Perishables

[Crafty Amanda]

Planning ahead is great, you can stock your freezer, stock your pantry, and your fridge, but there are always going to be items that are perishable and cannot be stocked up on.

I just noticed that I need more milk and my husband is out of soda. So that means that I am going to have to run to the store, but it is inevitable that I will see something I want and grab that too.

What do you do to avoid "overshopping" when going to the grocery store on a non-scheduled day to pick up salad fixings or another gallon of milk? How do YOU handle this in your house?

[tama-toe]

Probably not the right person to answer this, sometimes I have no self control either. Luckily our WM has a set up that the first thing you see is fresh veggies then on down a little is milk so if I stay to the very right perimater I will be ok . Most other days I just don't have the money for anything extra at all.
There is one suggestion thought that I thought of if you can kinda figure out what exactly you need and how much it will cost you you could just atm the money before hand. Or you could look back at how much you need for perishables to last you till the next payday and put that amount of money in an envelope, get out the exact amount of cash you need for that one trip.
I must confess that alot of times I will pittle in WM for a long time, putting things I would like to have in my basket. Wow before long I notice that I am spending way too much. I evaluate what out of the basket I really need, then if I know I can spend a little I will evaluate what I really want of the basket and put everything else back. Call me crazy but this makes me feel better when I have been in the house too long with no $$.

[ronsan]

When I only need a couple of items from the grocery store and want to avoid overshopping, I take in only enough cash money in my hand to cover what I wanted to get.

If I see a bargain I can't live without, then I am forced to check out, return to the car, retrieve the extra money and go back into the store for the bargain.

This system has alleviated about 95% of the overshopping ~ I am not at all opposed to going back into the store for a great bargain but most of the time by the time I have reached the car, I am definitely not in the mood to go back in there!

Sandie

After almost 50 years of marriage and 13 children I have learned 2 valuable rules for grocery shopping and meal planning. It works for major shopping and for "just picking up" things.
#1. NEVER shop when you're hungry.
#2. NEVER cook when you're full.

[purplepassion]

Hi everyone. My suggestion only works if you have a freezer. I buy enough milk for 2 weeks, I put 2 gallons in the refridgerator and the rest in my freezer. I pull out a frozen gallon when I'm down one in the fridge. On vegetables and fruit I buy what I think we will need for the week and if we happen to run out we have to wait til next week. I'm on a tight budget, 400. a month for a family of 8 and this system has really really helped.

[kimmyo]

Whenever this happens to me I do one of two things:

1) Send DH he's good at running in and out and not loitering or spending on extras.

2) Only carry enough cash for what I need.

[mjsjtjcj]

I am horrible about over spending on the mid week grocery store trip to pick up the few things I forgot on Saturday! I have started to add up the receipts for the things that we did not actually need and you would be amazed at how much these amounts can add up to. I try to keep that in mind and only allow my self to get the items that are on my list to pick up.

By the way, I did not know you could freeze milk. Do you freeze it in the gallon or have to put it into something bigger to allow for expansion? We go through 4 - 5 gallons of skim a week, plus 1-2 gallons of whole. I do in-home child care so those kids drink the skim along with dh, ds, and myself. The other ds just switched from formula to whole.

[Crafty Amanda]

Originally posted by mjsjtjcj
Do you freeze it in the gallon or have to put it into something bigger to allow for expansion?

We had a thread about this a week or so ago You don't have to remove any to allow for expansion, there's enough room in there I've been told from those with experience in it. I am going to start freezing it this week (I'm shopping on Monday). You do need a couple of days in the refrigerator for thawing though, so plan ahead! I've also been told that you can thaw it room temperature during the day, but I don't like that idea too well

[thisgirl]

:p take only enough cash(no checkbook) to cover what you need.
About 15 yrs ago I sent my dh to the store for something and he came back hooked, he had a lady grab a roast out of his hand at the meat counter and thought of it as a new full contact sport.
Ever since he has been doing the grocery HUNTING as we call it.
We play this game (how much do you think I paid for this) when he gets home. Bag after bag comes in and I sometimes think he lifted someone elses cart of food but he uses coupons and goes to different stores. Its great!!!
I went with him once and watched him work, he was getting thinks off of the shelves for little short ladies and telling people where they could find things, why the manager hasn't offered him a job there yet is beyond me.
If I could just get him to put the things away when he gets home now life would be good
I have nothing to complain about because I don't have to set foot in a grocery store if I don't want to.

[mjsjtjcj]

Wow! You are lucky! It is like pulling teeth to get my husband to go to the store. Usually if we need bread, milk, or something simple like that he will just go to a convenience store and pay more for the item rather than going in a grocery store.