Using the Pantry Principle

While the picture quality isn't great, I am hoping to give you a look at what I do when I get ready to head to the store.

• The first thing I do is look at the list of items on my clipboard that I need to buy. These are items that I need to replace in my pantry (ie. brown sugar and sugar). If those items are on sale I'll stock my pantry. If they are regular price I'll buy one.
• Then I look at the flyers (I can look online or if I happen to be in the area and need to kill some time while dropping off a kid/picking a kid up I'll grab a flyer from the store).
• I look at the loss leaders, check my pantry and determine how much/many I need to buy. For example, whole chicken is on sale at Safeway this week for $.69/lb. I know from looking at my price book that is a good price for chicken.
• Now, I look at our week to see what is going on. I know that this weekend we're going to be away from home for two lunches. We're planning on using a gift certificate that we got at Christmas for dinner on Saturday night. I know that I need to have food on hand for these two lunches or we'll end up wasting money on junk food and feeling miserable from eating the junk food.
• I write down what I need on my list and how much that item will cost. I always have to guess for fresh fruits and veggies. After a while you get a feel for the amount of money you'll spend. Then I add up how much I plan to spend at the grocery store versus how much cash I have.
• This time I had to cross some things off of my list. When you take cash it's very embarrassing if you don't have enough money! With the debit card/credit card it doesn't matter! Again, that's why cash is so important.
• I crossed round steak off of my list. I found some ground turkey in the freezer so we'll have that in our chili instead. I also decided not to buy the Italian Sausage. It's not on sale and we'll have spaghetti another time.
• I don't have to worry about buying fresh veggies because I have a ton in the freezer.

I think I spent about 30 - 40 minutes working on this (last year I probably spent 1-2 hours). Since I started using the pantry principle in our home, my grocery budget has gone from $400 to $260 per month. The time it takes me to do this is obviously worth the savings!