7 easy ways to save money on groceries
With inflation being so high these days grocery bills are through the roof! However, that does not have to be our case these easy and practical grocery money saving tips can help save over 1,000 dollars a month in groceries this month.
Shop your home
Before you even head to the grocery store, save big by shopping your fridge, cabinets as well as your freezer. When we shop our homes, we can save so much money because we can now create meals with the things that are already available to us. If it’s in our home already, chances are our families already use these types of items.
As an added bonus we can make this step faster for years to come by making an inventory list the first time we do this. That way, every time we need to know what we have in stock, we can just check our inventory list. Let’s just be sure to make updates as we use up or add more things.
Remix your leftovers
A lot of times, when we have leftovers, for one reason or another the food tends to not get eaten. Whether it gets forgotten about or its just not as appetizing the second time around; for some reason left overs, (unless is Thanksgiving) are just not that popular. We can remedy this by transforming our left overs into different meals. Let’s think of the elements of the dishes and how we can incorporate them in a new and exciting way. Otherwise, we can always look up a recipe. By doing this, we can save a lot of money on groceries, as well as eliminate food waste.
Grow a garden
Try growing a garden to save hundreds on groceries. This is a whole lot easier than it sounds and we don’t even need much space to get started. Start with one or two seasonal veggies, you can start in a planting pot and then transfer them out if needed or these affordable planting bags with handles here https://amzn.to/3D3w2VG or even a indoor/outdoor vegetable planter like this https://amzn.to/3s1wRYT or this one here https://amzn.to/3MDppwg and watch them grow in weeks! We have started growing some winter veggies in a small planter and the results are unreal! We used these seeds right here: https://amzn.to/3TsQNzh . Even if you are limited to indoor only you can do this, try this option here https://amzn.to/3EQxpZg Before you know it, you will have fresh home grown vegetables free of pesticides that we can use at anytime. Not only will we eat more healthy, save money on groceries but we will save on gas to by not having to drive to the supermarket.
Shop online
Speaking of driving, shop online when you can. This will save hundreds of dollars on groceries in a month as well because there is little to no risk buying things that are not on our list as we are simply just adding our list straight into the cart. No browsing through aisles or getting tempted by a pack of gum or chocolate as we get on line to pay. Some super market bring to our homes so that we do not have to drive, thus saving on gas. You can also use services like instacart for a small fee if it’s on your budget. Otherwise some supermarkets will simply put the groceries in your trunk when you arrive for a mere pennies a month or sometimes even for free. You will save so much time and money with this tip. This is a win if your a mom of littles!
Make it a double
When we are already cooking, we can freeze meals in order to save time as well as money on groceries. A lot of times if we can buy in bulk it is more affordable anyway, or buying 1 large jar of pasta sauce cost less than buying two small ones in two separate instances. Therefore, it just makes sense to buy the bigger jar, in this example, and make two lasagnas instead of just the one. It will take about the same amount of time to cook two instead of one, if we place them in the oven at the same time. So, we now have two meals that cost less money to make (therefore saving money on groceries) as well as have a frozen meal for later. That way, another evening, we can have dinner ready in virtually no time. Not to mention if some members of our families have a different dietary preference than others, you can fill the lasagna with two types of protein (example one meat and one tofu). Slice the lasagnas in half and serve half of each while freezing the other two.
Add to cart
Update your shopping list as things finish. Each time we finish a staple grocery, let’s be sure to add it to the cart (if we online shop) or write it in an ongoing shopping list. That way, we know exactly what it is that we need to repurchase and for how much, instead of being forced to remember all at once and adding extras or not remembering certain items at all.
Meal plan
We cannot speak of saving money on groceries without mentioning meal planning. This single tip will save hundreds of dollars every single week on groceries. When we meal plan we know exactly what we will eat, thus causing us to know exactly what we should purchase. This eliminates the need for random purchases that can add up to big bucks over time. Not to mention it will help prevent food waste because we know exactly what we are to eat. It also saves times because we don’t have to think about what’s for dinner ever again since we will know. This tip only works however, if we actually eat what we planned otherwise it can waste time, money as well as food. The very things it was designed to help save. In order to ensure my family and I do not fall into this trap, instead of meal planning one specific meal for one specific day of the week, we instead plan for 7 meals. Include left overs and takeout (if your family has these) and we now only get to plan 5 meals. Select 5 meals using all of these other tips for maximum saving potential. And on the day of (or the night before if you need to move something from the freezer) select what you wish to have. If your family can help select that will be fun for them and one less thing for us to think about. Not to mention they will be more likely to eat a meal they have selected so win-win.
My family of 4 and I implement these tips and we were able to slash our grocery bill by more than half from 1,800 a month in groceries to 600 dollars in a month. These new numbers are current, so even with all the inflation going on we save a total of around 1,200 every single month on groceries. So if we can do it you can do it too! Follow these tips to see drastic results in your grocery budget as well. 💛
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