Simple Steps To Save Money On Groceries

When we started our debt free journey and I was evaluating our spending habits, I quickly realized that what we were spending on food for our family of 5 was well above what it should have been.  At the time we were spending well over $1,200 on food each month!  And that didn’t include what we were spending eating out, or any of our household expenses!  I started to hack away at our grocery budget, and have cut our monthly spending by over 50%.  Here’s some of the simple steps I took to save money on groceries.

Make A Plan, And A List

I personally like to monthly meal plan and go grocery shopping on Thursday’s.  Throughout the week, I use a notebook to write down a list of what we’ll need next time I go to the store.  I also like to write down what our meal plan will be for that week, and can write any ingredients we may need for those recipes that we don’t have on hand.

Use what works for you and your schedule, but every time you go in the grocery store, you need to have a plan and a list.

Limit The Stores You Shop At

A few years ago, I used to shop for the best deals at each store in town.  This meant every time we were out for groceries, I used to run all the kids to three or four different stores.  Not only did it make for a long and tiring day, it also made it easier to go over budget.  When you shop at a few stores, you’re less likely to overspend, allowing you to stick to your grocery budget.

Shop Less Often

The more often you are in a store, the more you will overspend.  Currently I go shopping once a week, and it is perfect for us.  We only have one fridge, so we’re limited on the amount of dairy, fresh foods and leftovers we can hold at a time.

Meats, like ground beef and boneless skinless chicken breasts, we buy in family value packs once a month or less.  Another way to save is to buy your meats through Zaycon.  While I personally do not have a pick up location within a 3 hour drive from where I live, I know many people that have saved a lot of money on their grocery budgets by buying through Zaycon.

Buy Single Ingredient Items

This applies to spices more than anything.  Rather than buying a ton of prepackaged spice mixes, buy the individual spices.  Not only can you make your own mixes at home, but you can also use the single spices to flavor your meals without spending extra money.

Substitute Ingredients

If the recipe you’re making calls for a specific ingredient, see if you can substitute something you have on hand instead.  Not only will this help reduce your spending, but you’ll be making use of items you already have.

For example, rather than buying buttermilk for pancakes, I’ll make sour milk with some vinegar and milk instead.

Buy On Sale

In order to know what is a really good sale, I recommend you keep a price book.

But let’s be real… I haven’t kept a price book in quite a few years.  The reason?  I didn’t have the time to continue to shop at different stores {see item 1}, I certainly don’t have the time to keep up with updating the constantly changing prices in my price book.

My recommendation instead is to learn the regular prices of what you buy each and every week.  For us, it’s milk, half & half, cottage cheese, bread, etc.  I’ve learned the prices of these foods, and that makes it easier for me to notice if the prices increase, or if another store has a cheaper price.

Buy in Bulk

I talked about buying in bulk before, and my qualms with it when I bought my Sam’s Club Membership.  Buying in bulk usually means a lower unit price, but I suggest you tread lightly because when you buy in bulk it can be so easy to cross the line from saving money to overspending.  My suggestion is to see if there are bulk options to the foods you buy regularly, and whether they are actually cheaper.

If you don’t have the funds available to pay for a membership, ask around to see if any of your friends have a membership, and if they’ll let you tag along next time they go.

Cut Out Convenience Foods

I get it.  This can be a tough one.  When we were in grad school, we went through so many different packages and boxes of sides.  Not only were they simple and helped to round out our meals, they cooked up really fast too.  But it does take a toll on your grocery budget.  Rather than buying the prepackaged sides and mixes, try making your own.  Some of the best recipes I’ve come across have been because we’ve tried to replace convenience foods.

Within this category are things like sodas and sports drinks.  By reducing how often you buy them, you’re not only freeing up more money in your grocery budget for necessities, but you’re making yourself healthier in the process.

Limit Snack Foods

I find that a majority of the money I spend each week comes from snack foods.  I do limit what snacks we get for the week, to two or three options.  I usually stick to pretzels and crackers for school since they’re not sticky or messy.  I also pair snack foods with cheese sticks or fruit when we’re at home to make sure they last.

Divvy Out Snacks

This goes hand in hand with the previous two.  Buying snacks that are already preportioned is more expensive than buying a box and using some reusable snack containers*.

Clip Coupons & Use Money Saving Apps

Clip coupons for items that you will use, and what is on your list.  Don’t use coupons on items that you won’t use at all.  That’s just wasting money.

Aside from coupons, there are tons of money saving apps out there.  A few of my favorites include Ibotta* and Cartwheel, which is now built directly into the Target app.  Ibotta is a super easy to use cash back rewards when you snap photos of your receipts or shop on certain websites.  I tend to stray away from apps that require me to buy specific items, but Ibotta also gives cash back for any item on my receipt.  It’s my favorite way to get cash rewards and I use Ibotta every time I shop.  If you sign up through my referral link*, you’ll get a $10 sign on bonus.  {I do get a $5 bonus for referring you.}

Cartwheel is another app I use every time I’m out.  It’s percentage based savings available at Target only.  I love that I’m able to scan the barcode of the items I’m buying and know instantly if there’s a cartwheel offer available.

Don’t Shop Hungry

One of the worst things you can do is go to the store while hungry.  Whenever I shop before I eat, I tend to grab more snacks than normal.  It’s like a triple whammy to the grocery budget.  Eat before you shop, and stick to your list.

Buy Generic Brand When Possible

I don’t always follow this one because of allergies to certain items, but when I can buy generic I take advantage of it.  Most generic foods taste the same and they help stretch our grocery budget a little further.

Start A Garden

If you have the space available, try starting a garden.  Even growing some foods in a container garden can help save you money.  Some simple plants to grow include lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, zucchini, peas and beans.  Not only are these plants really easy to grow, they will give you a large harvest.  Trust me when I say you’ll be trying to give your zucchinis away by the end of the growing season.

You can buy seeds* and start them yourself, or go to your local greenhouse and buy seedlings.  I’ve had success with both options.

Buy In Season

One way I save a lot of money is to buy a lot of fruit and veggies that I can’t grow in our garden.  These include, but are not limited to, blueberries, raspberries, peaches, apples, and corn.  What we don’t eat fresh and incorporate into our meal plan, I either freeze or can to use throughout the rest of the year.  You can check out my food preserving posts to for simple step by step photo tutorials to take out the guess work.

 

If you’re looking for more help on how to reduce your grocery budget, Crystal Paine from Money Saving Mom has an audio course called Grocery University*, where she teaches you how to make the most of your grocery budget.  I highly recommend checking the course out if you’ve tried all of the above, and still haven’t reduced your grocery spending.

 

If Nothing Else Works, Reevaluate Your Budget.

Are you implementing the steps above and still overspending from your grocery budget?  Look at what you’re spending each week and see if it’s consistent each week.  What about each month?  If so, and you’ve made as many cut backs as you can, maybe it’s time to reevaluate your budget.

I can remember when I would get so irritated and disappointed that I couldn’t stick to my $125/week budget anymore.  I was budgeting for household and grocery items, and we were buying the bare bones, and I still couldn’t make it.  I’ve talked about this before.  How much your grocery budget should be versus how much you want your grocery budget to be are two very different things.

I wanted my budget to be $125 per week for food and household items, but it wasn’t realistic anymore.  Food prices in our area have been rising like crazy, and my kids have been growing at astronomical rates.  I no longer have a 7 year old and two toddlers.  I have a 13 year old, a 9 year old and 7 year old who have started to hit their growth strides.  They don’t go through the same amount of food anymore.  I cannot split a banana between the younger two anymore as a snack and have it be enough.

 

What are some of your tried and true, simple steps to save money on groceries?  I’d love to know in the comments below!