Daily Preparedness

Wahoo–you did it! You are back home with your car loaded with groceries that you have saved at least 20% (hoping closer to 30%) and it is time to store everything so that you maximize the potential waiting in those bags. Let’s get started.

Put the cold things away immediately. This includes meat that you are going to put in the freezer or cook up. Be certain that the raw meat does not contaminate surrounding food. Keep it in plastic grocery bags and on a low shelf of your frig.

If you have purchased dairy or meat products that are close to their expiration date, grab a sharpie and write the expiration date on the packaging in very LARGE letters. This will be a visual reminder to help you use the product before it is too late.

For non-cold items, put the newest purchases to the back of the shelves. Pull the older items to the front. This is the same system that grocery stores use.

Need to store small items such as chewing gum, muffin mixes, etc that can tend to get lost? Categorize them and store in inexpensive plastic shoe boxes. Empty plastic tubes from ‘Crystal Light’ type drinks also are wonderful for storing things like cough drops, small amounts of pasta or mints. Write on the tube what is inside and your pantry will be easy to use as well as save you money.

Store your re-usable bags and dispose of plastic bags that have held raw meat products. It is safer to pitch these than to risk cross-contamination. One exception might be to use them when walking the dog, IF you can keep them separate from bags you might utilize elsewhere. For plastic bags that haven’t held raw meat, use them to line small trash cans, as a waste receptacle on your counter when you are cleaning vegetables, sort laundry….there are literally 100’s of uses for these bags. If you want to organize them, check out the plastic bag holder sold by IKEA that mounts on the wall. It is inexpensive, holds a ton of bags, holds up well and you can get the bags back out easily.

Wash down the counter that you placed the grocery bags on with a disinfectant cleaner. The bottoms of those bags are germ factories! Finally, wash your hands thoroughly and sit down to catch your breath. While sitting, congratulate yourself on a job well down.

After your little rest, recheck your menu plan for the coming week. Do you need to adjust it due to finding an ingredient you hadn’t planned on buying? For instance, you purchased near-its-expiration-date chicken and should use it up quickly. Or the produce man was clearing out bananas. Make necessary changes and repost your menus.

If you purchased near-its-expiration-date meat, consider cooking it now and freezing for later use. It will make great last minute meals and you’ll not risk further spoilage. This is also a great way to quickly process those club packs of meat. Make one mess and have multiple meals nearly ready to serve! Be certain to handle the meat carefully, package well, label with contents & date, cool appropriately in the refrigerator or a bowl of ice and then pop into your deep freeze.

If you are going to break down club packs without cooking, prepare your work area by assembling everything you will need. Scrub your hands and then divide the meat into appropriate smaller containers. Label and freeze. Sanitize your work area when you are done and give yourself another round of applause!

Still not satisfied with your savings? Be certain to utilize the internet for websites that match coupons to sales, notices of freebies, email alerts for your local grocery store flyers, inexpensive meals such as www.5dollardinners.com or www.hillbillyhousewife.com. Work your long-term storage foods such as whole grains and dried beans into your menus, double check your portion sizes, be certain that you are using every bit of food possible–never, ever waste left-overs! Scrutinize carefully what sorts of foods you are purchasing. Be certain to comparison shop periodically.

LEARN TO COOK SIMPLE, QUICK, INEXPENSIVE AND NUTRITIOUS MEALS AT HOME ! ! !

Like any great athlete, becoming an X-treme Grocery Shopper requires patience, practice, coaching and fine tuning of your game. You won’t be saving 30 to 50% overnight, but you will get there if you persevere!

Do you have great tips for saving money while feeding your family? Please, email them in and we’ll share your ideas. Further ideas are also listed under frugalmania above.

Are you ready to rumble? For those of you who are SERIOUS about saving yourselves time, money, energy (your’s, renewable, fossil fuel–whatever type you worry about), frustration and stress –come on and join the team! It is time to sign up for the X-Games Of Grocery Shopping!

The first step, of course, like any great sport, is training. You don’t just grab a golf club and immediately become Tiger Woods. Oh no, it takes thought, practice, patience and a bit of know how–in other words training. Unlike Tiger though, you don’t need to be born with a great talent to rid yourself of the waste most of us experience when dealing with the never-ending need to feed ourselves and our family.

This week, we will concentrate on visualization. No, not really–just getting ready to grocery shop. Getting ready? Don’t you just grab your wallet and go? Uh, not if you want to do it well. You must learn the fundamentals of the ‘game’ and then apply them to ensure success on the course/field/court/whatever.

The recipe for successful grocery planning includes these ingredients (go gather them):

Paper

Pencil

Perpetual Grocery List (if that is Greek to you, A PGL is a list you put on the ‘frig & everyone marks down when they need something or use up the last of something)

Your calendar, Blackberry, iPhone or whatever you use to organize your time (if you don’t have one, you really should get one right now!)

Grocery store ads

Your budget–do you know how much you can spend?

Prescriptions that need to be filled (if you use the grocery pharmacy and why wouldn’t you?)

A clipboard or something to put your list on so that it doesn’t end up at the bottom of the grocery cart

A quick peak in the ‘frig & pantry to notice things that are missing, old, growing fungus or nearly empty–add those to your PGL. Don’t forget basic non-food items such as toilet paper, facial tissue, plastic bags, etc. Throw out anything that has gone past its prime. This will allow you to start fresh when you come home from the grocery store. Salvage anything you can and add it to your menu before it goes bad!

Once you have gathered together the Preparation Recipe, you are ready to tear into making The List. True champions have advanced the PGL to a standardized list of commonly purchased items, preferably divided by appropriate sections of your favorite grocery store or at least by categories. This Gold Medal Level PGL is the ultimate in organization! If you frequent the same grocery store for most of your shopping, ask the service desk for a store map. Use this to prepare your customized PGL.

Another benefit of maintaining a PGL is that you can have someone else pick up items for you! This is especially helpful if you purchase specialty items from different stores. For instance, you might purchase organic peanut butter at just one store. If you know you need it, you can pick it up when you drive by that store. Or better yet–get someone else to do it on their way home! (Delegation is a very fine art)

Grab your calendar. Do you have any commitments coming up that will require the purchase of special items? Remember things like Johnny’s turn to bring snacks to soccer, Bertha’s Baby shower for which you said you’d make your famous spinach dip, that church potluck or a field trip requiring a packed lunch. Look two weeks in advance–further if you are REALLY organized!

With those commitments in mind, begin to look over the grocery store ads to see if anything is on sale that might fulfill those requirements. For instance, Johnny’s soccer snacks–ah ha ABC market has oranges on sale. And double ah ha–they also have graham crackers on sale! And you have a coupon for those. Mark both items on your list and put a small ‘c’ next to the graham crackers to remind you that you have a coupon. We’ll discuss how to protect those advanced purchases later–but keep a sharpie on hand in case you speed ahead of our tutorial. (Hint: You’ll want to mark those special purchases so they don’t get eaten too early)

As you peruse the sale ads, think through menu ideas. You do think about menus ahead of time, don’t you?? If chicken breasts are on sale, plan dinners around chicken breasts. What do you need to make your family’s favorite chicken cacciatore? Add whatever ingredients you are lacking to your list and put the menu idea on your calendar! You are now one step closer to being Super Organized!

Next, think about basic storage items that might be on sale. Which can you stock up on? Where will you put them? For instance, you don’t want to buy more frozen food than you have room for, so make certain you have the space for it! And the budget to cover it! Buying on sale can really rack up savings if you plan accordingly as well as extend your food storage plan.

Consult your calendar again for holidays coming up. What special foods do you need? Why not buy your Easter candy when it first comes out and then hide it from the little ones? If the tykes can’t read, just write on your calendar where you put it.

Ask family members if there is anything they need or activities they have failed to tell you about. With a bit of training, they will learn that if something they need doesn’t make it on the list in time, they will exercise their patience muscles or figure out how to get to the store themselves.

Once your list is fairly well finalized, check for coupons and attach those to the clipboard with your list. Be sure to add the small ‘c’ next to items that you have a coupon for. This will help you remember to check for a specific brand or size.

Attach any prescriptions that need to be filled. If you need to call in refills, do it far enough in advance that they’ll be ready for you.

Before going any further, be certain that your list coincides with your budget. It is pointless to spend more than you can afford as debt never saved anyone money.

Place the clipboard with your reusable grocery bags if you use them. If you are preparing a day in advance, put everything in the car or near the door where you won’t walk off without it. What would happen if Lance Armstrong forgot his bike? Tour de Oops??

You are now ready, primed, trained and set to enter the contest. Next week, we’ll ramp up your training a notch and GO TO THE GROCERY STORE well armed, toned, fit and ready to SAVE!