Why?

The why of cutting your food bill in half is a no brainer.  Groceries is often the most expensive discretionary item in your budget.  The why buy in bulk at the lowest price is another story that may need a bit more explanation.

If you are going to the store many times a week, you are setting yourself up for being bombarded with a lot of retailers phycology to make you impulse buy.    Retailers make 70 percent of their profit on impulse buys.   Let someone else take the hit.

When you make a list, check it twice, meal plan, and try to remember everything you need for specific meals, you take a lot of time and open yourself up to making another trip to the store because you forgot something..  

When you have a particular list that you know by heart because it is simplified and you know that all you are looking for is dairy , vegetables and fruit, and a bulk protein item, there’s no list, and you can get in and out of two stores in record time.

You are making meals from your pantry/freezer and replenishing stock when they are at their RBP.  You buy more of one thing, and buy less variety of things.   Its just simpler.

Simplify, spend less, always have food in the house.  

I made homemade refried beans (aka bean dip) last week.   I noticed that the canister ( reclaimed bulk popcorn packaging.) was low.   Next time I went to the DT I bought three 1.5 lb bags.   Done.   Won’t have to do it again for at least three months.  I had already noticed that the black bean canister was low and I dont use as much of them.   I picked up some from the bulk isle at winco.   Winco is a chain that is in the west and southwest.  Basicly, I think they are wherever Aldi isn’t.   We have Trader Joe’s, but they are more inclined to carry alternative food.   I went for bargains, I found a basil plant and a package of gorgeous strawberries that were 1.5 times the price of the berries at the regular grocery stores.

I digress.

The point is, I am not buying beans every week, or even every month and at any point in time, if there was an emergency, great or small, I can make any meal I want from my pantry.
If I dont have russet potatoes, I have dehydrated mashed and sweet potatoes and probably a few scalloped potato mixes.   I have eggs, and dehydrated eggs.   Milk and dehydrated milk.   It works.

There was a day when I had emergency surgery years ago, I sent my husband to the store for a weeks worth of food.  He came back with a 12 pack and 2 pomegranates.   I sent my college age daughter with a budget.   She was more resourceful and came back with a weeks worth of dinners including meat and veggies.

My plan has developed over the years. The last part was cooking more detailed things like bread fro scratch and finding easy , efficient, scratch meals.   Having the proper equipment helps a lot.   The insta pot and food processer are my workhorses.   I have saved more than their costs many times over.   Bread crumbs are 2.40 cents a pound.  They use basicly garbage.   Scratch beans and rice are pennes of the cost of buying ready made in bags or cans.   Sometimes a piece of steak or roast is cheaper than 95/5 hamburger and you can grind it in minutes with the food processer.