Question: Where does Frugal Grocery Shopping begin?
Answer:
- With understanding your job.
- With the meals you fix.
You may think that frugal grocery shopping consists of acquiring the ability to use coupons to purchase $200 worth of food for only $4.37, but that isn’t necessarily true. If most of your purchases made with the coupons are for unhealthy junk-food, then in the long run, you might not be saving much money at all. Your coupon savings can be wiped out by increased trips to the doctor’s office, and that’s not frugal. Remember that as a homemaker–as the purchasing agent for your home—your job is to purchase and provide the best nutrition you can with the resources available to you and to save as much money as possible doing it. Couponing or other smart shopping strategies can only do so much. If you don’t know how to fix healthy, thrifty meals, you’re ability to save as much as possible will be limited.
In reality, Frugal Grocery Shopping consists of a combination of strategies that you can implement over time:
- Strategy: Build a collection of decently nutritious, thrifty meals
- Strategy: Improve your “from-scratch” cooking skills
- Strategy: To keep your family safe from harm and to stop wasting food, know basic elements of food safety—in preparation and storage.
- Strategy: Savvy Grocery Shopping—use ads & coupons wisely
- Strategy: Pantry Power-Build up and maintain an effective Frugal Pantry
- Strategy: Eliminate or reduce waste—Buy what you eat and eat what you buy. Develop leftover skills.
When it comes to frugal grocery shopping it’s important to have your real job (or goal) clearly in mind. The best use of your food budget will happen as you learn how to fix several healthy, thrifty meals and then gradually make use of the other strategies listed above.
