2010 Grocery Project: April

Finally we are back on track! Last month was a discouragement, but this month we only spent $149.49 on our grocery food items. We cut it close to that $150 mark, but at least we made it!

As I mentioned before, meal planning is essential to sticking to a grocery budget. When I first started this series in January, I produced a weekly meal plan and then went shopping with a limit of $35 a week. This strategy worked really well, but I disliked going to the grocery that often. So, I tried meal planning two weeks at a time. This worked for only a little bit - I began to lose track of my purchases at the store and ended up putting more items in the cart because we were shopping for two weeks instead of one. It ended up being a mess, and for some reason, I was running to the store for just a few items ALL the time! Now we are back on the strict weekly meal plan and calculating costs while I shop to make sure I do not go over budget. Two week meal planning may work for some, but not for our family. It was a disaster! :)

Begin looking for future posts on "The Art of Couponing" and "Starting Your Own Grocery Price Book"!