Un-Shopping Technique

Remember the last time you went grocery shopping? It was probably last weekend. No matter how hard you tried to shop with your head, your heart got in the way, allowing you to buy the pricier items you told yourself you wouldn’t buy before you left the house. When you got home you tallied it all up and wondered how you were going to pay next month’s bills. You can survive the storm of bills you receive next month using the Un-Shopping Technique.

Last January I lost my job. I was already using coupons for almost everything we had to buy. No coupon? No purchase! But still me and my husband were having a hard time trying to pay bills and buy food on his salary and my unemployment checks. (He also has to pay child support for 2 sons from a previous marriage, so 30% of his monthly income is already gone as soon as he gets paid!) Now you are feeling our pain, right?!

I read online that some people were shopping out of their own kitchen freezers and cupboards instead of making scheduled weekly trips to the grocery store. Most of the people who did this were able to avoid grocery shopping for at least 1 week each month. They only bought the essentials at the grocery store…milk, bread, butter, eggs…You know the basics. So instead of spending $125.00 on groceries that week they only spent between $10.00 - $20.00. I decided to give it a try.

The first thing I did was take inventory of what was in my freezer, fridge and cupboards. I found that I could make the following meals for the next 7 days:
Breakfast: 5 days, Cereal, 4 oz juice. 2 days, fruit smoothies and bagels.

Husband’s Lunch for 5 days: peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with potato chips and home made choc. chip cookies.
My lunch for 5 days: banana, grapes, yogurt and a granola bar
Weekend Lunches: Frozen pizza’s, chicken wraps
Supper: spaghetti w/meat sauce and a veggie, tuna casserole (2 nights), meatloaf with rice and a veggie, Caesar chicken salads, canned vegetable soup and grilled cheese sandwiches, home made macaroni and cheese.

I only had to buy milk, chips, bananas and grapes. I already had everything else on hand. My grocery bill came to about $10.00! (I used $1.00 off coupons to buy the milk and the chips)

The next week I did it again. I made meals like BLT’s with home made russet fries. Egg salad sandwiches with a side of broccoli. There is nothing wrong with making sandwiches for supper! Grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato and a side of clam chowder soup from a can. You can get fancy and make wraps instead of sandwiches if it makes you feel better. The second week I spent about $20.00 at the store. I normally spent $125.00 each week. Over the course of 2 weeks I had saved $220.00. Excellent.

The un-shopping technique will make you look at your grocery shopping habits differently. Every time I pick an item from the shelf or in the meat or produce departments I find myself immediately calculating how many meals I can get out of it. For instance, I can stretch 1 pound of ground beef into 2 meals by making 20 meatballs for a spaghetti dinner, then using the leftover meatballs and sauce to make subs the following night.

Roast a chicken one night, and then make chicken noodle soup or chicken pot pie the next night.

Make enough beef stew for 2 nights instead of 1 by adding lots of extra potatoes, carrots, mushrooms and celery. Make a side of cornbread to go with the stew and you will definitely stretch it to 2 nights! Always be thinking about how you can get 2 meals out of whatever you buy even if it means adding a side of bread or extra veggie.

Now I shop out of my kitchen at least 1 week each month. You will be quite surprised at how much you can do without when you put your mind to it. My husband loves it when he asks me if we have to shop this week and I tell him no. We did not have to shop last weekend and we don’t have to shop this weekend either! (Only the essentials this weekend cost us $26.00) I have been doing this since July and what I have noticed is that my checking account balance has gone up quite a bit since then. Before I started doing this I was carrying close to 0 account balances every month from January to June. Now we have $600.00 more than we did before. (HMMM...6 months = $600.00!) We were even able to buy Christmas gifts, which we did not think would have been possible with me out of work.

This un-shopping technique has made me realize that in the past I was shopping more out of habit, and less out of real need. I shopped every week because that is what I was conditioned to do. It’s what my mother did. It’s what my brothers do. It’s what I taught my own kids to do. We have all been conditioned to shop every week for no other reason except that we have always done it. It is a part of our behavior. It’s what we have been programmed to do on Saturdays and Sundays. But you can change your behavior using the un-shopping technique…and save money. Money is always a great motivator.

Even after I find a job I will continue to use manufacturer’s coupons and continue to un-shop at least 1 week each month. I plan on opening a “wish” account for me and my husband in which all of our un-shopping savings will go into. Some day we will go on that cruise we have always wanted to go on.

Now I challenge you to shop out of your kitchen for 1 week. Pick any week you want. I would love to hear about all of the creative breakfast, lunch, and dinner dishes you made. I would also love to hear about how much $$$ you saved during your un-shopping week!

Tip: Do not look at the grocery circulars during your un-shopping week. Out of habit you will go racing off to the store just because something is on sale. If it has been on sale before, it will go on sale again. Only buy the “essentials” during your un-shopping week.

Hope you enjoyed my article and found it helpful!