Since we live in a small town and it’s hard to find organic products (or products for a reasonable price), we travel about 60 miles once a month to go to an employee owned grocery store. We have a lot of options there, and we find the things that we like (organic foods/produce, organic beauty supplies, fair trade goods..) and we save money.
As per request, I will be sharing my monthly grocery shopping list with you this month. I do have quite a lot of things in my pantry, and I did just stock up snack foods, cereal, and some fruit a few days ago. We also buy all of our meat in bulk from my brother who is a local farmer, so those purchases are not included. The first thing I do is make a list of meals that I will make for dinner, and the I create a list with my stack of recipes. I separate my list into categories and in the order that I walk through the store.
This is what works for me. How do you grocery shop?
Organic
- tomato sauce
- 3 cans diced tomatoes
- alfredo sauce
- 2 jars spaghetti
- pinto beans
- 2 cans corn
- 2 cans black beans
- spaghetti noodles
- salsa
- tortillas
- ranch dressing
- pesto
- Blue Sky pops
- frozen spinach
- snacks (granola bars, crackers)
Pets
- Kitty litter
- Canned dog food
Pantry items
- Olive oil
- Ketchup
- Cream of mushroom soup
- Elbow macaroni
- Brown rice
- Dry ranch mix
- Tortellini
- 2 cans pumpkin puree
- Yeast (coupon)
- Bread flour
- Juice (coupon)
- Soups (coupon)
- Spaghetti O’s no meat because I crave it (coupon)
Bakery
- Sliced bread
- French bread
- English muffins
- Bagels
Produce
- Potatoes
- Mushrooms
- Onions
- Carrots
- Celery
- Broccoli
- Avacado
- Lime
- Lettuce
- Snow peas
- Basil
- Fruits to snack on
Dairy
- Organic butter
- Milk
- Mozzerella cheese
- 2 dozen eggs
- Cottage cheese
- Plain yogurt
Frozen/In Cases
- Pie crust
- Pizza dough
- Biscuits (coupon)
- Pizza (coupon)
- Garlic bread (coupon)
- Viola meal (I have a coupon)
For other WFMW posts, visit Rocks in My Dryer. 
I do a similar meal-planning/grocery list thing, but only one week at a time.
I recently purchased the book/software 30 Meals in One Day. I LOVE it! It does the list for you and you can edit the recipes to your hearts desire…including adding your own recipes. You might want to check it out, given your situation.
Blessings!
i’m not quite as organized as you (but working on it). i do the same with the meal plan then shop. mr. right’s father is in real estate so every year we get a fridge magnet calendar that i do our meal plan on. then i get out the recipes for said meals and go from there.
it would do me well to organize my items into what part of the store they are located in though!
I do one week at a time for our grocery list. If things are on sale, I stock up, though. Our sale ads come out on Wednesday, so it makes it easy for me to see what coupons I have and then what is on sale. I think it helps with the grocery budget. . . !
I don’t really buy any of the things on your list, except for oil, beans, flour, rice, dairy/eggs (except butter), juice, and produce.
We make our own breads/tortillas, butter, yogurt, snack foods, and dressings/sauces/soups. For the produce I try to stick with what is local & in season, mostly from the farmer’s market. (No avocados or snow peas, unfortunately.) Even popsicles can be homemade.
We don’t really use pastas, and instead use lots of different grains. I typically don’t buy frozen or canned foods (if we want to have those on hand, I buy a large amount from a farm, and can/freeze it myself). We bake mostly with sourdough, so I don’t need to buy yeast often.
I like being able to purchase things that don’t generate a lot of packaging waste, and supporting local endeavors from the beginning of the food’s life (and not food that has traveled far). Therefore, I ignore coupons, because they only seem to be on packaged items. (It’s nice to not spend time clipping coupons!)
So, that’s how I shop!
Fuschia ~ Thanks for the book recommendation. I’ll take a peek.
Brooke ~ I like your idea of writing your meal plan on a calendar magnet on the fridge. I put mine on paper and shove it off in the corner of my counter and usually forget to check if I have to take meat out or something be be prepared for the following day. Thanks!
Michele ~ Thanks of sharing how you shop and prepare your food. You do a wonderful job getting things local and doing things at home such as making snacks and canning. I truly admire you and my goal is keep moving in that direction. I didn’t buy tortillas this time at the grocery store or canned chicken broth because I can make my own. One step at a time, right?
ok, i’ve gotta know how much you spent at the store. just because that’s a really substatial list, but i know your store is affordable. so i’m really curious.
That’s so true- One step at a time!
By the way, my grocery lists used to look exactly like yours (well, my husband never let me shop in the frozen section), but other than that, it really was so much of the same things!
Now I’m curious what you’ll be making with the pumpkin. Yum… one of my favorite fall foods!
Rebecca ~ We spent $188. I think besides what was on the list… we got organic and local milk, some Bawls for James’ caffeine addiction, organic bulk coffee, dog treats, and some pomegranate juice for me.
Michele ~ I will be making a new pumpkin muffin recipe. I’ll be sure to share if it turns out. It might be awhile though since I just made 2 apple pies. My dad shared his apples with me (that he bought for the deer) so I made him a pie and us a pie.
I will also be trying to use a real pumpkin to make some bread, but that’ll be after Halloween.
[...] is start learning how to make my own things and especially starting in the kitchen. As I made my grocery list this past week, I knew that others made their own tortillas. Why can’t (shouldn’t) I [...]
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