Now I'm making spreadsheets of my trips to Coscto. ("Black beans for $0.52 a can!!!)
I hate grocery shopping more than most, I guess. The funny thing is; I like to cook (nothing fancy, of course). And even more than that, I love to menu plan. If I could get away with it, I'd grocery shop no more than 2 a month. But, alas, we enjoy fresh fruit and veggies and there isn't any way asparagus is surviving 2 weeks.
I usually meal plan for two weeks at time. I'm over-selling this a bit, because basically 3 days a week are already planned - 2 nights we do what we call "kids nights" (chicken nuggets, sandwiches, etc.) because the kids have swimming and Fridays are take-out (usually pizza). The rest are filled with an increasing number of standard meals. I get almost GIDDY when I try something new and the kids like it, too.
Once the meal planning is done, I basically create two grocery lists - once for each week. Since re-committing to Costco (meaning I buy every darn thing I am able to there), this list has really only included fresh fruits, veggies, milk (we can't drink as much as they want to sell us!), small dairy items (sour cream), etc. This keeps the weekly bill LOW.
And then EVERYTHING else we get at Costco. EVERYTHING. God bless the internets because I've been able to find several sources that update Costco offerings, so I know what I'm able to get there (and they are usually right on with the price, too.)
I just hate going to Costco, too. I hate crowds, I hate lines, I hate lifting stuff. You get the idea.
Which brings me back to the spreadsheet. I'm trying to get a better understanding of how often I'll need to go and how much I'll need to get when I go.
Or just use my years of college statistics for a useful purpose.
Or not.
