A dog goes shopping for dog food at Costco. A fun class or lesson starter for the YouTube and TikTok generation on the importance of spending money wisely.
When shopping for groceries, we often spend more than necessary and buy more groceries than we can eat, and lose track of what we actually bought. A grocery list, just like a to-do list, keeps us focused on essentials to help us stay on track with what to buy. Discuss with students the importance of budgeting, and planning on what, and how much you are going to purchase BEFORE shopping.
CONCEPTS
Use this video on the topic to discuss the money concepts of
- Needs and wants
- Budgeting
- Making good spending decisions
- Spending Money
PROCEDURE
Show students the video and have and then have a discussion about the importance of budgeting, making a list, and making spending decisions BEFORE shopping. What are the ramifications of not sticking to a budget? Why should we plan what we are going to purchase ahead of time?
GRADE LEVEL
6-12, Young adults
TIME REQUIRED
20 minutes
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
GROCERY SHOPPING ON A BUDGET
There are many things you can do before grocery shopping to make sure you reduce costs and keep to your budget.
Make a Shopping List
Make a list of all the ingredients you need for the meals you are going to make. Make sure you list the items in the same order that you’ll find them at the grocery. If the produce section is your first department, you should list the fresh fruits or vegetables that you will use first. You can go section by section until everything is covered. While this may require some extra time while you prepare, it will save you the hassle of going back and forth from each section.
Plan your Meals
Planning your meals is an important part of grocery shopping within a budget. Planning your meals is key to both saving money and saving time. Start small and plan your meals for the whole day. Once you have mastered this, plan your weekly meals and then move on to creating a monthly menu planner. It’s easy to meal prep and everyone can do it. You can prepare your meals ahead of time and keep them in the freezer for later use.
This not only saves money because you can evenly distribute your ingredients across several meals, but also allows you to quickly heat your food up and then eat it right away. There are many creative and inexpensive meals that you can make.
Reduce your Meat Consumption
The price of meat, poultry, and eggs continues to increase. There’s an easy way to cut your grocery bill if you spend less on meat than other food categories. Meat is often the most costly component of a meal. It is easy to reduce your meat intake by implementing a few meatless weeks or using less meat in your dishes. You can reduce the amount of meat in a recipe or use cheaper ingredients. Substitute beans, lentils, and/or mushrooms for ground beef. Sub in white beans and other vegetables for chicken. If you don’t want to reduce your meat consumption, but still want savings, you can find meat sales at your local grocery store and plan your meals around the items on sale.
Make a Grocery List that is within your Budget
When shopping for groceries, we often spend more than necessary. We often buy more groceries than we can eat and lose track of what we actually bought. A budget grocery list, just like a to-do list, keeps us on task with our tasks, is essential to help us stay on track with what to buy. This may seem obvious, but it is important. Have you ever made a quick stop at the shops to purchase one item, only to end up purchasing many other items that you don’t need? You can prevent yourself from purchasing unnecessary items by creating a quick grocery list on your phone or pen and paper before you go to the store.
Eat Before you Shop
Shopping when you’re hungry can lead to you spending more money than you planned, and you may end up buying items that are not on your shopping list but which are more likely to be harmful for you.
Prioritize your Needs
This isn’t only for the items you purchase. This same method can also be used to create your grocery budget. It is easy to purchase random food just because it looks good. Do you really need to buy steak every week? Or could you save money by buying a lower-priced option for dinner? Saving money by knowing what you really need can help you save big every month.
Learning to plan and budget before grocery shopping will help you save more, and spend less.
@moneymittens Mittens shops at Costco #costco #costcotiktok #stuffedanimals #dog #money #foryoupage #funny ♬ Sunny Day – Ted Fresco
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