How Bulk shopping saves us a bundle

You know when ever I talk to people about the fact that we do our shopping in bulk we get a lot of the same responses.

"Does it really save you money?"
"I just don't have the money to do that"
"Where would I put it all!"
"I don't have the time!"

So I thought I would share my responses with you all.

"Does it really save you money?" Why yes it does! Part of it is that we have a super sized family compared to the "normal" American family. When you have more than 2 children stuff just gets eaten faster! I could buy 4 boxes of cereal at $4 a pop or 1 giant box for $6...you do the math! Even if you don't have a super sized family buying in bulk is still feasible. We buy he giant cans of tomatoes, you know the ones that look like they are supposed to be used in school cafeterias? Well even with 7 mouths to feed I can't use a entire can of those suckers! I instead package it down into 1c. servings and drop them in the freezer. One 14.5 can of crushed tomatoes is about $1 on sale, One ginormous can of crushed tomatoes is $3. I can typically get 20 one cup portions out of the huge can. That is a HUGE savings!

Another way it saves us money is that buy buying in bulk we typically end up with a little more than we needed. I can get a great deal on 7lb packages of ground beef for example but if I only need 6lbs for that month I freeze the extra pound for later. After 2-3 mths of this type of stockpiling you find you have enough in your freezer and pantry to allow you to skip grocery shopping for several weeks! It is a wonderful feeling to realize "Hey I don't have to go to the grocery store this month!"

"I just don't have the money to do that" We didn't start out with any more in the grocery budget than we normally used. I just decided to use it differently. I decided instead of spending it 4 times a month I would spend it once. I found my local costco, made a detailed list of what we needed for that month and went to town! Over time we were able to adjust our budget so that all of our months grocery budget came out of the first paycheck of the month giving me even more wiggle room. You know what we have found though? We spend LESS buying in bulk, about $200 a month less!

"Where would I put it all!" As I stated in a previous post we don't live in a McMansion, far far from it! We have a small chest freezer, a pantry, and a cabinet in our hallway for over flow. That is it! We found that by going to once a month shopping we tend to buy more whole foods instead of processed foods. Flour instead of french bread, popcorn instead of cookies, etc.

"I don't have the time!" I have found it doesn't take me any longer to pic up a 25lb bag of flour than it does to pick up a 5lb bag. A little harder on my back maybe but not on my schedule. Actually I find it SAVES me time because I do one major shop a month then a quick dash in every other week for milk and fruit instead of 4 major shopping trips.

January's grocery list

Here we go again.....

10lbs chicken breasts
12 lbs ground beef
3 lbs cheddar cheese
1 pckt. Italian dressing
1 cream cheese
2 pks frozen broccoli
8 oz cheese wiz
Fried onion's (Frenches)
Parmesan cheese
2 salsa's
4lbs Mozzarella
green chili's
8oz sour cream
diced olives
dry black beans
1 BIG can diced tomatoes (costco)
cumin
chili
sage
rosemary
lime juice
lemon juice
Tortilla chips
onions
cabbage
Hot sauce
celery
carrots
14oz saurkraut
15oz Garbanzo beans
salad mix
Garlic Pwd
Onion Pwd
2 gallons Milk
2 gallons juice
2 boxes yogurt



Week one Perishables:
Cilantro
2 gallons Milk
2 gallons Juice
2 eggs

Week 2:
Lettuce
2 gallons Milk
2 gallons Juice
2 eggs

Week 3:
2 gallons Milk
2 gallons Juice
2 eggs

Week 4:
Zucchini
2 gallons Milk
2 gallons Juice
2 eggs

January's Menu

I have been working up January's menu today and think I have it done.

All meals are in the order they will be served:

Spaghetti and Bread
Layered Dinner Casserole and Bread
Mexican Chicken with corn and Rice (crock pot)
Leftovers
Tortilla Soup with Salad and bread
Pizza and Salad
Taco's and Spanish Rice
Roast with green beans and rice
Black bean chili with rice
Hamburgers with homemade fries and corn
Spaghetti and bread
Creamy Chicken with green beans and rice (crock pot)
Sheppard's Pie with bread
Leftovers
Cheeseburger Pie with corn and bread
Taco's with Spanish rice
Stone soup with green beans and rice
Leftovers
Crunchy Chicken Parmesan with green beans and bread
Pizza and Salad
Spaghetti and Bread
Vegetable Chowder with bread
Taco's with Spanish rice
Broccoli, rice, chicken casserole with green beans
Fall off the bone beef with mixed veg and rice (crock pot)
leftovers
Spaghetti and bread
Chicken chili verde with corn and rice (crock pot)
Minestrone soup with rice
Pizza and salad
leftovers

As you can tell by this menu we are trying to cut back on our meat so there are several soups and vegetarian meals (isn't Dh going to LOVE that!). We are also attempting to provide a "filler" with every meal (rice, bread, beans).

December's cooking projects

Part of simplifying my monthly meal planning was to also do as much work ahead of time so that meal time was easier on all of us. With that in mind I tried to do as much prep work in advance as I could. Here is the list of the prep work I got done in December:


*25 Sausage biscuits, from scratch, in the freezer
* 4 spaghetti sauces in the freezer
* Pizza sauce, from scratch, in the freezer
* Pizza rolls assembled and in the freezer
* 4 batches of Cinnamon rolls assembled and in the freezer
* Pizza crusts baked and in the freezer

Once A Month Shopping ~December's Grocery List~

Once the menu was planned it was time to get the grocery list done!

11 lbs ground beef
2 roasts
2 whole chickens
2lbs Chicken
4 packages of pepperoni
2 LARGE cans of tomato Sauce (the #10 cans from costco)
Basil
Oregano
Garlic Pwder
5lbs Carrots
10lbs frozen mixed veg
3c. Pearled barley
4pk Tortilla's
5lbs Mozzarella
3pk Hamburger buns
1 box lasagna noodles
2 BIG boxes of Pancake/Biscuit mix (Costco size)
2 Bottles Syrup
3 Large jars applesauce
1 Oats
3 dz eggs
3pk hot dogs
2 cases soy milk
50lbs flour
Cinnamon
4 OJ Concentrates
Sausage (enough for 31 patties)
8 boxes Graham crackers
Goldfish (BIG Box)
1 big bag chocolate chips
Veg oil
4lbs bacon

Week 1 Perishables (actually will be week 2 since week one is he first week when I do the shopping):
Lettuce
Tomatoes
Milk
Fruit

Week 2 Perishables:
Milk
Fruit
3 dz eggs

Week 3 Perishables:
Cottage Cheese
Ricotta
3 dz eggs
lettuce
tomatoes
milk
fruit

Week 4 Perishables:
milk
fruit
3dz eggs

Month meal planning

When looking to simplify our lives the first thing I looked at was our grocery shopping. Meal planning each week and then doing weekly grocery shopping was taking up way to much of my time and was leaving my entire family crabby. In a attempt to simplify the process we decided to try monthly meal planning and then doing one large shopping trip per month (with a few small shops for dairy and fruit thorughout the month).

As I prepared for my first once a month shopping trip I worked up a menu for the month of December. One that has cheap, big, simple, healthy meals that when able can be turned into a meal for the second day as well

December's meals (all meals are in the order they were served):

1 Spaghetti
2 Pot Roast
3 Beef and Barley soup (leftovers from day 2)
4 Beef and Barley soup
5 Roast chicken
6 Chicken noodle soup (leftovers from day 5)
7 Mexican Casserole
8 Pizza rolls
9 Taco's
10 Leftovers
11 Sloppy Joes
12 Spaghetti
13 Chicken and rice
14 Pizza
15 Leftovers
16 Roast chicken
17 Chicken noodle soup (leftovers from day 16)
18 Lasagna
19 Hamburgers
20 Taco's
21 Pot roast
22 Beef and barley soup (leftovers from day 21)
23 Beef and barley soup
24 Leftovers
25 Chicken and rice
26 Pizza rolls
27 Mexican Casserole
28 Sloppy Joes
29 Pizza
30 Spaghetti
31 Leftovers

There you go a whole month planned out!

There was also muffins, pancakes, baked oatmeal, scrambled eggs and fruit for breakfast. And Leftovers, PB&J sandwiches, lunch meat sandwiches, and hot dogs for lunch. Plus as much fresh baked bread as my family could eat.