5 Ways to Spend Less Money on Groceries and Still Eat Well
When we look at our spending habits, it’s pretty easy to see the food is an area we spend A LOT of money! Which is actually great, because that means it’s an area that we can start to save money in. And when it comes to grocery shopping, there a lot of painless, easy ways to spend less but still eat great.
These tips are not for extreme coupons or the super frugal. These are for every day folks, like myself, who want to continue to have a delicious and varied diet but want to spend a little less doing so.
When I implemented these tips, I saved between $20-$50 PER WEEK for my little family of three. If you have a bigger family, the savings will be even bigger!
5 Ways I Save $20-$50 Per Week on Groceries
I buy everything generic. If it’s available in the store brand, that’s what I’m buying. I have yet to find a food that isn’t just as good in the generic version as the name brand version.
I learned when and where my store had it’s “reduced to sell markdowns” put out. I found that a lot of vegetables and deli items are marked down 50%-75% the last hour before closing and the first hour the store opens. And then I shopped those items. This helps keep my menu varied and delicious! And I made sure that even if it was on a great sale, if it wasn’t something that my family was going to eat, I left in on the shelves. The one caveat to that was meat, if fresh meat was a great sale and it was a cut that my family enjoys, I’ll buy it and freeze it and then use it THE FOLLOWING WEEK in my menu planning.
I look at the weekly sale ads and plan my weekly menu around what’s on sale. A simple enough concept, but especially if the main ingredients aren’t on sale, I wait until it is on sale to make that meal
I stock up on some food items when they are on sale. I try not to overstock my pantry with a ton of stuff. But there are a few things that I will always buy a couple of when they go on sale, knowing my family will eat them before they go bad. The biggest money saver that I buy this way is ground beef. It’s SOOO expensive normally! But my store every 4-6 weeks marks it down by HALF. So when it' goes on sale I buy about 5 individual pounds of it. Then I freeze it and we use it in our recipes until the next time it goes on sale. Some more items I stock up on are cereal and tea, when there is a good deal I always buy an extra box or two because I know my family will eat it before it goes stale.
I avoid already prepped vegetables. It costs 3-4 times as much to buy already chopped fresh vegetables. And it costs 2-3 times as much to buy already chopped frozen vegetables. I save money when I do the chopping myself because 1) it’s cheaper and 2) when I buy the fresh veggies in bulk I only get exactly what I need instead of spending more to get more than the recipe calls for. It might take me a little extra time, but in the long run that little extra time is only 5-10 minutes. But the amount of money save by taking that extra time adds up astronomically over the course of a month.
BONUS TIP: I know what version of produce to buy for the best value, taste, and nutrients. Some vegetables are always going to be cheaper if I purchase them frozen, and if I’m putting them in a soup or casserole, that means I’m going to buy them frozen. Tomatoes, for example, are better nutritionally if they are prepared with heat, so canned tomatoes are actually healthier for you than fresh. And most of the time canned tomates are also cheaper than fresh tomatoes. So buying the canned version means I get more nutrients to my family and I save money! I also pay attention to what’s in season, this is pretty easy to do because those are usually the fruits and vegetables that are on sale. If it’s in season I’ll try to buy it fresh, if it’s not in season I’ll look to see if the frozen of canned version will work for me. Most frozen and canned fruits and vegetables are picked at the peak of their season and then they are canned or frozen immediately which means they are actually more flavorful and more nutrient dense than the fresh stuff out of season!
Are you ready to eliminate your debt and create the financial security you crave?
Simple savings go a long way to reduce your debt.
