Cut your grocery bills in half

So it's Friday and I'm home early from work. It's been a gloomy, rainy day and its Friday the 13th. Perfect napping weather. Which I'm about to do by the way since I'm fighting a nasty flu and I have to be at work this weekend. I would usually be cooking dinner right now ( I love to cook) but I need to get some rest.

I've been thinking about what we've done around the house to cut corners and keep our wallets padded, just brainstorming for blog posts. For a few months now we've been members of Costco. We decided to join during that time last year when gas prices went up to $3.50/gallon or more. We live in the out skirts of town where we have a small grocery. While the place is alright to get the occasional milk or eggs the prices are a little high for my taste so we like to make the trip to the next town over where the larger chain supermarket has better deals. But even then the grocery tab was adding up. We decided to pay the $50 fee and give Costco a shot. It was either Costco or Sam's club. We figured we would try one for a year and if we're unhappy with it we'll switch on over to the other one and give them a try.

I don't have the numbers to show you today but I can tell you that we have saved a great deal of money by joining a warehouse club. Just a little warning though, it's easy to end up with a basket full of stuff you didn't have in your list to begin with so as long as you have a list and stick to it, all is well.

The following is a sample list for a trip to Costco for my household.

• Bottled water
• Orange Juice
• Milk (we usually get 2 jugs)
• eggs (we also get 2 cartons)
• Frozen food - usually a 6 pack of Lean Cuisine for lunch at work and maybe pizza for those nights we come home late and can't be bothered with cooking
• Lean hamburger meat - we divide it into patties and place in freezer sized Ziplock bags. Easier to defrost that way for individual or bigger meals.
• Flank steak - usually cut in portions depending on what I plan on cooking.
• Chicken breast
• Coffee beans (we grind at home, coffee stays fresh longer this way)
• Cat food (I've tried the more expensive brands, my cats won't even taste it)
• Fruit cups
• Laundry detergent
• Shampoo (one large bottle lasts us a long time)
• Cereal
  

We still go to the store occasionally to pick up "go-withs" for fresh veggies and such.
We go to one of the local Asian markets to get a large sack of Jasmine rice (this lasts forever), they also have better-priced veggies at times.

It also helps to have some idea of what you'll be cooking for the week. For those with busy schedules like us we like to cook for more than two since leftovers can always be brown-bagged for lunch.

So if you haven't jumped the bandwagon yet you may want to give buying in bulk a go. To save with the membership fee you can split the cost between other family members.

No cooking for neither one of us tonight though, we're doing takeout so we can chillax and spend a few hours together. Frugality has its limits. I can catch up on the last night's episode of Hell's Kitchen that I missed.