ehhhhh- wrong! $64.32. ::Continue victory dance:: Yay, me.

Name Brand vs. Store Brand

Come on…don’t copy- get your own material. Nobody likes a cheater! Original & Hand Written Plagiarism Will Be Detected. This site is being monitored by CopyGator. Mmkay? Thanks.