Before you go the market - Pt 2.


I have always liked food shopping. I realized this shortly after the chore was foisted on me by my father in high school. In a former part of my life, I lived with five other women and I did the weekly shopping for 9 out of the 10 years I lived there.

The first thing you need to realize is that you will not be able to get everything at one store. I regularly go three places every week to get the shopping done because every store has different things on sale every week. In the summer, I go to local farmer's markets. Once a month, I do a paper goods run at somepalce like Walmart / Kmart / Target. One one of the three regular markets is not in a direct line between home and work but I love the hot bar in the store and until recently, it was the only place I got raisin challah so the extra ten minutes once a week was well worth the trip for the weekend breakfasts. But I digress and will get back on track.

You need to get the circulars for what will be on sale when go you. In my neck of the foods, the sales run from Friday - Thursday. In the Wednesday paper, next week's food circulars come out. The best way to stretch your precious food bucks is to develop menus around what is on sale that you will actually eat.

After looking through the circulars, decide what you will purchase at what store. I understand every now and there might be some fanatastic unadvertised specials, but let them surprise you instead of expecting them.

If there is a few extra quarters in the budget, it is a good idea to stock up on shelf stable staples.