Making that RV grocery budget stretch

Aside from fuel for the rig, one of the biggest expenses RVers cope with is that of keeping groceries in the galley. If your RV budget can get a bit tight, here are some tips that might help you get more miles out of your food dollars:

First, like your mother always told you: Don’t go grocery shopping without a list. If you do, you’re more likely to buy stuff you don’t really need. We made a list on our word processor of all the commonly purchased grocery (and non grocery) items. We broke them down in rough categories, so when we hit the store, our list is already laid out roughly to where we’ll find things group.

For example, we keep the milk, cheese, and other “dairy” items in one clump on our list. We print several copies of the “list” and hang them on a hook inside one of our galley cabinets. As we notice we need something, we simply put a check mark next to the item on the list.

Since much of our time we find ourselves in “little burgs,” where grocery store competition is small, we only buy the stuff we really need to get by when in that area. Once a month we typically hit a “big city,” and take our list with us to do our “major shopping.”

Take advantage of coupons where you can. Not always easy if you’re on the road, but we have found that you can sign up with some of the big chain stores to get weekly special ads sent to you by e-mail. Once a week we get a big advert from Safeway–and we can print manufacturer coupons from their site. Most of these are indeed, manufacturer–as opposed to “store brand” coupons, so they can be used in any store that takes coupons, including Walmart.

Don’t imagine that everything you purchase at a “club” store like Costco or Sam’s Club is going to be cheaper than at the regular retailer. We’ve found milk to be a lot less expensive at a club store, but other items may actually cost more when compared on price per unit basis. And produce at the club stores is usually way out of line in terms of price, and not necessarily of any better quality than at a more upscale supermarket.

When shopping, try to stay in a dollar limit. After our major once-a-month blast, our chief purchasing agent (her) takes the remaining grocery budget dollars–in cash–and divides them up into equal amounts for the remaining number of weeks on the month. If say there’s a hundred grocery dollars left, then we’ll likely have $25 a week for the rest of the month.

So how do you avoid “overspending” when trekking through the store? Set your spending limit before you step in the door. Don’t worry about trying to keep track of how much you’ve put in your cart to the cent–especially if you “do it in your head.” As you stick an item in the basket, round the dollar amount up or down. For example, if the loaf of bread is $4.15, then mentally add $4. If the hamburger is $6.67, then mentally add $7 to your tally. We’ve found it better to use a calculator, but sometimes you can forget to punch in a number.

Interestingly, a study by the Georgia Institute of Technology found that those on really tight budgets, the ones that had the most to lose by overspending, were those who were most likely to overspend. Why? Because they were so engrossed in keeping a mental tally down to the penny, that invariably they’d ‘muff it,’ and forget to add something. That same study says that customers who find themselves spending more than they planned held it against the store; those who spent less, we’re happier with the store. Stores who have in-cart “scanners” to help the customer keep track of what they’d put in their baskets are big winners.

And oh yeah, you know this one too: Don’t go grocery shopping when you’re hungry You’re bound to spend more money–and probably on stuff that isn’t good for you.

photo: Poldavo (Alex) on flickr.com