How to make a grocery price book may sound complicated at first. However, once you complete the initial book it will save both time and money in the future.
The average American spends $1,782 – $3,470 eating out every year. This calculates out to $148.50 – $289.17 per month.
For groceries, the average American household spends $4,643 per year. That equals $386.92 per month.
After spending all of that, money eating out and on groceries Americans waste about 31. 9% of the food they purchase every year.
The estimated cost per household is $1,866 or $155.50 every month. This data is from the most recent study completed by the Department of Agriculture.
If you had all of that money in cash right now, what would you prefer to do with it besides buy food you will not eat?
What Is a Grocery Price Book?
A grocery price book is a collection of grocery items and their local prices from each store in your area. You will create one list for each store.
If you truly want to save money on groceries, I highly advise you to stop shopping at stores like Hy-Vee and Whole Foods. They are the two most expensive grocery stores.
The main purpose of the price book is to help you find the cheapest grocery store in your area to designate as your main store.
For example, every month I do the bulk of my family’s grocery shopping at Sam’s Wholesale Club and Walmart.
We only need to buy some items in bulk every month. The rest come from Walmart for two reasons.
1. Our grocery bill is the cheapest at that store
2. It is next door to Sam’s so we don’t waste gas shopping at two stores.
Later on, you can create lists for non-grocery items you buy regularly. For instance, I have shopping lists for Target, Walmart, and CVS.
How To Make A Grocery Price Book
A grocery price book is not difficult to make. However, it will take you a little bit of time to create it.
Don’t worry; I have created a short list of steps so you can get started right away.
Steps to make your own grocery price book:
1. Go online to research recipes you want to cook over the next month.
2. Make a list of the snack items your household will go through in the next month.
3. List all of the ingredients needed for the snacks and recipes.
4. Also, make a list of items you need to replenish throughout the month.
5. Search online for the prices on your list. Check the website of every grocery store in your area. Note: make a separate price list for each store.
6. As you write each list, document the store name at the top of the list. Then for each item, write down the brand, size of the package (if there are multiple sizes), and the price at that store.
7. Once your lists are complete, compare the prices from each store. The store with the cheapest regular prices is your main shopping location.
More Articles You May Be Interested In:
How To Save Money On A Tight Budget
What Makes Your Credit Score Go Up
Are Debt Settlement Companies Legitimate
If a store in your area does not have a website try walking through the physical store in order to document the prices for each item on your list.
The idea here is to find where you can shop when there aren’t any decent sales.
A brief warning, don’t get into the habit of shopping at multiple stores just to save $1.00 on a single item or two.
Before shopping more than one store, consider the distance between the stores and how much in gas it will cost you.
What is the point of saving $1 on one item if it costs you $2 drive there?
Another issue with shopping multiple stores is it increases the temptation to buy items not on your list resulting in overspending.
As you get used to using your grocery price book expect your list to continue to grow.
Each month when you research recipes expect to find new family favorites causing your lists to grow.
In addition, after each shopping trip I always keep my receipts until I get home.
I like to review the receipts to make sure the regular prices on my list have not changed. Occasionally this will happen due to general inflation every year.
What Format Should My Grocery Price Book Be In?
What format you choose for your grocery price book is really up to you. Nevertheless, I strongly recommend you choose an electronic option.
Because when you make changes every single month you are going to want the ease of being able to copy, paste, and print the updates.
You can use Excel, a word document, or an app on your phone.
My personal preference is Excel because it allows me to put a different list on individual tabs.
I even have a tab labeled “current shopping list.” It’s easier to copy/paste the item and price to calculate the shopping trip I’m planning.
Subscribe and you'll receive our weekly posts right in your inbox. You'll also be one of the first to be notified when our free budget course opens. Hope to see you there!
How To use the Grocery Price Book To Save Money
The greatest advantage you have with this tool is the ability to calculate your total grocery bill before you get to the store.
Keep in mind what you are calculating is before sales tax.
Here is how it works. After you create your next month’s shopping list, go through your grocery price book under your main store to add the price, and quantity for each item.
Next, add a column for the quantity and the total cost. If you are buying two quantities of a particular item, you want to know the total price spent on that item.
Once complete add the total cost column together to see how much your grocery bill will cost.
If the total bill is too high, you have the ability to go through your list to remove items that are more of a want than a need.
This is how you are going to avoid sticker shock in the future.
Do not expect your grocery bill to be an exact match to the amount on your price list. Always keep in mind the cost you are calculating is before sales tax.
The grocery price book can also help you compare sale prices.
When you receive sale papers in the mail you can look at what you normally spend compared to the latest sales.
If it is fuel-efficient to drive to your usual store and the store with the sale then take advantage of the savings.
Your take action guide
Even though we are referring to it as a grocery price book, this book is not just for groceries.
You can create a price book list for anything you buy regularly. I actually have lists for Target, Walmart, and CVS.
Your action steps:
1. Follow the steps in the “how to create a grocery price book” section.
2. Each month when creating your shopping list, use your grocery price book to estimate how much your food bill will equal. This is the point where you can trim your list to fit your budget.
3. To save even more money with your grocery price book research recipes for the next month online. Then purchase ingredients and common staples your family goes through in a month. Common staples consist of snacks, milk, orange juice, formula, etc.
Subscribe and you'll receive our weekly posts right in your inbox. You'll also be one of the first to be notified when our free budget course opens. Hope to see you there!
Getting in the habit of using your grocery price book will help you gain control of your spending.
It encourages you to make a list every time you plan to make a purchase.
Groceries are one of the biggest bills families overspend on every month. If your family plans to eat out during the next month, only buy a few groceries.
Create a grocery budget limit using your grocery price book for a couple of months.
Once you know how much you actually need to spend on food you can decide how much of your budget you want to use to eat out.
Tracking your grocery budget is the easy part. Staying within your grocery budget is where things can get a little tricky.
To give you an idea of a starting point my family of three (two adults and one toddler) currently eat $300 per month in groceries.
This budget figure includes eating out twice per month without throwing away food bought at the grocery store. We even purchase alcohol every few months.
The key is to always make a grocery list and utilize your grocery price book so you know exactly how much of your grocery budget you are spending.
My final advice for this writing is to practice, practice, and practice.
More Articles You May Be Interested In:
How To Save Money On A Tight Budget
What Makes Your Credit Score Go Up
Are Debt Settlement Companies Legitimate
References
https://www.businessinsider.com/what-people-spend-on-dining-out-2019-8
Subscribe and you'll receive our weekly posts right in your inbox. You'll also be one of the first to be notified when our free budget course opens. Hope to see you there!
