How I failed to make a list and still went to the grocery store!

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I failed and did not make a list when I went grocery shopping and still stayed under $65 for 9 meals! You might be thinking…how the heck did you do that?  Well…I might have been going in the wrong direction when I made the choice to do it.  But I needed to waste time and knew we needed food at home.  I will teach you how I did it so you can do it to with these tips!

Our fridge looked like this…

[EMPTY]

I was going to Aldi to just buy cheerios for the park trip and then stuff started going into my cart….

But I got on track during the shopping trip and made a failure into a win with these 7 steps.

1. Simple Food to Buy

I stuck to simple foods that I knew I could make lunches and dinners with.  We have staple items for both meals.  Fruits and veggies. Meat and vegetable. Sauces. I stuck to those simple foods.

So if you go to the store without a list, stick to the simple foods you know you can easily put together a meal.  Do not get fancy and want to try a fancy dinner that you’ve only cooked once or twice.  Stick to things you can do off the top of your head.

Here are some good ones to go to in our freebie..

2. Buy foods that are frugal

I personally stuck to items that were frugal.  You might be thinking how do you know if it is frugal?  Well I saw eggs for .49 cents for a pack of 12, so I grabbed two of them and said to myself… “I know I can make egg salad sandwiches for lunch or dinner” Now, that is not a normal meal for our family.  I have made it a couple of times, but I know that it takes stuff like eggs and mayo and if that’s all we have than that is what we have with some spices. 

When you find a frugal deal buy multiple of it.  You will know when it is a good deal and please do not be fooled by a sign that says “SALE” because sometimes that is not a good SALE like they say.

3. Tell yourself “You do not need sweets or salty”

Skip the sweets and salty aisles.  Aldi can get you on those aisles so when Ember and I were going by those items.  We sang, “We do not need those. We do not need those. Keep going. Keep going.” 

Yes, it maybe a little EXTRA, but if it helps you like it helps me.  Do it!!

4. Grocery Store Affirmations

Which brings me to the next tip.  Tell yourself “Just keep going.”  It is POWERFUL.  It will make a difference – trust me!

I would call these magical. 

“I will lose weight if I do not put that in my cart.”

“I can walk past those delicious oreos”

“I do not need those string cheese”

“Keep going”

“God is going to bring meals to my mind”

“What do I have at home, help me envision it” 

5. Stick to things under $1 or a little over $1

Look at the price.  It is that amazing and can save you on your bill. 

Want to share with you an example that can easily add up if you are not careful. Spaghetti sauce.  The highest cost of spaghetti sauce can be $4 to $5, and we get our sauce for 85 cents if we want to get fancy at ALDI, and only .29 cents at Kroger with a marked down can due to dents and spice it up with Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, onion powder, parsley flakes, Worcestershire sauce, and a little bit of sugar.  BAM you have a $5 tastey sauce for only .50 cents homemade! 

6. Buy a family package of meat

Buy 1 family package of meat and figure out your meals from there.  A family pack of chicken or ground beef.  Did you know that ALID has a 3 LBS of meat in their frozen section that is cheaper than the fresh meat?  Check it out!

7. Go to your EASY recipes that you can make

If you go without a list, stick to easy recipes you know off the top of your head.  That you do not even need a recipe anymore. It is different for everyone. Once I came home, I put together this meal plan for our family. You can see that it was not difficult.

I made my failure into a win moment to share with you.  We created 9 meals for $62 for the week and we made our $350 grocery budget!  The amazing thing is one week we even treated ourselves with salmon and asparagus! 

We will be giving away our meal planning 101 to 2 lucky people who subscribe to our blog + share to a friend via social media.

If you were inspired that you can shop without a list and come in under budget, like it. 

If you want someone else to be inspired, pin it and share it. 

Know someone who wants to make better grocery decisions even without a list, pin it.

Want this year to be the year you learn how to shop like a pro, like it.  

For reading this post, we want to give you a deal for your purchase of our bullet budget journal to change your budget and give you an abundant life!

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