{"id":7473,"date":"2010-10-13T11:47:45","date_gmt":"2010-10-13T18:47:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/?p=7473"},"modified":"2010-10-13T11:47:45","modified_gmt":"2010-10-13T18:47:45","slug":"pantry-challenge-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/?p=7473","title":{"rendered":"Pantry Challenge Update"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi, I’m Lisa and I think I’m addicted to grocery shopping.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A month ago I devised the Pantry Challenge <\/a>in order to save time and money and eat through our out of control pantry. The last month was a success! The biggest difference can be seen in the freezer. We actually have room in there now!<\/p>\n

We’ve also successfully eaten down much of the pantry in terms of boxed food and excessive cans of beans, olives and soups. The only thing I haven’t been successful at is using up the cans of Cream of Mushroom Soup and the like. I use it mostly in casseroles and I haven’t done that yet.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I have been really good about not going grocery shopping to stock up on stuff I don’t need yet. I’ve mainly bought items for specific recipes, fruits, veggies and dairy products.<\/p>\n

Well over the weekend I went shopping and bought some stuff. Probably things I really didn’t need. As you can see, I went to Trader Joe’s:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I also needed some breakfast stuff so I bought things at Fred Meyer too. Waffles!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

So the dent that we’d made in the pantry is no longer visible. It’s not the end of the world, of course, but I probably should have restrained myself when I went to the store (because the truth is, I went for 5 items and came home with 15).<\/p>\n

I’ve always loved grocery shopping. Most people loathe it. But I find it fun. I love exploring the store, seeing new products, trying new things. I especially love getting good deals!<\/p>\n

Sticking to a budget when it comes to grocery shopping is hard for me. I’m totally an impulse shopper. I have a list but I will get distracted and think “I don’t NEED sweet potatoes but they kind of sound good right now…”<\/p>\n

The other reason this happens is because I don’t Meal Plan. After reading Mary’s post on how she plans her weekly meals<\/a>, I’m pretty impressed.<\/p>\n

Tips for Staying on a Budget<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Meal Plan for the week.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Use cash at the grocery store.<\/span> This is such a good idea and I am so much tighter with my money if I have a set amount of cash I can spend.<\/p>\n

3. Buy sale items. I *always* buy stuff when it’s on sale. <\/span>I almost never pay full price for an item. If it’s not on sale, I don’t need it.<\/p>\n

4. Definitely don’t go grocery shopping when you’re hungry (or craving something specific). <\/span>Did I need a box of waffle mix? Nope. Was I craving waffles? Yep. So I bought the box.<\/p>\n

5. Shop for basics at Costco. <\/span>There’s really only 5 things we need at Costco. Eggs, Cat food, Kitty Litter, Frozen Salmon, and canned goods like olives or beans. Everything else is an impulse buy.<\/p>\n

6. Shop at Farmer’s Markets when possible. <\/span>The produce is usually cheaper.<\/p>\n

7. Make a double batch<\/span> of something and freeze it for another time.<\/p>\n

8. Buy store brands. <\/span>Most are just as good as the name brand (and way cheaper).<\/p>\n

9. Don’t buy bottle water. <\/span>It’s expensive, wasteful and bad for the environment.<\/p>\n

10. Go to a Cash n’ Carry.<\/span> There’s one here in Portland and it’s basically a cheaper version of Costco. You don’t need a membership and I think it’s geared towards restaurant supplies. But the food and condiments come in huge portions and are really cheap.<\/p>\n

QUESTION: Do you meal plan? Are you addicted to grocery shopping like me?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi, I’m Lisa and I think I’m addicted to grocery shopping. A month ago I devised the Pantry Challenge in order to save time and money and eat through our out of control pantry. The last month was a success! The biggest difference can be seen in the freezer. We actually have room in there […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[104,1665,241],"tags":[1676,1666,633,1675,1508,1521,8738],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7473"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7473"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7473\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7566,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7473\/revisions\/7566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}