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Grocery shop bill format for Quality Assurance

hey guys it's Chelsea and this week's video is brought to you by wicks professional beautiful websites for anyone create your own website for free by going to Wix comm slash go slash TFD and this week we are going to talk all about your grocery bill if you are like most Americans what you spend on food every month comes really second only to what you're spending on your rent or your mortgage and if you're like me it's probably an even more shameful portion of your budget and well it's not always like super frivolous things like tons of takeout when I could cook or going out to eat all the time it's often stuff that I could totally do without and while I don't mind going higher end on good culinary staples or springing for special ingredients that will help me recreate the dishes I love nothing gets my goat more than when food goes bad because I didn't eat it in time or I get duplicates of another thing that I had just opened or basically waste money totally frivolously at the grocery store chances are no matter what your grocery habits you could stand to work down your bill a little bit and if you're anything like me you're probably often feeling a bit at how high it often is so here are 9 reasons your grocery bill may be too high and what to do about it number one is a lack of planning obviously we know that shopping with a list is one of the best ways to guarantee that you will get what you need in the order that you need it without going overboard but that's not the only element of planning for grocery shopping there are a couple really important additional steps number one being really good about meal planning within reason I am someone who would never want to meal plan six nights a week or eat the same thing day after day or really really calibrate my life around a super regimented eating schedule I like being a little bit experimental and coming up with things on the fly and defaulting to leftovers when I want to and not really being so rigid about it but having at least two or three meals a week that are distinctly planned out and prepared for as well as knowing roughly when you're going to be eating those leftovers or freezing them is crucial to making sure that every night isn't sitting at your desk at 5:30 being like oh crap I have to go home and make myself something to eat what do I eat at which point you stop by the store and because you haven't prepared a list or taken the time to look at what you already have you're gonna get a bunch of stuff that you don't even need and who knows you may end up by the time you actually get home because it was such a nightmare and the Train be like whatever I'm ordering food online making sure that there are a few nights to anchor you is crucial but beyond just creating a list for when you go to the store you want to make sure that your priest or activities are on point that means number one doing a really thorough look at what you already have not just to make sure that you don't buy duplicates but also to make sure that you don't have anything that's about to go bad that you should use or ingredients that would easily be swapped in for another one you are going to buy or essentially not totally basing your groceries off of a neutral playing field when you have plenty of food at home a quick sweep of the kitchen will fix that and lastly and most importantly please do not shop while hungry or stressed out this is going to be a time when you are going to justify all sorts of purchases you don't need and often really really bad for you food and no I don't mean bad for you as in some foods have emotional value and they're bad I mean they're just like completely nutritionally void and something you mostly want because you're really stressed out plan well grocery well number two is not getting deals on staples there are going to be staples that you'll always want on hand in your kitchen and that you'll be able to keep for a relatively long time and should just be something that you are making sure to get when it's not as expensive things like rice and canned beans and vegetables and flour and sugar and all that stuff that can kind of live in your kitchen for when you need it and make up the backbone of various dishes these are things that you shouldn't be buying just when you've completely run out of the item these are things that you should be buying when you see them on sale because you know that you're going to use them your list of things that you're constantly using may be a little different for example I probably go through like seven bulbs of garlic a week but whatever it is make sure that you know that they're always kind of like the unspoken item on your list and you should be getting them whenever you see a great deal on them buying only in times of necessity means you're kind of at the whim of the pricing of your grocery store be proactive number three is maybe your amita holic now I meet and while I definitely try to be as conscientious as possible about the kind of me that I buy and how often I eat it or how central it is to the meals that I'm making I'm definitely someone who can't sit here and claim that I have the high ground on this I eat meat and I love it but as the years have gone by aside from just those ethical concerns I've also become very budget-conscious about how expensive good meat is to include an amel I love a great steak for example but we definitely don't have a stake in this house more than once a month at the very most it's usually closer to like once every two or three months because if we're getting really really beautiful steaks from a great butcher that's gonna be just as expensive as ordering a steak at a restaurant basically being more conscientious about not making the meat the star of every meal means that you have less pressure to buy so much of it and can therefore be more focused on the quality of the smaller portions of meat you're buying plus by learning to make other proteins the star of the plate you can start to get much better at using those recipes and mastering those foods often will default to meat because that's what we grew up knowing as the center of our plate will default to like a chicken noodle soup rather than a lentil and chickpea or we won't have learned how to properly season and cook those vegetables or those alternative proteins it isn't just about saving money on the individual items of meat you're not buying it's about changing what you feel is crucial to a meal so that you can start making more long-term good food choices and really vary your palette of what you're capable of making number four is fridge or freezer neglect I'm gonna be honest I did a total fridge and freezer clean out a couple of weeks ago and I was a little embarrassed at what I saw there were many different jars of things and containers of things that I just like tossed because like I'm not even gonna open up and see what kind of civilization is going on in there I had no idea what it was from or in some cases what it even was there was also a good amount of wilted produce that I had let go to waste as well as some leftovers in the freezers that were not properly labeled so I didn't know if they were totally bad to eat or what the deal was basically I was not using my fridge and freezer to their fullest potential and that often led to a sensation of I have no idea what to eat tonight because in many cases I didn't know what I had so I took that opportunity to totally clear everything out make sure everything was super well-organized and intuitive as well as properly labeled this is one of the easiest things to do with a Saturday afternoon that can have a huge impact on your food shopping and your food habits because the more clear and organized your fridge and freezer are the easier it is to just sort of automatically know what you have on hand what's going bad what needs to be eaten and every day doesn't have to be such a start from zero struggle where you have to explore through all of the unknown territory in the back of your fridge if you're not keeping good track of your fridge and freezer there's a chance that every grocery trip is going to feel like a bit of an uphill battle number five is over stocking it is not an Angela landsbury mystery as to why when I opened my fridge it was like overwhelmed with products that I couldn't even identify and many perished ones it's because I often have a way bigger eye than my stomach when it comes to what I'm buying at the grocery store my husband and I are two normal adults and we are certainly not going to eat the quantities of food items that I tend to buy now to be clear I always make big batches of food when I'm cooking a meal because I'm very good about storing and eating leftovers with a few exceptions but when I'm actually buying ingredients I'll often do things like opt for the bigger jar of something when I know I'm not gonna go through the whole jar in the time it will take for it not to go bad all over by things like produce like the other day I was like it's Honey Crisp apple season and so I bought so many Honey Crisp apples and I cannot bake so we're going to figure out we have an apple situation on our hands but either way getting a little over-ambitious about specific ingredients and overstocking your refrigerator can be just as big of an issue as barely stocking it at all refrigerators need adequate space to circulate air so keeping it over full means the items won't be as cool as they need to and the fridge will have to work harder to cool them down it's also likely that you won't see things that you have when you just take a glance in the fridge before you go to the grocery store and perhaps most importantly it's very likely that a lot of these items will go bad before you have a chance to use them there is a harmonious balance between overstocked and not stocked enough and a good start is the video that we did way back in the day about the essential ingredients you'll want to keep in your kitchen the more you can make sure that the basis of your kitchen is things that you will use again and again the less likely you'll be to have a fridge that's a bit of chaos number six is one-time events there are going to be a few exceptions of course but generally speaking you shouldn't be cooking things that you can't overcook and then portion out to leave as leftovers there are a few exceptions but generally speaking you shouldn't be making dishes at home that you can't make in some bulk and then freeze or portion out into leftovers aside from the fact that you're really not getting a lot of bang for your buck in terms of the work you're doing to create a meal you're also going to be spending way more per item when you have to buy so little of it so things that really don't stay very well for example shellfish dishes or a perfectly cooked cut of steak should really be reserved for very special occasions because no one wants to be eating two-day-old clams at their desk and a lot of people think that batch cooking is super depressing but it couldn't be further from the truth especially if you're using freezing intelligently and making sure to portion out your meals it just becomes a really convenient way to have your own dinners or ready to go when you want them rather than forcing yourself to eat the same thing four nights in a row rethinking how you approach each dish and making sure that you're building into that shopping list enough dishes to last you for a few different meal times the more you can be sure that you're getting the most value for your dollar when you shop and again it's not just your dollar it's the time you have to spend being in the kitchen preparing things cleaning up after yourself doing dishes etc that really counts I love to cook and I don't want to be cooking every single night so if cooking isn't something you love to do making sure you're not obligated to do it super often is key number seven ignoring the seasons do you grocery shop of course you do do you know what's in season right now this is like on the news like it's 11 o'clock do you know what's in season no but seriously like I didn't know the other day when I went to the grocery store I mean it's like 90 degrees tomorrow here in New York and it's as I speak October 1st so I guess there's no seasons anymore what with this climate change and all but generally speaking you can still kind of go in phases as to like what's good what's gonna be on the less expensive side what you'll be able to get more of what's gonna taste better etc and I'm gonna be honest even I who cooks quite a lot I really don't know what the actual seasons are for everything some things of course like the Honey Crisp apples the other day but basically not much else except for the obvious ones getting a lot more intimately familiar with what's in season and more importantly where your grocery stores sourcing from other alternative means of sourcing fresh vegetables can help you bring down the cost overall by really going to the source and getting local fresh sustainable stuff that doesn't have to travel on a semi truck across half the world isn't just better for the environment it's better for your wallet there's a great site called eat the season which will be especially helpful when it comes to meal planning which will help you make a better list which will help you shop better number eight you don't have any back pocket recipes so I definitely have several back pocket recipes that like if you put you know a jeopardy timer on and a gun to my head I could just like tell you those recipes straight out and not die and the great thing about them is that I can go to the grocery store do a little mental refresh of what's in my kitchen because I try to stay on top of that as we go and really just get the exact items I need to complete that dish it means that even when I'm in a pinch I can go to the grocery store and make a somewhat cogent set of purchases it also means that when I'm racking my brain for what to cook that night I have several go twos that can provide a quick answer without potentially leaning into the temptation of ordering out these dishes should be fairly inexpensive they should be fairly easy to make and easy to swap in and out ingredients if you happen to have a lot of things on hand things like soups Chili's stews pasta sauces are great for this because again often it's something that you don't have to put a ton of effort into you can kind of let it simmer and jive on the stove and you know if you don't have this kind of beam you can swap in that kind of beam or this leafy green for that leafy green you want them to be versatile recipes that can fit neatly into your life and make sure that you're never at a grocery store with an overwhelming feeling of I literally don't know anything I can make tonight without possibly just like standing awkwardly and the like dried goods I unlike scroll through your phone and try to find something while everyone's like bumping around you with their grocery cards back pocket recipes mean you're always prepared number nine is following deals too often yes when you are buying things that you know you'll need or use you should always make sure to get the best deal on them possible but you shouldn't just buy things because they're on sale even at the grocery store it's easy to get lured in by those like big signs or bulk discounts or red labels but the truth is unless you know you are going to use that item and be honest with yourself especially about fresh produce it's often likely that that item will just go to waste and while some things are freezable like most meat for example a lot of items really aren't and so basically the second you buy that item and if it's on sale it's often because it's a little bit older to begin with you're essentially putting a timer on yourself that you have to use that item especially when we're on a tight budget it can feel like sale equals I should buy it right now but the truth is if you're buying something at a sale price that you wouldn't have bought otherwise and aren't going to use you didn't save any money you just spent extra unnecessary money but slightly less of it it's not a good deal and often it's things like that that will lead you to have a fridge full of items that you can't remember or don't recognize or don't really have use for some good back pocket recipes means you'll never be caught off guard at the grocery store if you've already mastered your back pocket recipes and are maybe ready to start sharing them maybe with a great website you should check out Wix having a solid web presence today is kind of like the 2010 equivalent of having a paper resume it's just a given now and it can seriously hold you back if you don't have one or if you have one that's totally sloppy and outdated if you're thinking about making a website whether for a business or a hobby or even just to display things like your resume we recommend checking out Wix it's a free platform that lets anyone build personalized professional websites you don't need any coding experience so even if you consider yourself a bit of an amateur in the web design department you can use their beautiful templates to make your own website whether for your professional life or just a great side project you can see here an example of a site that we made to show you how it's done visit Wix coms go slash TFD to create your own free wits website or you can upgrade to a yearly premium plan with even more features and you can get 15% off with our promo code tfd 15 so as always guys thanks for watching and don't forget to hit the subscribe button and to come back every Tuesday and Thursday for new and awesome videos bye you