Day 12

We go shopping in a town that is an hour away, and yes it takes all day, so I consider it a day of travel. I look forward to this day every month, because you get a lot accomplished in one day, and it makes you feel good. But, by the end of the shopping day, I hate it! I'm tired, grouchy, and the baby has been ignored all day which makes me feel bad for her. And after all that, we still have an hour drive ahead of us. Uggggh!

We go to 3 stores: WinCo, Costco, and WalMart. I make a menu for the whole month ahead of time, we eat leftovers twice a week.

Then I make a BIG list that has all the things that I need to buy that won't go bad, and while making the big list, I also make a weekly list for all the perishables that I will purchase at the local stores.

I plan for about a month, and it usually lasts us for a month and a half. I don't go shopping for the perishables until we are done with the last "weeks" worth of dinners.

But, we also spend a LOT of money on that day, it is kind of depressing. I'm still trying to figure out how to make things cheaper, I feel like I do my best to keep the grocery bill down, I buy in bulk, I buy Great Value brand at WalMart, but still we are spending way more than I would like to. I have started a spread sheet with the different prices at different stores, but it will take a while to acquire all of the prices from all of the stores. I've also started to NOT buy processed things, and maybe this is the kicker, but if we want burritos, I can make them a lot healthier than the store bought ones. Sometimes I think making homemade things is more expensive than just buying the processed things. Is this the price I pay to make healthier meals? Any tips out there to help me keep my grocery bill down, but still cook healthy?

Note: After we got home from Texas, my best friend was in town, so I spent some time with her. Then, to top it all off, we had to talk on Sunday. Therefore, making this month seem a LOT more busy.