You know the feeling. The grocery store clerk rings up your purchases, and you have a knot in the pit of your stomach when you hear the total.
I can relate. We are a family of five with three children who seem to have never-ending appetites. Fortunately, we’re able to keep our costs in check.
This guide shares some of the strategies we use to save money at the grocery store.
Table of Contents
Simple Ways to Save Money on Groceries
It is possible to cut your grocery bill without sacrificing the foods you enjoy. Here’s how to do it.
1. Shop at a Different Grocery Store
Changing up where you shop is a terrific way to reduce your grocery spending. It’s easy to get stuck in a rut and shop at the store by your house or work. In turn, this can cause you to overspend.
Do you have an Aldi or Lidl near you? Those are both excellent choices to lower your grocery bill and still purchase quality items.
If you like to add organic items to your daily diet, consider shopping at Trader Joe’s instead of Whole Foods. Trader Joe’s is usually lower-priced, allowing you to stretch your food budget.
Don’t be afraid to shop multiple stores to take care of your food needs. You can shop at a cheap grocery store to get your staples, then supplement the rest of your shopping with other stores to maximize your spending.
In short, flexibility is foundational to saving money on your shopping needs.
2. Use a Rebate App
Saving money at the supermarket often involves clipping coupons to reduce costs. However, if you’re like our family, you don’t have time to look through and deal with coupons.
A grocery rebate app like Fetch Rewards is a perfect solution. You do your grocery shopping like normal and then take a picture of the receipt with the app.
After submission, it looks for active rebates on the items you bought.
Fetch works with over 300 retailers, including:
Read our Fetch Rewards review to learn more.
3. Choose Generic When it Makes Sense
Purchasing store brands is one of the best ways to save money on groceries. Like switching up stores, this will take some trial and error to find generic items you like.
You may not notice a difference between brand name products and generics. Some staples like salt and other seasonings may have no noticeable difference.
There may be other items you dislike or like more than their branded counterparts. Consumer Reports indicates that generic items usually offer 20 to 25 percent in savings.
That’s an easy way to stay within your grocery budget with minimal sacrifice.
Don’t overlook shopping at a discount store for staples you regularly use. Consult our guide on the top dollar stores, including online options, to cut costs.
4. Start Meal Planning
One of the best ways to reduce your grocery bill is to plan out your meals. It’s also one of the easiest ways to save money at the store since it lets you manage what you purchase.
We’ve used a menu plan for years. Before we had children, we would do it for a month. Now we do it weekly.
This provides flexibility if you don’t have time to make a particular meal one evening.
It also helps you save when you pair it around the grocery flyers for the week. We put our meal plan in a Google document along with the items we need to purchase for the week.
If you’re new to planning meals, $5 Meal Plan is a fantastic resource to help you get started. The tool walks you through the process of planning meals and how to identify new, affordable meals you can try.
5. Use a Shopping List
Impulse purchases can be ruinous if you need to grocery shop on a budget. A single $5 or $10 unplanned purchase may seem inconsequential, but they add up easily.
We use a list every time we go to the store. It keeps our shopping in check, plus it helps us not to forget an item. If you follow meal planning, a list is a natural outflow of your plan.
You can write your list down or use any of the available money saving apps and do it all on your phone.
6. Buy Loss Leaders
Grocery stores actively promote their weekly specials with flyers. You may get them mailed to you or see them in-store. Several of the deals are loss leaders.
They’re selling those items below cost in hopes you’ll purchase additional items at full price. Loss leaders change weekly and vary by store. However, they can be an excellent way to save on groceries.
Common deals are on meat or produce. You might even see a significant discount on milk. When you pair loss leaders with menu planning, you can really rack up savings.
Think of it as shopping around the deals and using it to plan out your meal ideas for the week.
If you’re not buying meat in the store, a service like Crowd Cow is a good alternative for quality meats without a hefty price tag.
Read our review of the Crowd Cow review service to learn more.
7. Use a Cash Back Credit Card
When used wisely, a cash back credit card can be a helpful tool when shopping. Some cards give higher percentages of cash back when you shop at the grocery store.
This could result in several hundred dollars of cash back into your budget annually just by using a rewards card.
Here are some of our top choices to consider when shopping at the store.
Just remember to pay your bill in full each month since the rewards aren’t worth it if you incur debt.
8. Try Grocery Delivery
Online grocery delivery services like Instacart may seem like an odd way to save money on groceries. However, if you struggle with impulse purchases, the service can help you save money.
With a service like Instacart, you shop online and tell the shopper what items you need. They do the shopping and deliver the purchases to your home.
*Related: Do you like to use meal delivery services? Read our guide on the best meal delivery companies like HelloFresh to save money on meals delivered to your door.*
Doing this helps you avoid unnecessary purchases. Plus, it saves you time.
Instacart often allows you to link a loyalty card so you can take advantage of available deals or rewards. They also usually have grocery coupons you can use to apply towards purchases to increase savings.
9. Don’t Always Buy Organic
Organic food is an increasingly desirable option for more individuals and families. Pesticides can be harmful to consume, especially if you don’t know what has been used on the food you’re eating.
However, organic food is typically more expensive than non-organic food. Organic items can easily cost double their non-organic counterparts.
That can quickly increase your grocery bill. But, it’s not necessary for all foods you purchase to be organic. Often, if a fruit or vegetable has a peel, you may be fine purchasing the non-organic option.
According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), you can purchase the non-organic versions of the following 15 items:
- Avocados
- Sweet corn
- Pineapple
- Onions
- Papaya
- Sweet peas (frozen)
- Mangoes
- Asparagus
- Sweet potatoes
- Cabbage
- Kiwi
- Watermelon
- Mushrooms
- Honeydew melon
- Carrots
This is the EWG clean 15 for 2023, so it may change from year to year. If you like to purchase any of the above fruits and vegetables, you can opt for the non-organic version to save more money each month.
10. Avoid Pre-Packaged Foods
If your family is busy, pre-packaged foods are a helpful tool to quickly put dinner on the table. Unfortunately, those pre-cut or prepared foods come at a higher cost.
This can include items like pre-cut fruits and vegetables, pre-cut cheese, or bagged salad.
When you compare the cost of buying it already prepared vs. doing the work yourself, it’s often two to three times more expensive.
Additionally, pre-packaged food often has a shorter lifespan. If you don’t eat it soon enough, it will spoil.
Yes, pre-packaged foods can save you time, but that convenience comes at a cost.
11. Buy in Bulk, but Sparingly
Warehouse clubs like Costco and Sam’s Club are a terrific option to do your shopping. We do a lot of our shopping at Costco because we have a larger family.
But, just because a purchase seems wise doesn’t mean you should take advantage of all the money saving deals. You want to focus your bulk purchases on staples with longer shelf lives.
Examples include:
- Canned vegetables
- Dried beans
- Dried pasta
- Rolled oats
You can do the same thing with chicken or ground beef. They come in larger packages, but you’ll want to break them up, repackage them, and freeze them.
Be wise with your bulk purchases. The savings can evaporate if you can’t get through the item before it goes bad.
Read our Sam’s Club vs. Costco review to see how the two stores compare.
12. Watch Unit Pricing
Grocery prices can be misleading. This is why knowing unit prices is essential if you want to save money on groceries.
Unit pricing sounds difficult, but it’s simple to figure. Here’s an example:
- Six-count of dried beans for $7.99
- Twelve-count of dried beans for $16.56
You might think the larger package is the better deal because bulk items are always cheaper. However, you are wrong.
In this case, the unit price for the 12 pack of cans is $1.38 per can, and the six-pack is $1.33 per can.
Ultimately, you get more value for your purchase if you opt for the six-pack. This isn’t necessarily the situation on all items, but knowing how to figure out unit prices is important.
Some stores may list it on the price label. If not, use the calculator on your phone to divide the price by the weight or number of items you’re receiving to determine the unit price.
13. Know Where to Look
Marketing is a big deal in grocery stores. Retailers like to put items with higher margins at eye level as they know it’s more likely we’ll purchase it. This strategy allows them to maximize profits.
To truly save money, you want to look all around you. Look at the top and bottom of the shelves to see all of your options.
This is where they may put generic items or less-popular ones that are still quality.
It may be the case that you do want the item they have put right in front of your eyes, but it pays to look at all of your options before making a purchase decision.
14. Shop Your Pantry
How often do you check your pantry before going to the grocery store? If you’re like our family, it’s easy for an item to get lost in your pantry only to be discovered three months after its expiration date.
Before we make up our meal plan for the week, we go through our pantry to see what we have. This not only gives us healthy meal ideas, but it also helps us reduce what we spend at the store.
Additionally, it helps us avoid wasting food. Food waste is a real issue in the United States, as we throw away 108 billion pounds of food each year.
That equates to $161 billion worth of food, according to FeedAmerica.org.
Shopping your pantry before going to the store is a simple way to reduce food waste and unnecessary spending when you already have an item.
15. Eat Before You Shop
Few things are worse than going to the grocery store on an empty stomach. Scientifically, when you go to the supermarket when you’re hungry, you’re more prone to buy items you may not otherwise purchase.
Temptation is real. If you’re hungry, you will likely put items in your shopping cart that aren’t on your shopping list. This will increase your bill and defeat your desire to save money.
Even if you need to have a small snack before going into the store, it will likely result in not overspending.
16. Eat Leftovers
Leftovers aren’t the most fun for many families, but they’re an easy way to reduce your grocery bill. Think of leftovers as similar to shopping your pantry before going to the store.
Eating leftovers helps you stretch your food so you don’t have to buy as much. If you have an extra freezer, use that to freeze meals to extend their life.
This way you won’t have to eat the same meal twice in one week.
17. Join Loyalty Programs
Most grocery stores offer loyalty or rewards programs to incentivize customers to shop at the store. These programs are usually free and are a great source for digital coupons.
You can even pair it with cash back apps like Fetch Rewards to double-dip on opportunities to save money.
If your local grocery store has a gas station, you may even be able to earn rewards for discounted gas. Our local Hy-Vee offers this. It is an easy way to earn savings of $0.25 or more per gallon of gas.
Don’t be afraid to purchase discounted gift cards online to your favorite store as that will help you increase savings gained through a loyalty program.
18. Don’t Avoid Clearance Racks
If you love a discount, the clearance rack can be an easy hack to save money on groceries. Not every store will have one. If they do, the items will vary.
For example, it may just be baked goods that are about to expire or cans with dents. Both are available at a discount.
Just ask a clerk in the store where the clearance items are. The rack may be hidden or not easily seen.
Our local store has theirs in the back next to a door to the warehouse. It isn’t always guaranteed to have a lot to select from, but it can be a good source of savings when there is something available.
19. Shop By Yourself
If you have the ability, shopping without other family members is an easy way to save money on groceries. Children love to ask for items that may not be on your list.
Or, your partner may entice you to put something in the cart that’s not on your list. Either situation adds unplanned costs to your bill.
You don’t encounter that when shopping on your own. Better yet, you can get the shopping done faster, which saves you time as well.
How to Save Money at the Grocery Store FAQs
Saving money on groceries is an essential part of wise money management. Here are some common questions readers have about how to stretch their grocery budget.
How can I pay less for groceries?
It can be relatively simple to save money on groceries. When you’re looking to reduce food costs, it’s best to identify a more affordable supermarket to frequent.
This may save you 20 or 30 percent on your total grocery bill.
Additionally, don’t overlook receipt scanning apps like Fetch Rewards to easily identify rebate opportunities to spend even less.
Does making a grocery list save money?
Yes, it is possible to save money with a list of groceries to purchase at the store. Making a grocery list gives you a plan to follow on what items you need for your home.
It’s also helpful to create your list around your menu plan to identify only what you need. Plan your meals out weekly so you know what you must purchase.
Having a list doesn’t guarantee you will save money. However, if you’re able to avoid impulse purchases not found on your list, it will go a long way to reduce unnecessary spending.
This is especially true when you’re on a fixed income. Read our guide on how to save money on a tight budget to identify other opportunities to cut costs.
How can I save money on groceries each month?
There are many ways to save at the supermarket each month. Here are some simple actions you can take to stretch your grocery budget:
- Shop at a cheaper store
- Use a grocery app to earn rebates on items you purchase
- Don’t fall for tricks like only buying items at eye level or on an end cap
- Use a list to buy your groceries
If you follow the above tips, you’ll quickly notice your grocery bill leveling out to a more acceptable level.
How much should I spend on groceries a week?
There is no set amount that you should spend on groceries a week. Factors that may dictate how much you will spend include:
- Geographic location
- Dietary needs
- Age of children, if you have any
However, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) publishes monthly food plans you can use to manage your spending. As of August 2022, they recommend the following for a typical family:
- $219.60 per week
- $951.70 per month
The reference family is a male and female between 20 and 50 years old and two children, one aged six to eight years old and the other nine to 11 years old.
What is a reasonable grocery budget for one person?
Preparing meals for a single person is a challenge. Fortunately, it’s possible to achieve a balance of buying groceries within your budget and minimizing waste.
Here is what the USDA recommends for an individual female or male, both aged 19-50, as of August 2022.
| Gender | Thrifty | Moderate | Liberal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | $52.00/wk. $225.30/mo. | $63.60/wk. $275.40/mo. | $81.30/wk. $352.10/mo. |
| Male | $59.90/wk. $259.50/mo. | $75.00/wk. $324.80/mo. | $91.90/wk. $398.00/mo. |
If you fall outside of that range, consult the USDA site to learn what they suggest.
Depending on your situation, if you start with $250 or $300 per month for a single person, you should be within a reasonable range.
What is the average grocery bill for two?
Various factors can impact how much a household of two people spends on groceries each week or month.
You have more opportunities to save vs. shopping as a single person, but it’s still essential to monitor costs.
Here is what the USDA reflects as the average grocery costs for two people.
| Frequency | Thrifty | Moderate | Liberal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weekly | $111.90 | $138.60 | $173.20 |
| Monthly | $484.80 | $600.20 | $750.10 |
They’re assuming that it is one man and one woman, both aged 19-50 years old. If you fall outside that, consult the USDA Cost of Food Report to learn more.
Bottom Line
It is possible to spend less on groceries, but it does take a little work. If you can implement menu planning, wise shopping, and avoiding food waste, you will probably spend less at the store.
This doesn’t mean you eat less or lower-quality food. Instead, you try to be purposeful with your shopping.
By using a handful of our tips, there’s no reason why you can’t shave ten to 20 percent off your monthly grocery bill.
What do you do to save money when buying groceries?
I’m John Schmoll, a former stockbroker, MBA-grad, published finance writer, and founder of Frugal Rules.
As a veteran of the financial services industry, I’ve worked as a mutual fund administrator, banker, and stockbroker and was Series 7 and 63-licensed, but I left all that behind in 2012 to help people learn how to manage their money.
My goal is to help you gain the knowledge you need to become financially independent with personally-tested financial tools and money-saving solutions.
I think we do a “pretty good” job with groceries but could certainly improve. We don’t have a menu plan and I think that would help, though we do generally just buy the same main ingredients over and over and use variations of them so it’s not like we’re completely scrambling every day. There’s definitely room for improvement though.
Yeah, even we are finding room for improvement. I think you can always tweak it a bit if you’re willing to work at it. The hardest part for us is balancing frugalness with creativity. Some days the kids are like “Dear God, rice and beans again???”. 🙂
Sadly where I live, don’t do sales on food and it is so expensive. I really like this post….for sure more of the money goes on food…
Another tip: Go shopping after you eat, that way you won’t be hungry and will buy less 🙂
Great tip, Loris!! Too bad food is so expensive where you’re at, but hope that some of the tips here are helpful anyway. Best of luck to you as you work to reduce your food budget.
I love buying in bulk and taking advantage of offers to save. However, as I found out yesterday when I cleared some old products out of the cupboard and binned them because they went off in 2012, there is a downside if you’re not careful!! 🙂
Oh, definitely. We are super careful not to buy anything in bulk that we won’t use. It’s frustrating to see that money slip away when you bought the giant can of “whatever” that no one will ever eat. 🙂
The obvious thing that has saved us over $2,000 the past two years is couponing. Using coupons, combined with meal-planning, has drastically increased the amount we are able to save on groceries.
We were watching Extreme Couponing the other day for the first time, and WOW – coupons can really kick it! The biggest problem we find with coupons is that we don’t eat much in the way of processed foods. I am getting better though, at searching for coupons before we go shopping when I have something on the list that’s processed or a healthy and beauty type of a thing. $2,000 is a huge amount of cash!
I love the idea of writing out a list of the meals for the entire month. That would save my wife and I so much time. We always sit around thinking of what to make for the week before we go shopping. Thinking about the whole month and knocking out a majority of the shopping at once is so smart!
It does save a ton of time, and money, Jon. Yeah, people often look at us strangely when we arrive with a cart or two overflowing with foods, etc., but it sure does save a ton of cash and time. 🙂
I have found that menu planning really does help. I try to buy/use ingredients that can be used in something else that week. I hate throwing food away!!!
That’s a great idea, Holly. Double-dipping, so to speak. We do that lots too. Saturday night I made a pot roast, and Sunday I used the leftovers for chili. Yum!
So impressed with folks who consistently do meal planning. The easiest one is the making ahead like your friend does, then even freezing some food for later. Always looking for coupons, too for products that are healthier.
Yeah, making ahead has been huge for her, and for us. So much easier, and then we’re not tempted to order pizza if I’m too beat to cook that day. 🙂
Great tips! I’m a big fan of meal plans and grocery lists. It’s saved us a ton. We used to use paper lists but would sometimes forget them. Now, we use a little app called Wunderlist that syncs to our phones and all our devices, so as soon as either my wife or I add a new item to the list, it automatically syncs to all our devices, so we always have it with us.
That’s WAY too technically advanced for me, but it sounds like an awesome app! 🙂
Great tips Laurie! I also think going to the grocery store only once or twice a month can really help a person save on groceries and transportation expenses as well.
Certainly, Mark! It’s saved us a ton of gas money!
I’ve never considered once-a-month grocery shopping, but I would love to try it! One thing that’s stopping me from stocking up on perishable foods is that we don’t have a big freezer right now — ours died 2 summers ago and I haven’t been able to justify the expense yet.
I do shop the sales cycle, though, so for example when chicken breasts are $1.99 I get two family packs and prep one for the freezer (slice it for stir fry or cutlet it for the oven).
That really saves a ton, especially with meat, doesn’t it, Rebecca!! Sorry to hear your deep freezer died – I’m not sure we could live without ours. 🙂
We base our menu on whatever is on sale at the supermarket…we’re pretty flexible. We don’t buy too much in bulk because we have very little room, but we do try to stock up on things we use when they are on sale. I love looking up recipes based on the ingredients I already have on hand.
That’s always a huge money-saver too, Andrew. We do try and base our menu what is on sale too. It’s hard to stock up when storage room is low, I know. This is why under our beds are loaded with toilet paper. 🙂
The wife and I just make two meals a week and then eat off the leftovers. It has worked very well for us over the years and we will continue it.
That’s a terrific idea, Grayson, and I’ll bet it saves you tons of cash. Maybe we’ll try doing something like that….
I don’t eat processed food and have to stop at 2 or 3 stores to get what I need and save money. I go to the cheap produce store in Chicago (Stanley’s) and usually buy the most inexpensive produce by weight. I always leave with 2-4 bags of produce for less than $20. Then I head to another store to get meat, eggs and almond milk. I only get the meat that’s on sale. Pork shoulder is always super cheap. Stock up on chicken when it’s on sale. I also eat oatmeal which is suuuuuper cheap per meal.
I also go to Trader Joe’s on occasion to get some other things like plantain chips or healthier dips for vegetables. Or if I need wine as their selection is great and very inexpensive.
Great tips, Andy. We do some shopping around too. We hit Sam’s club for all of our dairy products, and Trader Joe’s for cheap organic veggies. Oatmeal is really super cheap when you buy it in bulk – we get that at Sam’s as well. Thanks for weighing in!
We at one point were doing intense menu planning and then it fell by the wayside. I’m trying to get the bf back on track but he’s been a bit more hesitant because of our schedule and wanting to try new foods. But coupons really don’t help that much except for snacks that we carry on us to prevent us from buying something out while we are at work or afterwards.
Maybe you guys to try one new meal each week with your menu plan so bf can get his fix. 🙂 I know we’ve had to do some of that here to combat meal boredom. There’s a ton of great recipe websites out there.
Reducing my grocery bill is one of my goals this year. So glad you included how to save money for 1 or 2 people as that is me and my husband. I’ll be following these tips all year though I don’t have a second freezer so that could limit my buying in bulk.
Yeah, that could hinder the bulk thing a bit, but you could still buy dry foods in bulk if it’s something you use, and you could fill up the freezer with smaller meals, maybe?
Sounds good. Thanks Laurie.
Hope that helps!
Great tips Laurie! I really need to get back to meal planning, as my grocery bill has gotten a bit cuckoo! 🙂
Ugh, doesn’t that drive you nuts? Funny how $900+ a month on groceries for us used to be just fine, and now if we go over $500 I’m freaking out. 🙂
I love how detailed and organized this is. I usually have a rough idea of what we’re going to eat for the week when I go grocery shopping, as it’s based on what is on sale. Unfortunately, we don’t have a very big freezer or much space in general, so I can’t buy in bulk yet. I’ll try and stock up for at least maybe two to three weeks if I can. We have been getting tired of the same meals over and over though, so I need to look for new recipes!
There’s such great stuff online, E.M., as far as new recipes go. You should check out http://www.canadianbudgetbinder.com too. Mr. CBB always has some type of wonderful recipe there. 🙂
Great ideas Laurie! I love the idea of just coming up 15 meals and then plan on eating that twice a month. That makes meal planning a whole lot easier! Also, we are trying to cut down on our meat consumption. Any favorite bean recipes?
No great bean recipes here, but you should google bean and rice recipes. I’m certain you’ll find a ton of good stuff on there. Then you can share it with us. 🙂
Great tips, Laurie. Meal planning is really important. When I walk in the door, I am greeted by three hungry people (okay, four when I include myself!) so I need to know what’s for dinner. Otherwise, like you mentioned, it’s too easy to order takeout or go to a restaurant. Those are best left for occasional treats, rather than the norm! It’s not only kinder to my pocketbook but also my waistline. 🙂 Meal planning also helps me stay focused in the grocery store. I go in, get what’s on my list and I’m out. Otherwise there is a good chance I’ll pick up random items that I have no idea what to do with later in the week.
LOL, yeah, those restaurant meals can add up in other places besides your pocketbook, can’t they! 🙂 And you’re right about it helping in the store too. If I’m just wandering with no list on hand, there’s bound to be trouble. 🙂
This is fantastic Laurie! I recently took over the food and menu planning tasks from my husband and it is amazing how much money we have saved by putting a plan together. He was more “fly by the seat of his pants,” and I definitely like a plan.
Yeah, it makes a huge difference, doesn’t it! You should update us in a couple of months on how much you’ve saved since you’ve made the switch.
Menu planning is the biggest challenge for me, though I did notice how efficient and cost-effective it was! Just need to get back in that routine… I agree, too, that in a pinch, Google is the best at figuring out recipes if you have random ingredients laying around the house. 🙂
Totally, Anna! We’ve found some really great recipes through Google. We should really do more of that, actually.
Thanks for the tips Laurie. Menu planning is a great one. I sometimes get lazy about that one. Another great way to save money is buy sale items in bulk and prepare meals that can be frozen for later use!
Love the idea of preparing meals and freezing them for later – that has been a huge sanity saver on stressful days – that, and popcorn. 🙂
One thing I need to get better at is preping and freezing items so I can use them later. A good example would be cauliflower rice. I like using it in dishes but the prep for a meal can take some time. If I just made a huge batch of it and froze it into single portions though, it would be a huge time saver.
So true, Micro! That’d be great for bringing to work for lunches too. Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
I love the slow cooker to make a big stew and then freeze the leftovers or take them to work lunches the next day. If you freeze as a small family you don’t get bored eating the same stuff over and over again.
That’s a great idea, Pauline. We are just starting to take advantage of using our slow cooker more, and the results have been fabulous!
Cooking and buying for 2 is a definite challenge for me. Sometimes things still go to waste. There are times where I will give in and just order takeout because I feel that there will be more food variety and there just seems to be less food thrown away. This is a regular challenge in our home and it’s something that I am constantly looking for ways to overcome it.
Jen, that is completely understandable. I absolutely love Grayson’s plan of making two meals a week and then just making those last for the week, but I fear I’m much to spoiled to stick to a plan like that. I’ll bet his grocery bill is stunningly low, though. 🙂
I had a friend of mine come back from a grocery shopping trip and said, “We spent over $200 at the grocery store and I can’t think of any meals that can make.” Seemed like such a waste of a trip to the grocery store. I go through the isles with my list, as well as a calculator to make sure we don’t go over budget, AND we get everything we need to feed the fam for the week!
We used to do that same thing before menu planning became a staple at our house. I would sit at home with a house full of food, wondering what to cook. Menu planning is such a better way to go, isn’t it?
To your first point, menu planning has saved me so much money in the past. I try to plan meals around ingredients that are in season and therefore less expensive, and what I already have. Which reminds me, I have so much rice in my pantry it’s not even funny.
LOL, sounds like our house, Daisy. But you just can’t pass up the cheap factor on it!
Great post Laurie and thanks for mentioning us single folks 🙂
I plan on doing a lot of eating in this 2014 and will be doing exactly what you suggest! I will make a few big dishes and then divy them up for meals during the week. I love left-overs and I also love my fridge freezer so I’m good to go 🙂
Not only will all this save me money, but it will work nicely towards my weight loss goals of 2014 as well…a win-win!
Take care Laurie and all the best.
Lyle
Leftovers are the best, aren’t they, Lyle? Sounds like 2014 is shaping up to be an awesome year for you already – best of luck to you, my friend. 🙂
I’m always impressed with what other people are doing to save money with groceries. It’s a trouble area for me because I’m a picky eater, hate meal planning, and hate cooking. I’ll make something in bulk like soup and eat it two days in a row, but by the third day I just can’t stand the site of it. I try NOT to buy in bulk but in small portions so hopefully nothing goes to waste. Plus I have a small kitchen so no room for storage. The only thing I’m working towards is trimming the fat like your said. Don’t buy “extras” I don’t need.
Tonya, your strategy proves that, for the right person, buying in smaller quantities can actually save money. I think it’s great that you know what’s best for you, and that you’ve found creative ways to work within your “refined tastes” and your budget, and plan your grocery list accordingly. That’s the way to do it, my friend. 🙂
Planning is the most important thing to avoid last minute purchases or eating out. Our crock pot also is a great resource when we know we won’t have time to do much cooking in the evening.
LOVE the crockpot!! We may just be doing that for tomorrow’s meal. Planning has been huge for us too, Kim. It’s largely what has allowed us to cut our grocery budget so drastically. Thanks for weighing in. 🙂
You got it. Planning is the secret ingredient in saving money and living life rich. With the right amount of planning on menu and buying items in bulk that are typically used throughout the year, the savings do add up.
I find by shopping for items at the corner drug store, using register rewards of some type and manufacture coupons, you’ll end up earning some good rewards to get things for free the next time around.
I’ll have to look more into that, Jason. I’ve heard rumors of the good deals to be had, but never tried it. Thanks for the tip!
Good tips! We do all of these things. 🙂
Glad to hear you’re doing well on your grocery budget, Sarah. Congrats!
I like the important theme that you stress in your article revolving around planning and preparation in order to create or meet a budget and save money. Because how can one realistically meet a goal using a shoot from the hip shopping style at the grocery store?
Personally, I am not a big fan of stocking up on freezer items. Most of us either do not have the space to accommodate a second freezer without it being an eye sore or can not justify the cost of one. Also, I am concerned about food quality of frozen food in terms of freshness and stuff that works well in the freezer are all of the bad stuff which includes frozen pizzas as cited in your example.
I think most folks are savvy enough to pick out the best deals within one store or have a sense of prices for brand name items among the big box outlets. But one tip that I might suggest is take one full day and fully investigate ALL of the retail food stores, both big and small, in your neighbourhood in order to get a sense of their specialty and focus products and general pricing. You will be surprised how much you can save on products that you buy regularly over long periods of time. And no, I am not referring to rice and beans or ramen instant noodles either.
Great tip, Steve! Yes, we do exactly this same thing: we buy certain things at certain stores in a way that provides us the best quality and best price. One of the things we use our deep freezer for lots is for freezing our garden veggies, such as beans, peas, carrots, onions and peppers. If you do have the space for a deep freezer, this is a great way to preserve those wholesome veggies you’ve grown.
I tend to pride myself on my grocery frugality but I learned something new with this post. I’m definitely going to try your approach to menu planning.
So glad it was helpful, WWP! I know these techniques have definitely saved us some huge cash.
We just started that this year, Charlie, and it’s going great. If we run out of money, we’re forced to eat what’s in the house and not go over budget. Great tip!
I just sat down to do our meal planning for dinners..do you plan lunches too? We are a family of 6 (but only 5 of us eat food since #6 is not on solids yet). I was thinking about doing a day of prep for breakfast stuff too such as making pancakes, and French toast, snack foods (cookies, brownies, etc). When you buy in bulk, do you buy it all in bulk except fruits and veggies so that your entire Monthly bill is $400 or is it $400 twice a month? (Trying to make sure I’m informing my husband correctly). Our grocery bill is $330 twice a month..a $400 grocery per month would be amazing!
Hi Megan! Entire bill runs between $400-$425 a month. In bulk we buy cheese, eggs, any junk food purchases (frozen pizza rolls, etc., which we serve for 2 meals a month), butter, and sour cream. Oh, and spices too. Pasta we buy at Trader Joe’s for 99 cents a pound, and rice we buy organic brown at Walmart for roughly $3.50 for a 2 pound bag. We serve a variety of veggies with some pasta and rice for lunch, or with potatoes. By making most of our meals super cheap (for example, spaghetti or homemade mac and cheese for lunch) we can keep the costs around the $400 range even with organic food purchases. I’ll write a detailed post on this on The Frugal Farmer this week.