Hey Guys!
So sorry for the post being sooo late.... but here it is!
My next tip for grocery shopping is to try, try, try to not take kids with you. I know this may be next to impossible for a lot of people, but there are other options.
Whenever I take my kiddos shopping with me, I always end up with a stack of things I don't need, there are always temper tantrums because I said no to something. If I have the option to not take the kids into the grocery store, I don't. There is no use putting yourself through the stress of having to deal with kids tantrums and trying to stick to your list especially when you have a small budget.
Tip Number 8 is to make use of the in-store points cards. Here in Australia, Coles have the FlyBuys cards and Woolworths have rewards cards (We don't really have any other ones where we are which is why i have only mentioned these two). The thing to remember when using these cards is to not let the bonus points affect your list too much. If your family won't eat it or if you already have that product in bulk, don't buy more. When you are making your menu plan for the week, go through the catalogues that come out or check out the website to find all the good specials and stick to it!
Keep building up the points so that at the end of the year, you can use those FlyBuys dollars to purchase Christmas presents or your food for Christmas Day. Last year I only had to pay around $30 of my actual money for all of the food and drinks we needed for the day. The key is to use these point systems to your benefit, not the stores.
Next tip is to keep your family's staple meal ingredients stocked up so you will always have a decent meal on hand to cook. My family's favourite meal is spaghetti bolognese, so I always have everything needed to make up that meal, or some ready in the freezer. Pasta is also a favourite Help Yourself meal in our house and at 65c for a whole packet of pasta is cheap enough to easily stock up on. Choose a couple of meals that are easy enough to whip up in a pinch and keep the ingredients for a couple of meals of each in the pantry/fridge/freezer.
Tip Number 10 is to cook double batches and freeze the rest! I love doing this as it takes no more time to cook a little more. You are already cooking enough for one meal, so why not double the recipe and freeze the rest! Having extra meals in the freezer ready to go has saved my backside on more that one occasion. Just make sure you write on the bag/container any reheating instructions and the date it was cooked to avoid any spoilage.
Taking advantage of the local farms in your area is the next tip. If the farms around you sell their produce direct to the public, it is almost always cheaper to buy direct from the farmer than to go through the bug grocery stores. We have a banana farm near us that sell and deliver a 13kg box of bananas for $10. Our family loves bananas so they go quickly here and we freeze what we don't eat so we can make ice cream with them. I put about 3 or 4 small frozen bananas in my thermomix, with a couple of tablespoons of peanut butter and either a tablespoon of cocoa powder or Milo (whichever one I have on hand) and a dash of milk. Blend it up and you have smooth, delicious ice cream without any nasties in it. Our kids LOVE this and it is so easy to make!
My last tip is to keep your shopping list on your phone! We don't tend to leave our mobile phone at home when we go out so we always have it on us. I have found the Cozi app is brilliant because my husband can add things onto the list as well from his phone so we basically keep a running shopping list on there. This way you can never have the excuse that you left your list at home (which is something that happened on a regular basis before we found the Cozi app) because it will always be with you!
So there you have all of the tips and tricks I have learnt over the years, I hope these are also helpful for you guys as well!
Enjoy!
Jacqui Raisin
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