*** NOTE - I've had a few comments in regards to people not being able to do fortnightly or monthly grocery hauls due to fresh fruit and veg ... If you follow the You Tube channel you will see I actually have $25-$30 set aside for each week ahead to purchase this, milk and anything I may unexpectedly run out of. We go through a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables. The only thing frozen I buy are peas and corn :)
Weekly or monthly grocery shopping? I've done both! Right now if you are following me on the This Mum At Home main You Tube Channel you will see in the last couple of weeks I've gone from doing monthly grocery shopping to weekly for the next few weeks leading up to Christmas - and I have a love hate relationship with it lol I'm now considering if a fortnightly shop will work best ? ... UPDATE - fortnightly has worked best check out my latest grocery haul for the fortnight!
I LOVE shopping weekly as I really actually enjoy meal planning and shopping for my groceries. There's something exciting about challenging myself to saving money where I can and having enough for the grocery week! (I know I'm weird lol ) BUT I save so much more money (around $140) doing them monthly - which I REALLY enjoy!
So Why Did I Change To Weekly ?
I've chosen to change to weekly for at least the time up until around Christmas this year, just to try and get my groove into what changes the kids have had. When I say changes I mean their eating habits. Josephs appetite has always been great (even though he is a skinny rake!) , but in teh last month his food intake has increased so much. I was finding I would need to spend much more on extra food as it just changed so much and I couldn't keep up. Isabella too being 1.5 yrs old has now taken on much more food than she had before, exploring different varieties. So changing to weekly was really so I could get a handle on what changes I should make, especially with our big 8 week school holidays coming up for summer/Christmas!
What Is Better About Monthly Grocery Shopping?
For me, as I said before, the main things is I save so much more money! The money is better spent on time together as a family on a holiday or activity together. So shopping weekly I have noticed not having that extra $40 per week. When I shop monthly I am able to buy things more in bulk that help me save such as meats and current specials on pantry items. For example If I see any school lunch box items on sale I wont just buy one I will buy 2-4 to spread over the 4 weeks.
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Would Fortnightly Work Just As Well?
My thoughts on doing grocery shopping fortnightly seems like it may almost work as well (if not better) as monthly. For me the benefits of doing a fortnightly shop could be ...
* Buying in bulk - Like monthly, I could buy things in bulk that spread over 2 weeks (some things possibly lasting into the next grocery shopping period).
* The enjoyment of weekly - I would have the enjoyment of doing my meal planning and shopping more often, just like in a weekly grocery shop.
* More variety in meal planning - I think when meal planning for a month I tend to do more repetitive meals than explore other things I might like to do. Planning for a week or fortnight encourages me to mix things up a bit more.
* Catching the sales more often - It would give me the flexibility of catching and taking advantage of the supermarket sales more often than what I can do for a month.
So What Is The Verdict?
There are pros and cons to them all, but I think from Christmas on wards, I'm going to start fortnightly meal planning & grocery shopping. I feel like I could match the $ savings I achieve with a monthly shop, but have more benefits I'm looking for in a weekly shop.
If you love meal planning and a great grocery shopping hauls follow along here on the blog and on the main You Tube channel !