Hi Gary,
I am at a loss.  My wife and I both work and we have 4 kids.  We make
good money between us but are always living paycheck to paycheck. One
big problem is our grocery spending.  I was looking at last month’s
expenses and saw that we spent over $1800 in groceries over the month
at one grocery store (that is not a typo).  There were a few other
stops in there as well at some convenience stores.  The really sad
thing is we aren’t eating steak and lobster - we eat frozen burgers
3-4 times a week and tacos.

As mentioned we both work and although I appreciate suggestions about
making everything from scratch, that is not feasible for us.  Most
times during the week we are not eating dinner until 8pm. We try to
shop at Costco (Sam’s Club, etc.) but all that does is rack up a huge
$400-600 bill there and then we still “run to the store” 3-4 times a
week.

I am at the point of seriously considering paying someone to help us
plan our grocery spending and meal planning. Anything I can try first?
Darren

Darren is right. His family does have a problem. They really should
be eating steak and lobster if they’re spending that much on
groceries each month.

Let’s attack our problem on two fronts. First, we’ll examine a
business tool that will help Darren understand the problem. Second,
we’ll see if we can’t suggest some tactics that will work for his busy
family.

The business tool is one that’s used by management to help identify
and isolate a problem. It’s sometimes known as reading a report from
the ‘bottom up’.

If I were to evaluate my departmental budget, I’d begin by looking at
the bottom line. How did the total expenses compare to the planned
expenses. If they were as expected I knew that the budget details
probably wouldn’t provide many big surprises.

My next step was to look at the major subtotals that made up the
budget total. Again I was looking for results that differed from the
budget.

Only those areas with a significant difference drew my attention. By
checking the subtotals first I managed to focus my time on the areas
where detailed study would pay off. Only then would I really study
the individual expenses looking for items that were out of line and
needed correction.

It appears that Darren has already done the first step of this
process. He has identified that food is the problem. The next step is
to figure out where in the food budget things are going wrong.

It will require a bit of work, but nothing too strenuous. Darren will
want to take a month’s worth of grocery store receipts and place the
items into categories. The categories should reflect the type of
grocery item. Some possibilities: meats, breads, frozen foods,
fruits/vegetables, desserts, drinks, snacks, lunches, cleaning
supplies, pet food. Darren will want to use the categories are most
useful for his family.

He can use a computer spreadsheet or a simple note pad (one sheet for
each category). Simply put each grocery item purchased during the
last month into the best category. Then total the categories.

Darren will focus his attention on the largest categories. He will
probably find a few areas that stick out as problems. He can then
work on solutions to that more specific problem.

What we have done is taken a large, overwhelming problem and turned
it into something specific that Darren can work on.

Next, let’s look for strategies that match Darren’s family. We’ll
focus on ideas for families that are very busy. He’s right. No one is
going to come home at 8pm and start cooking from scratch.
Fortunately, that’s not necessary.

The trick for Darren’s family is to shift the cooking so that it’s
done largely before 8pm. There are a variety of tools and tricks to do
that.

For instance, it’s easy to put a roasting chicken in a slow cooker in
the morning and have dinner ready when you get home. Or a roast. Or a
stew. A search on ’slow cooker recipes’ will turn up dozens of ideas
for meals that will cook while you’re away from home.

The freezer and microwave oven are a great tandem for the busy cook.
The freezer allows for meals to be prepared days or even weeks in
advance. The microwave allows those frozen meals to be ready in
minutes.

Many families use the weekends to prepare complete meals for the
freezer. They’ll fix three or four meatloaves or a gallon of
spaghetti sauce. Meal sized portions are frozen for use in upcoming
weeks.

Some families will even freeze individual meals just like a frozen
dinner. That way any family member can head for the freezer whenever
they’re ready to eat.

Still others will do all the prep work ahead of time. For instance,
they’ll brown five pounds of ground beef and freeze one pound
packages. Half the work is done the next time they want to make
anything requiring ground beef.

The trick is finding methods that shift the work from 8pm to a more
convenient time. A trip to the library or internet should provide
many good ideas.

Using these two tools should help Darren take control of their food
bill without ruining their diet or changing their lifestyle. Now all
we need is an invitation to dinner!
_________

Gary Foreman is a former puchasing manager who currently edits The
Dollar Stretcher website and newsletters. If
you’re looking for ways to stretch your day or your dollar visit today!