Cutting Your Family's Grocery Bill Part 1

When I first moved to Canada and began grocery shopping, the experience was traumatizing. Grocery prices in Canada are significantly higher than they were in the states. (Apparently a lot of those prices are beginning to align and Americans are having a tough go of it now.) I truly sympathize. This is hard. I was accustomed to spending about $400 a month feeding a family of five in the states. I come to Canada and our food bill was as much as our rent ($1,000). What the heck was I to do? I was already shopping at the budget stores.

It took me a couple years, but I got my grocery bill back down to $400 a month. When things are extremely pinched, I can get it down to $200 a month without sacrificing nutrition or variety even...but there isn't much fun stuff in it.

What is the process?

First, you must take inventory of all you have. You may think you've got nothing, but everything counts. Pasta in the pantry, a few cans in the cupboards, frozen foods. While you're inventorying, toss the old stuff. You must organize your freezer if you plan to cut your family's food costs. Luckily this is easy and relatively painless. It took me about three days to go through everything, inventory everything, and clear out anything that was past its expiration date. I was still taking care of a home and five other people and I also washed all the cupboards and storage containers, otherwise this would have taken me one full day.

The Inventory
The great thing about the inventory is it enables you to organize items by their use. I have certain spices I use quite frequently--almost daily. These get placed front and center of my spice shelf. I have staples that I use quite frequently. These are placed between eye and shoulder height on pantry shelves. Doing this keeps things tidy. You don't want to have to move things out of your way to get to the things you always use. If I organized my spices alphabetically I would continually be knocking others over to get out my most frequently used ones. Less frequently used items go to the far sides of my spice shelf or the highest and lowest of my pantry shelves. (Very infrenquently used items go to the highest shelves as they're at about 6' and require a stool to reach.) We end up with everything where I need it to be. Here is how my inventory looks:

Baking staples:
Almonds -- 2 cups
Baker's Chocolate -- 1/2 bar
Baking Powder -- 1 full can
Baking Soda -- 2 full boxes, 2 open boxes
Bread Crumbs -- 4 cups
Bread Flour -- 3 cups
Brown Sugar -- 1 full bag, 1/2 bag
Cake mixes -- 0
Chocolate chips -- 0
Cocoa Powder -- 1/4 can
Cornmeal -- 0
Corn Starch -- <1/2 box
Custard Powder -- 3/4 can
Evaporated Milk -- 0
Graham Crumbs -- 2 pie shells' worth
Honey -- 1 pint
Icing (canned) -- 0
Icing Sugar (Powdered Sugar) -- 4 cups
Kosher Salt -- 4 cups
Lemon Rind -- 1 cup
Molasses -- 1/4 pint
Olive Oil -- 2 quarts
Oats -- 2 large bags full +
Pancake Mix -- 1 full box
Powdered Milk -- 1/2 cup
Raisins -- 1.5 cups
Salt -- 1 cup
Sea Salt -- 3 cups
Shortening -- 0
Splenda -- 1 large bag, full
Splenda Brown Sugar Blend -- 1/2 cup
Sweetened Condensed Milk -- 0
Tapioca -- 1/8 cup
White Flour -- 2.5 kilograms
White Sugar -- 2 kg
Whole Wheat Flour -- 1 kilogram
Vegetable Oil -- 2 quarts
Yeast -- 1/4 cup +

Do you get the picture, or do you want the whole thing?

I inventory my cooking staples (these are not the same as baking staples), my freezer (deep freezer), and my refrigerated items that last a long time (like salad dressings, condiments, etc.) I do not inventory milk, butter, margarine, etc., because items used so frequently are self-inventorying just by their frequency of use. Show me a mom who doesn't know how much milk she has in her home.

The bottom line with the inventory is that it will prevent you from making unnecessary purchases. Even if you can't see behind the giant cannister of flour, you can look at your pantry inventory and know that you do indeed have oats and raisins for the oatmeal raisin cookies your child needs in class tomorrow. If you first shop at home, you'll save money.

I find the baking staples inventory the most valuable since I do not bake frequently. I keep the inventory posted inside my pantry door and jot notes when I use a lot of something. As you can see I have a lot of zeros in that list. I know I will need to purchase those items before October, November or December when I'll do some holiday baking. (We've been known to bake several hundred cookies in November and December.....that's what we call "some holiday baking.")

Step two of cutting your grocery bill will be in the next installment.