One of my goals with this blog is to offer you ways to be more productive, including with the time and money you spend on food. Food is a big part of life and probably a big part of your budget! Hopefully these tips will help you find ways to save on groceries.
I have been on a mission for the past several years to reduce our spending on food while at the same time improving the quality of the food we eat. Due to multiple food allergies and intolerances, several of my family members have strict restrictions on what they can eat which further complicates our shopping and meal-planning.
I really like things simple, but when it comes to food, my life is anything but. Thankfully, using the 6 simple practices below makes the whole cooking and shopping process a lot easier.
Here are my 6 must-do practices to save on grocery shopping:
- Make a menu.When I skip this step, we still do pretty well, but I find that we spend more money than necessary. Also, there are plenty of times when someone is hungry and digging around in the fridge. Having a menu for all 3 meals of the day helps us to avoid this problem.
- Cook from scratch. This is so critical to keeping the grocery budget manageable.
- Cook in bulk. If you’re cooking from scratch, you’re going to be spending more time in the kitchen. It’s usually just as easy to double or triple a recipe and freeze the extra (just make sure hungry people don’t gobble your work too quickly!)
- Compare unit prices. Paying attention to unit prices is so helpful in stretching your grocery dollars. More on this in an upcoming post.
- Shop around. Once you know what the best prices are, you will find that different stores will be better for different items. I currently use 3 different stores for groceries, plus a local farm for milk. I also do a lot of the bulk shopping online. I plan my shopping so I only go to 1 or 2 stores each week, but I’m still able to take advantage of each store’s best prices.
- Skip the processed food. While we love all the yummy gluten-free snacks that are available at the grocery store now, they are soooo expensive and so we usually make our own or eat something else (like stove-popped popcorn instead of crackers).
Over the next couple posts, I’ll be filling in some of the details on the points above. I think it absolutely is possible to eat well and enjoy healthy food while sticking to a budget and not break your personal finances. I hope you’ll be blessed by this series.
I plan a menu by the week, shop with a list, and cook probably 95% of meals from scratch. I noticed a huge difference in my grocery bill when I did these things.
Yes, these are must-dos for me, too. Sticking to the list alone is a huge help. Thanks for stopping by!
I control by grocery spending by using a smartphone app to make my shopping list prior to going to the store. RESCUE Consumer lets you create a list and build a budget.
That sounds very handy. A list is a great way to keep to your budget. My list is usually just paper. Thanks for stopping by!
I control my budget by being willing to sub for what’s on sale. I swap chicken thighs for chicken breasts… or sometimes I even used slices of pork loin depending on what’s cheaper. I totally agree that menu planning and cooking from scratch are keys.
Only start a facebook page if you like using facebook (my 2cents worth).
Yes! This is a great tip. Making subs like this also keeps things interesting, doesn’t it? Dinner is never exactly the same twice. Thanks for stopping by.
Hi, Sarah. I love cooking in bulk! I typically don’t freeze, though. I like having a few main-course type things in the fridge that we can rotate throughout the week. I don’t have much experience freezing cooked food. Can you recommend entrees that survive the freeze/thaw without much effect on flavour and consistenc?. Are there any foods that don’t do well after the freezer? Thank you.
I often like to freeze ingredients – a giant pot of cooked beans divided up into meal-sized portions, or cooked ground turkey or diced chicken. It’s nice to have these things cooked and ready to go – you can take them out to thaw in the morning and throw them into a pot and have a home-cooked dinner in 15 minutes. I also like to freeze baked goods – it makes it easier to not eat the entire batch in a day or two. Also, soups and chili freeze well for me. 🙂