Meal Planning 101; Step #7

Now that you have your Grocery List, you will want to shop at the store with the best prices for the items you need to buy. That brings us to the next step:

Make a price book

I shop at 2 stores for my monthly grocery shopping; Walmart and Winco. I might go to another, if there is an unbelievable deal or if I'm having a craving or have extra money for a treat.

I make a list of different foods and items and go through Walmart and then Winco and looking at the unit and/or ounce price, I write down the cheapest one. Then when I get home I compare and see which store has which item for the cheapest. Here is an example: I know that honey is cheaper at Walmart by comparing the price per ounce with Winco's cheapest honey. Then Winco has the cheapest peanut butter.

You should only have to do this once and then on each monthly visit to do your shopping, note any changes (if you have time) in the prices. Then every 3 months, you should do a complete price book check and see if there are changes. You would be surprised! I've seen Walmart change things from one month to the next, sometimes by a dollar or more.