Grocery shopping

Shopping! {shudder} I did my grocery shopping yesterday from the comfort of my own backyard. Let me explain - I wrote a shopping list, Hanno went shopping alone and I worked in the garden. Good eh? And now we're set for at least another month before we need to stock up again. I do pick up local milk and cream when I go to work each week, sometimes I also have to buy local fruit and vegetables, but the bulk of the groceries is taken care of for another month, at least. Phew.

I should add too that Hanno loves shopping to my list. He chooses exactly what is on the list when he's at Aldi and scans the bins for perfect fruit and vegetables. At the other supermarket, IGA (we refuse to shop at Woolworths and Coles), where we go to for items not at Aldi, he unit shops, which is the most frugal way to shop. Unit shopping is going beyond comparing the cost of different brands of the same product, it also takes into account the size or weight, as well as the price. When you unit shop, you break down the cost to the unit - be that gram, millilitre, ounce or pound, and buy the cheapest unit price. When he returns, yes there are a couple of things I didn't ask for, but very few, and the rest is exactly to the list.

Yesterday we stocked up on honey @ $2.99 per 500grams x 4 jars, red salmon 210 grams @ $3.49 x 4, tuna in spring water 425 grams @ $1.89 x 4 tins, sandwich tuna 185 grams @ 99 cents x 4 tins, tomatoes 1 kilo @ $1.99 x 2. granny smith apples 1 kilo @ $2.89, oranges 1 kilo @ 99 cents x 2, bananas $1.32, tasty cheese @ 1 kilo $5.49, cottage cheese 500 grams @ $2.49, butter 250 grams x 12 @ 99 cents $11.88, pasta @ 49 cents x 4, strawberries 500 grams @ 99 cents x 2, plus a number of other things. At Simply Good, our bulk food store we spent $31 on 12.5 kg of baker's flour, Iranian dates, Californian walnuts, 1 kg mixed dried fruit, 200 grams glace cherries and some yeast. We spent $16 on pet meat - we make our own dog food here using this $16 we will be able to make enough food for our two dogs for a month. Hanno also bought some meat for his last kale meal of the season - he loves smoked pork sausage and kassler with our fresh kale. That meal will last him 5 or 6 days, I eat salads and eggs when he enjoys his German feast. All up we spent $195 on food that has topped up our stockpile and will keep us eating well for at least the next month.

We could live on our stockpile for a few months if we had to. Stockpiling groceries is the best way to provide your food needs. You'll shop the specials and store those items in your stockpile cupboard, so over time you'll create your own little supermarket that you can shop at any time of the day or night without leaving your home. And when you've been shopping this way for a while, all your groceries will be at the best prices, and less than the normal retail price. You will also save time because instead of shopping weekly, or every couple of days, you go once a month, with quick trip in to the local shop to pick up your milk. If you have a productive vegetable garden and chickens, you'll be eating fresh organic food, complemented with what's in your stockpile cupboard and pantry. It's the best of both worlds - organic food served with freshly baked bread, rice, pasta, fish etc from your pantry, stockpile and freezer. Stockpiling is worth the effort, and if you have a husband who likes to shop carefully, you can do it all while planting celery and beetroot. ; )