Grocery Shopping-How often, Habits, Pros/Cons,Tips

[pfp258]

The problem with my Aldi is the produce looks awful. I buy a lot of other things there but very little fresh food.

Oh my, that is too bad. I had never shopped at Aldi until the one near me had a renovation. They have the best produce (even organic). It is where I now shop for all my fruits and veggies!

 

[mom2rose&john]

We grocery shop once a week except for beef, pork, chicken and turkey. We purchased an upright freezer and once a year buy a half of beef, whole pig and once every 4-5 months purchase 40 lbs of chicken breasts. Most grocery stores have a sale cycle so we purchase things on sale in quantities that will last us until the next sale. I will shop Aldi's every two weeks for my greek yogurt, and certain items that are always cheaper at Aldi's.


Tips I suggest:

The weekly shopping is always with sales and coupons. Very few of our items purchased are not in the sale flyer.

Our grocery store also has managers specials not in the weekly ad. I will purchase them if I think it is a good deal.

See if you grocery has a sale cycle. Keep up to 12 weeks worth of ads to see if there is a cycle trend

 

[pigletto]

I find the once a month idea intriguing (if only to have one big emerald day and not be going every Saturday morning).
Right now I live in a small town with three grocery stores. I will hit all three on a Saturday. Two of them have points programs. I only go in to the expensive one for loss leaders and I am back out the door in under 15 minutes. Then I head to the main store and do the majority of my shopping. It’s the one where I prefer the incentive program and the prices are consistently low. Finally, I hit the third and buy only what’s on sale. I realize this sounds like a massive chore but all these stores are within three minutes of eachother, and I am not spending a ton.
I feel like if I switched to a monthly model I wouldn’t be able to plan menus around the sale items.

 

[robinb]

I guess I'm the only one who enjoys grocery shopping, LOL. I tend to go every 2-3 days so once a month would just about kill me. I still do have a couple of tips.

(1) I keep a whiteboard on my fridge and I add things that I need or run out of. I then add anything to the board I need while meal planning so I have my grocery list all in one place. Then .. I snap a picture of it with my phone.
(2) I use the website/app Flipp to check circulars. You can "clip" ads and they are added to your "shopping list". It's a great way to have most of the circulars in one place and have all the chicken breast ads in one place so you can compare easily. You can also search and it'll bring up everything that matches and you can add the cheapest to the list. I create my shopping list on my computer at home and then reference the app on my phone when I'm shopping. Unfortunately, one of the grocery stores I go to is not on Flipp .

 

[Eureka]

I guess I'm the only one who enjoys grocery shopping, LOL. I tend to go every 2-3 days so once a month would just about kill me. I still do have a couple of tips.

(1) I keep a whiteboard on my fridge and I add things that I need or run out of. I then add anything to the board I need while meal planning so I have my grocery list all in one place. Then .. I snap a picture of it with my phone.
(2) I use the website/app Flipp to check circulars. You can "clip" ads and they are added to your "shopping list". It's a great way to have most of the circulars in one place and have all the chicken breast ads in one place so you can compare easily. You can also search and it'll bring up everything that matches and you can add the cheapest to the list. I create my shopping list on my computer at home and then reference the app on my phone when I'm shopping. Unfortunately, one of the grocery stores I go to is not on Flipp .

No, I do too (like grocery shopping). I also have a white board and usually transfer it to a list but I have been known to ask the kids to text me a pic of the board when I forget it. When I freelanced part time and had more time, I shopped more often but have a long commute and don't have that luxury anymore.

 

[QueenIsabella]

Not a whiteboard, but we keep a running list on the fridge. I have to--there are 5 people living here, some items (like cereal) I don't use, so it's up to the kids to write them down if they're getting low.

For the PP with the "bad produce" Aldi's--consider asking them what day they put their produce out, and going then. Our current Aldi's has wonderful produce, I'm sorry you're not getting that. This week, we had strawberries for $0.99/quart--I bought 6 quarts and made strawberry shortcake for 21 people!

I shop often, mostly because I can, and hit different places for different specials. My two go-tos, mainly, are Walmart pick-up, and Aldi's. I do the bulk of my shopping there. But, neither place a good prices or variety on meats, so I do hit other stores and cherry-pick their meat specials. I'm spoiled for choice--I have 3 grocery stores I could walk to (Food Lion, Publix, Aldi), with a fourth (Lidl) coming soon (lot is cleared, just waiting for the actual building...). Walmart is a whopping 7-minute drive, and I like that I can add non-food items to my pick-up list.

 

[klacey1]

I work from home; I'll typically go to the Stop & Shop once or twice a week around 7:30 am after I go to the gym. Then about once a month--if we need cases of water or bad weather is predicted especially--I'll schedule a PeaPod delivery from Stop & Shop. Sometimes the prices are slightly higher than at the store, but it's usually the same. And the produce and dairy are always perfect.

I pretty much only buy food at Stop & Shop. I'll go to Walmart every other month for paper goods and household items. Trader Joe's about the same frequency if we want their specialty items, and Whole Foods for special occasions, holidays or when we feel like treating ourselves with exceptionally high quality beef.