What is my top secret to staying within my grocery budget?

One of my absolute go to practices to keep my grocery budget right on point is grocery pickup. It’s genius! I like to equate it to this example. If you walk into a store with $10 cash in your pocket, when you get to the register how much money can you spend? $10!! Not $12 not $20, but $10.

Grocery pickup provides this same sense of security. Aside from a dollar or two (which we will talk more about), you will know exactly what you are spending before you even push submit. So, it then becomes this simple.

If you only want to spend $20 that day, guess what, don’t hit submit until your total is $20 or less! I know, I know, obvious. However like I said before if it was so obvious then everyone would do it.

So why aren’t you doing it too?

There are countless stores that now provide a grocery pickup service.  I do have favorite stores for this, but for starters, here is the list of grocery pickup stores I have located:

• Walmart
• Kroger
• Publix
• Albertsons
• Aldi
• Whole Foods
• Smith’s
• Safeway
• King Soopers

You will notice I am not including certain places for a reason. Online shopping through places like Amazon Pantry will get you certain foods, but it won’t be a one stop shop.

They are strictly non-perishables and we want a grocery store where you can get whatever you need in one trip. One “open your trunk and done” location.

Great, so I see options, but which one should I choose?

Obviously the choice will primarily come down to where you live in comparison to a grocery pickup service. If you have the choice though I would stick with a major retailer.

My top two places to complete my grocery pickup orders are Walmart and Kroger. However, my absolute all time grocery pickup favorite is definitely Walmart.

Some say Walmart food is gross, not fresh, too expensive, etc you name it! I have found it to be quite the opposite. After doing comparison shopping experiences my Walmart trips always came in at a lower rate than the others. It’s all about planning, shopping smart, and being flexible.

Did you know that if you get an item you don’t think is fresh enough, are missing an item, or were given an incorrect item, that Walmart fixes it with hardly any questions asked?! Although this is the case I highly doubt you will have to utilize it very often.

In all of my experience doing grocery pickup through Walmart, I have only had to ever call in for a correction twice. Twice! Those are amazing results and qualifies them as a reliable pickup program.

To give you an idea of how a grocery haul typically goes for me at Walmart, I have included a one week example.

7 Day Meal Plan

1. Spaghetti with beef, frozen veggies, garlic bread
2. Crescent french toast casserole with fruit topping and hashbrowns
3. Cheesy potato broccoli sausage skillet with zucchini
4. leftovers
5. Turkey, bacon, ranch sandwich with chips, pickles, and soup
6. Chicken, sweet potatoes, frozen veggies
7. Mac’n’cheese with hot dog pieces, frozen veggies

Shopping list

Now for the exciting news!

I have be released an ebook that is on sale here on my site. It will includes a 3 month step by step plan detailing what meals to eat every day of the week, what you need to buy to make those meals, as well as a rough estimate of the cost of your grocery haul. That’s right, 3 months worth. That is 12 weeks of no worrying about what to make for dinner for your family. 12 weeks of no more stressing about making a list, running out of ideas, and trying to figure out what all you need to buy for those meals.

I am so excited to be releasing this ebook soon and I hope you get yourself a copy so you can stop drowning in stress trying to feed your family!