Groceries

So I did my meal planning for this week on Saturday. My plan was to go grocery shopping on Sunday afternoon during the baby's nap so I could leave her with the hubby and get the shopping done quickly and with accurate precision to stay on budget. We have a $100 a week grocery budget for the hubby, myself and the baby (this excludes diapers and formula but does include her solid foods and snacks). Sunday came and went and no grocery shopping was done. Then Monday came and I was determined to get the shopping done but then school work needed to be done. There I sat at 11:00 pm finally done with school work and in need of groceries but was not about to get out of bed and go grocery shopping. Then I remembered how when I was pregnant and on bed-rest how I had done Peapod, which is a grocery shopping and delivery service our grocery store (Stop & Shop) offers. I remember it being wonderful. So I began my grocery shopping at 11:30 pm and was done in about 20 mins. It totals your groceries as you go which is so extremely helpful when trying to stick to a budget. One of the recipes I had picked had some rather expensive ingredients when added together so I made a change and was able to quickly find another great recipe that would work with what was left in my budget. I don't mind being honest and telling you that even though our budget is $100 a week, I normally spend closer to $150 and then say it will just come out of next weeks budget but it never does. Once I finished my grocery shopping I was so proud of myself for staying on budget. Yes, they do charge a fee for delivery but it is so worth it to me to pay $10 to have someone else do the shopping and delivery and bring all the groceries in my house and up my stairs. My total including delivery $100.79. :-)

It was so wonderful and took such a huge stressful burden off me and helped me stay on budget so well, that we decided that is how we will shop from now on. Although in the future I am going to try to meal plan and grocery shop two weeks at a time so that I am only paying two delivery charges per month instead of four.