Madigan Matters: February 2010

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Grocery Shopping

Last week I was pretty proud of my self for coming away from my weekly shopping trip having saved over $76! I was telling my friend about it and she asked how I did it. Let me say first of all that I am not the most organized person or the most thrifty but I have come upon a system that works for me. I thought I would blog about it in case it could be of use to someone else out there.
Step 1
I have about 5 or 6 "ward" cookbooks that I use on a regular basis. To make looking through them easier I have rated each recipe that I try - 5 stars means it was pretty darn good, 1 star means it was probably destined for the garbage can (you get the idea). I also have put a different symbol like a square or circle etc on each cookbook so that when I make my menu I don't have to write out the name of the cook book - just the symbol and the page number. So Sunday afternoons I sit down with a hot cocoa or a soda and my cook books and make a list of recipes that sound good. I usually pick about 6 or 7 although we may not use them all. As I add the recipe to the list I look at the ingredients and see if I need to purchase anything special for that recipe. If I do I put it on my grocery list.
Step 2
Monday while the kids are in school I get on the computer and go to grocerysmarts.com. (If you aren't familiar with this website email me and I will explain how it works.) The basis behind the grocerysmarts website is that you collect as many coupon packets that come in the paper as you can, organize them by type (ie Red Plum or P&G etc) and by date. The website generates lists for each grocery store showing the good deals they are offering at the moment and pairs them with current coupon offerings. So I print out my grocerysmarts list that includes both the items that I needed for my menu and stock up items that are too good a deal to pass up. I print out the online coupons that grocerysmarts gives me and clip the other coupons that they recommend from my stash of coupon inserts. I put all my coupons and lists in a big ziplock bag to keep them all together.
Step 3
I like shopping at Smith Marketplace - they send me a little check every few months with money back (February's check was for $27!) from using my rewards card! So on Tuesdays I head on up to Smiths zip around the store getting all my stuff, hand over my coupons at the check out and smile really big when they hand me my receipt and say "you have saved $X!

So there it is my system - feel free to use it if it sounds like it is going to work for you too. One of the ways that grocerysmarts.com stays in business is that they sell subscriptions to the newspapers. Lance gets tons of newspapers at his work so he just grabs the coupons for me. I have tons left over so if anyone in the area is interested in clipping from my coupon stash just give me a call!

Happy Shopping!