If you've read my Hub about Why Most Budgets Never Work, this is the Hub I promised to share my money saving grocery shopping tips, so sit back, relax and be prepared to get inspired.

The main reason I am writing this is because food and household shopping expenses are probably the second highest weekly expense for most families, other than rent and mortgage payments. We can save a small fortune if we follow these steps:

When I first started Budgeting (using the system I outlined in the Budgeting Hub mentioned above), I used to spend approximately $130 - $140 per week just on groceries for my son and myself. My method of shopping was to write a half baked list, head to the supermarket and cruise up and down every single isle and fill the trolley. I'd come home and then blow another $20 or $30 on Pizza or Chinese for dinner because I was so exhuasted from shopping. I was bad, really bad!

When I did my first budget, I had a big problem. I could barely keep up the minimum payments on my credit card, forget about making any serious reductions in the balance! I figured I'd just have to reduce the grocery shopping bill from $130 to $90 - and then I had this thought drop into my head that this shouldn't be that difficult to do because most items vary by .50c in price, so if I made a little extra effort to check the prices and get the cheaper one I'd save there to start with. I decided to start tracking prices.

This really works you know - if buy 50 items per week at the supermarket, then 50 X .50c = $25.00 savings immediately. I also realised that with many items I could save more than .50c per item - because prices really do vary hugely on some items.

Okay I hear you all screaming at me already. No, I'm not insane. Hear me out, okay.

Every week, the various supermarkets in your area have "specials". So then what I started to do is wait until the shopping brochures arrived and I'd go over them and compare them with my now much improved shopping list. I decided to try a system of putting aside 1/3 of my $90 just to buy up specials. Again I saved heaps doing this.

In fact, 5 years later, I still do it. I've got it down to such a fine art now that I can't bring myself to pay full price for anything if I know it will come on special sometime.

The thing to remember is that if you are shopping at Multiple Supermarkets, you are only going to be in and out to get a few items. You're not going to need to go up and down every isle for too long. If you go when it's quiet it makes your mission even quicker.

Over the years I've discovered that some things are just cheaper at Aldi every week than anywhere else I shop. So I'm more than happy to do half my shopping at Aldi per week. For example, their margarine is .99c. It's okay, it doesn't taste any better or worse than other brands I've tried, so I buy it at Aldi, along with another list that I only buy there. For the rest of the stuff I need I go to Coles, Woolworths, The Butcher, The Delhi and The Green Grocer.

Cooking for two was also difficult because we always ended up with left overs. Two weeks would go by and when I cleaned the fridge out, I'd discover half a roast chicken and some baked potatoes in there that were no longer that inviting.

So then I got tough on myself and bought some of those aluminium trays with the lids and as soon as I served out a roast dinner for example, I'd create two or three freezable meals and put them straight in the freezer.

This saved us even more money because I found that in week 2, I could get out of cooking at least three nights that week, and that was also less I had to spend on food that following week!.

I also did this with curries and stir fries - by just buying a bit more meat than normal, I was doubling output, and saving massively in week 2.

Another thing I'd do that was just plain wrong, is because I wasn't pre-planning my shopping, I'd often come home with stuff that I already had. Typically this would be items like Alfoil (you Americans call it Aluminum), Gladwrap, plastic bags etc. I discovered I had an arsenal of stuff in my Pantry and various drawers around the kitchen.

Another sin of mine was buying stuff like tubs of sour creme, just in case I cooked something with sour creme that week. Invariably, I didn't make any meals with sour creme so six weeks later I was chucking it out.

Ah ha! Idea No 4 - don't buy it unless I'm sure I'm definitely going to use it. I was lucky. I only lived around the corner from the supermarket so it was no problem for me to duck around and get something if I needed it.

So in my quest to save $40 per week or more on my shopping bill, I did a stock take of the pantry, drawers, fridge, and logged it on Excel. (Don't forget to check under the sink and in the laundry for cleaning products).

Therefore, before I actually added something to my list, I'd double check that I did not already have it. I saved a fortune on duplicate unnecessary purchases.

Regularly update your inventory, at least once a month. You will save a fortune on unnecessary expenses.

I'll bet that if you do your inventory you will find that you have heaps of stuff in the pantry and freezer that has been there a long time.

Okay you will need to throw some of it out because it's past it's use- by date.

For the next two weeks I challenge you to come up with creative meals that use up all that stuff that's been in the cupboard for so long. This again will save you alot of money. Review your Inventory list and only buy what you need to add to make a meal out of what you already have in stock.

The first week I did this I barely spent anything at the supermarket which meant I had most of my $90 as a slush fund. The second week I only spent half of my $90 which left $45 for the slush fund.

Now that you're logging your inventory into Excel, you may as well keep your dockets and log what you pay for each item.

In fact, add 3 colums and name them as follows:

1. Best Price: This is the best ever super duper lowest price you've ever paid for an item.

2. Special Price: This is the price from the brochures that arrive in your mail box. If you are going to buy these items this week, it's helpful to know what they cost so next time the supermarket says they are on special you can go back to your inventory report and see if its real special or just an illusion. (I've discovered numerous illusionary specials since I've been doing this).

3. Normal Price: This is the normal price you'd expect to pay if the item was not on special. If you keep a note of these, you can watch the way supermarkets cleverly keep adding cents onto the price each week so that you become aware of it. This keeps you ahead of the game.

The secret here to to try and buy at the Best Price or the Special Price. You only want to pay Normal price if it's your only other option.

Having the prices logged into your Inventory also gives you power over the supermarkets because you can calculate EXACTLY how much you are going to spend before you do your weekly shopping, so if you are trying to keep your expenses within a certain figure each week, you can most certainly tally the estimated prices before you go. If you are over budget, take off a couple of things that are wishy type items, if you are under budget, you're ahead!

I no longer live close by to the supermarket, so the only way I can now ensure that I don't buy something unnecessary is to plan our weekly meals.

I have a Database of Recipes and this helps me figure out the weekly dinner meals. I also look into the fridge to see what I've got left over from last week. EG: If I bought a huge tub of Yogurt last week, I'll make a meal with Yogurt in it this week to use that up. That way it reduces unnecessary waste.

For lunch and breakfast, I have a list of 'breakfast foods', 'lunch foods' and 'snack foods'.  I check these against my inventory, and  just try to keep up enough 'stock' so that there's plenty to cover breakfast, lunch and snacks for the week. 

Once I've planned all the meals for the week, I check what cleaning and bathroom products I'm getting low on and that's pretty much it. We don't overspend on anything.

I like to shop in bi-weekly cycles meaning Week 1 I always buy more because I'm pretty much out of everything food wise. I don't stockpile food because thats just money I could be using for something else. However, at the end of Week 1 I've got stuff left over, so week 2's recipies are all centered around creatively trying to use up whats left over from week one - especially stuff that will go off if it's not used.

I also put the Weekly Menu on the Fridge, so that it reminds me if I need to take meat out to thaw for that night's meal. No one in our house argues about whats on the menu either. In fact, they look forward to nice home cooked meals. We do have take out on Friday night, but half the time we just scratch around and make something for ourselves, or just pick.

I am also constantly on the look out for delicious inexpensive quick to prepare meals. I've found some good ones on Taste.com.au .

My son loves Spagetti Bolognese and Lasagne. Personally I hate Spag Bol. However, he likes it so I cook it. Rather than buy mince in small quantities, I buy the Premium Grade stuff 3KG at a time, and bag it up. It's so much cheaper to buy it this way.

We do the same thing with Steak. My partner loves his big rump steaks. I love Rib Fillet. When I see that the Butcher has great specials on Whole Rumps, or Whole Ribs, I dig into that slush fund because that is what it's for. Buying meat in Australia in small quantities has become so expensive. All our good stuff is sent overseas anyway!

Whilst some products like Vinegar and Baking Powder make excellent and low cost cleaners, sometimes I just want to saturate the sinks and the bathroom with a good chemical disinfectant.

We go to Bunnings (big industrial sized store) once a year and buy 4 litres of commercial grade Spray and Wipe, Disinfectant and Window Cleaner. This stuff is concentrated so we can dilute it into our own cleaning bottles. Bleach is cheap enough at the supermarkets, so I don't buy bulk Bleach.

This will save alot on cleaning products.

It's a good idea to have a calculator on hand at the supermarket so when you are faced with 3 different sized jars of coffee which are all the same brand, you can work out which gives you the most quantity for the lowest price.  Don't make the mistake of thinking just because it's on special it's cheaper.  Compare price vs quanity and sometimes you'll be surprised. 

When I first started following the above shopping routine, I got my weekly shopping budget down to about $60 per week, from $140 and I have to say we also ate alot better. We ate better because everything was planned. It really is all in the planning, and taking the time to plan.

Put it this way, you can spend 2 -3 hours doing the shopping at the supermarket or spend 2 hours at home first carefully planning every item, and then only spend 1 hour at the supermarket because you've got a cleverly detailed list. You can be in and out if you know exactly what you need.

The other thing I found, by having a good shopping list, was that I wasn't distracted by anything else. I didn't need anything else, I knew that, so I was never tempted to go looking in other isles for the sake of it.

A few years on, I am now feeding 3 adults - my son, my partner, and myself and we would only spend somewhere between $80 - $120 per week for the three of us - and my two males eat huge meals! Some weeks, I can skip shopping altogether because there is a flow on effect from planning. No matter how hard I try to not buy more than we need, we still end up with food leftover and over time, every eight weeks or so, I might just need to buy milk and a loaf of bread that week because we are in over supply.