2666: 5 Tips to Make Your Groceries Last Two Weeks by Shawna Scafe of Simple on Purpose

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[00:01:06] Living Daily. This is Optimal Finance Daily, Episode 2666. Five tips to make your groceries

[00:01:15] last two weeks by Sean Escafe of simple on purpose.ca. And I'm your host in personal

[00:01:22] finance enthusiast Diana Mariam. Welcome back to another bonus Sunday episode. This is

[00:01:28] where we get to hear from one of the other shows in our podcast network and today's

[00:01:32] comes from Optimal Relationships Daily. So with that, here's Greg as we optimize your life.

[00:01:38] Five tips to make your groceries last two weeks by Sean Escafe of simple on purpose.ca.

[00:01:51] We are entering a time when a lot of us are avoiding regular trips to the grocery store.

[00:01:56] We are honoring the stay at home protocols and it has had some side effects on our meal

[00:02:01] situation. About four years ago, I started to simplify our groceries. One change we made

[00:02:07] was the two week grocery shop. We've moved it up to weekly in the recent year but I wanted

[00:02:12] to reshare this post for the lessons I was learning and the strategies that were helping

[00:02:17] us maintain a two week shop. The fact is, I do not enjoy grocery shopping. I don't

[00:02:23] mind the meal planning or making an exorbitantly detailed list for my husband who got

[00:02:28] bless him, shops for us, even if it means navigating the suitable substitution pop quiz portion

[00:02:34] of the shopping. I do dislike having to shop every week sometimes more. All the packing

[00:02:40] and unpacking, all the readjusting meal plans around the mystery substituted food item

[00:02:47] So when we brought in this new year with the plan to budget our butts off, we thought

[00:02:51] a monthly grocery shop to the big city would save us time and money. After reading up

[00:02:56] on monthly shops, doing all your shopping at once to last for the whole month, it seemed

[00:03:01] pretty daunting and we thought a two week shop seemed like a better place to start out.

[00:03:06] In the past, our frequent small trips to the store usually cost more than we intended,

[00:03:12] though I'm sure we aren't the only ones who go in for apples and bread and come out

[00:03:16] with a giant wheel of half priced brea, nachos and mango juice. Not to mention it somehow

[00:03:21] took at least an hour every single trip. The other bonus of doing this two week shop

[00:03:27] is we can coordinate it with my Conner's Week on Week Off work schedule. This means

[00:03:32] we run out of food during Conner's time at home and restock before he has to go back

[00:03:37] to work, which works better than the opposite. Code I will black box challenge to the death

[00:03:42] to avoid grocery shopping alone with three small kids. When Conner is home we plan a trip

[00:03:48] to the city for appointments or to visit family and incorporate a grocery shop in the mix.

[00:03:55] At this point we bring all three kids in, two carts and divide and conquer the list.

[00:04:00] I'd like to say this is a simple thing, but it usually ends up with my husband driving

[00:04:06] a cart devoted to children and snacks. With me being the pace cart ahead, checking

[00:04:10] off the list like I'm on a nightmare shopping spree game show that will only end in tears

[00:04:15] and a flurry of granola bar wrappers. Not to mention the intermission where one of our

[00:04:21] children lay starfish down the produce aisle floor and me getting that if one more person

[00:04:26] bites a red pepper and I have to add it to my cart I am going to snap and turn this

[00:04:30] cart around. Look in my eyes. Regardless, about a half a year in we are still doing the

[00:04:37] two week shop and we are actually following a grocery budget for the first time ever.

[00:04:44] It's been great on the result side aside from a minor disagreement on how many vegetarian

[00:04:49] meals a man can take before he pulls some chicken out of the freezer thereby derailing your

[00:04:53] future meal plans for said chicken and maybe giving you some new marriage insight that

[00:04:58] goes something like just let the man eat chicken. Five tips to do the two week grocery

[00:05:03] shop. Number one, take inventory of what you already have. Before I make a meal plan

[00:05:10] for the two weeks I write down everything we have in the pantries, freezers and fridge.

[00:05:16] Our cupboards are full of money we've already spent and forgotten about gotta use this stuff

[00:05:21] up. Number two, make a meal plan. Making a plan is what makes your grocery

[00:05:27] shop actually work. Know what you need and get just that. Then you'll save some money

[00:05:33] instead of accumulating more and more groceries. This also helps you ensure you are getting

[00:05:38] enough of everything for the two weeks. To make a meal plan I read the flyers, take inventory

[00:05:44] and compare it to my meal planning book of ideas. Number three, plan to run out. Oh another

[00:05:52] list? Yeah, I have a list of meals sorted by beginning of the two weeks to end of the

[00:05:57] two weeks. They range from using the fresh ingredients first to meals I can make near

[00:06:02] the end of the two weeks with more ingredients from the pantry and freezer. We've learned

[00:06:07] a lot about meals we can make with what we have on hand in the freezer and pantry. I even

[00:06:11] try to challenge myself at the end of the two weeks to see if I can push it a few more

[00:06:15] days or before Connor begins to waste away from lack of protein of course.

[00:06:20] Number four, store your food properly. Did you know if you store cilantro with its stems

[00:06:26] in a jar of clean water and loosely covered with plastic that it will last for at least

[00:06:31] two weeks in your fridge? I have thrown out a lot of food that just went bad. So I started

[00:06:38] searching ways to store produce and make it last longer. There are legit tips out there

[00:06:43] like don't store potatoes and onions near one another. Keep your avocados in the fridge

[00:06:49] and bring them out a day before you want to eat them. We have even started freezing

[00:06:53] cheese and milk. It changes the consistency a bit but it helps prolong the groceries.

[00:06:59] Number five, eat less. It sounds simple but I'm a slow learner and a gluttonous

[00:07:06] consumer. We have had to learn to pay attention to how much we're eating. At first it felt

[00:07:11] like I was on constant ration patrol of our fresh ingredients. Yes I will arm wrestle

[00:07:16] you if you add more red pepper to your omelette here. As we've been intentionally eating

[00:07:20] less and not cramming all the awesomeness cheese bacon, more cheese, we can into singular

[00:07:26] meals, it has been easier to make everything last two weeks and never feel like we are

[00:07:32] going without. First world problem I'm well aware.

[00:07:40] You just listen to the post titled Five Tips to Make Your Groceries Last Two Weeks

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[00:09:01] And a big thanks to Shawna for that important post for both parents and singles. Though

[00:09:05] this one was about food, it's hard to think that these principles couldn't be applied

[00:09:09] to other recurring time sucks that we often wish we could get rid of. I recommend if you

[00:09:15] have something like this in your life, you know, maybe it's excessive clothes, shopping,

[00:09:19] constant trips to the laundromat or always having to get gas. Remember that there are

[00:09:24] ways to stock up and use these products more efficiently. And planning to do so can really

[00:09:30] help you feel ahead of the curve as well as less flustered on days when you'd normally

[00:09:35] have to run out to one of these places, but just don't have the time. Long term this

[00:09:40] can really help us stay in rhythms and not divide our days too much and just stay focused

[00:09:45] on tasks at hand. So that's going to do it for today everybody. I thank you so much

[00:09:50] for being here and joining me for another one of Shawna's great posts. We are done for

[00:09:54] now, but we've got more parenting content for you tomorrow, a double header by Adina Sock

[00:09:59] Loth of Parenting Simply. I hope to see you there where your optimal life awaits.