Part of our journey in establishing a budget in 2013 is to assess how we spend money at the grocery store. In the fall, I won a copy of Your Grocery Budget Toolbox during an Authentic Simplicity Facebook party. I had the pleasure to meet Anne at the National Product Expo East in September and she is lovely and truly trying to help folks find the foods that are the least expensive and healthiest.
The 156 page eBook is a great way to hunker down and establish frugal grocery shopping practices. It begins by asking you to establish a budget for your shopping and stick to it. One of the best things that Simpson does is say that as your life develops, that budget may change and develop with it. She provides great guidance while helping you to not get too stressed out at the same time.
After you set a budget, Anne outlines what percentages of your budget should be spent on which items and discusses how to find healthy, non-GMO and organic foods for good prices. In the Price Book chapter, she encourages you to know your regular prices at a variety of stores in your area in order to help you plan what to buy and where to buy it.
One of the areas in which I would like to do better is Once a Month Shopping and she does a great job laying out how to be successful with that. It’s a mindset shift and it will take some adjusting, but good planning and knowing that you have to menu plan ahead will help you get there.
Anne also helps you to establish price caps on what you are willing to spend on certain items. She has an extensive DIY Foods section with tons of recipes. She also covers how to establish gardening and preserving practices in order to save money. Finally, she explains how to find coupons and deals and earn some money online to help supplement your budget.
Overall, I am looking forward to getting started on all of this. I’d like to help us save a bit at the grocery store and sock some money away for other projects around the house or put it into a savings account. I think by following Anne’s recommendations, we will have success with this. As we continue to record our receipts and figure out our expenses, this will be in the mix.
If you are interested in purchasing the eBook, Click here to visit Authentic Simplicity. My readers can apply the code “crafty” for the next week in order to receive a discount!
I highly recommend it if you are try to trim your expenses and still eat healthy foods!
So, how do you budget for food and groceries? What financial tips do you have to share this week? Do you have any budget resolutions for 2013?
Disclosure: Affiliate links are included in this post in order to help us supplement our grocery budget. 🙂
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I’ve been trying to get my shopping down to once a month but it is so hard! We run out of fresh fruit and salad greens which makes me end having to do a grocery trip every 1-2 weeks. I have been able to do a big grocery trip about once a month which has been nice instead of big trips every week- I definitely spend less overall!
She recommends making quick trips for veggies and fruits each week, but getting the bulk of things done in one go.
I am tempted to try this. I am so bad about buying too much stuff and it would keep our budget in tact. Nice review!
Thanks, Noelle!
I hate hate hate grocery shopping. I think if I can do it online I will be fine…I think.
I think part of our budget problem is that I like grocery shopping too much! I am curious to know more about shopping online at places like Amazon. So, I look forward to checking out that section in depth.
Looks like a great book… and I love your disclosure statement 🙂
It’s a great resource and thanks. 🙂
I’d love to shop less. It seems I’m there often, and buying specific foods for family members. I use coupons, but need to get better at the menu planning.
I need to get better with the coupons. I think this will set me on a good path.
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