Have you changed the way you grocery shop lately? I know that I have. Rising food prices and gas prices have certainly caused me to make some adjustments. For example, grocery prices on many items are changing so fast that keeping a traditional price book that is based on cycles of sales is no longer useful. Instead, shopping can be more of a guessing game or like playing the stock market.
Will $4.99 be the lowest price for flour? Should I stock up now or wait for it to go lower? Will it rise even more? You see what I mean.
Here is how I have changed the way I am grocery shopping until things settle down.
I’m shopping less frequently. While I used to try to get to the grocery store every week so I can stock up on the bargains that rotate through the sales, the increase in prices makes everything so unstable that I find it is just easier to shop infrequently. The bargains aren’t guaranteed, and even if something is on sale, it is usually snatched up before I can get there. Shopping every three or four weeks (with the sometimes exception of milk) uses less gas and has actually reduced the grocery bill.
Shopping less frequently saves on gas. While I might get better bargains going more often, they generally won’t be worth the money in gas when it is added to the cost of my time.
One thing that shopping less frequently has created in some cases is a feast or famine on fresh products. I bought lots of fresh fruit for the first time in four weeks, and the family was in pure heaven. We balance that out with frozen or canned fruit the rest of the time, but there is nothing like fresh. Our salad fixings we can get from a local farmer.
Check back for the second half of this article where I share more of the ways that my grocery shopping has changed.
Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. Starting June 1st, don’t miss her articles in the Baby Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here.
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