You don’t have to be an extreme couponer to save
money on your grocery bill this summer.
The kids are home from school for a couple of months and that’s extra
meals you need to budget for, but no worries!
With these simple tips, you can learn how to budget your monthly food costs
and save – not spend.
How to cut grocery costs and save each month:
Plan
your meals. By creating
a meal plan, you can decide exactly what to make each day – which will help out
when you’re headed to the grocery store.
Even if you’re the kind of mom whose taste varies from day to day and
you’re not really sure what you’d want to make, having a simple meal schedule
will help out a ton. For example, if you
decide that you want to make pizza one night, tacos at some point, and a roast
for your hubby’s birthday – knowing that much ahead of time will really come in
handy when you go to the next tip:
Make
a grocery list.
Seriously, you will not look like your grandma just because you bring a
checklist to remind you of the things you need to pick up. By jotting down the things you need from the
store, you’re less likely to make impulse purchases. It also saves extra trips to the store when
you get started cooking and realize you don’t have all the ingredients. My favorite way to keep up with what we need
is to have a master list, a list with common items we use with space below to
add in extras. Hang this on the fridge,
and when you run out of milk or eggs, just make a note that you need to pick
some up soon.
Clip
coupons. No, you
don’t have to go to extremes to save money.
When the Sunday paper comes in, take an extra ten minutes to flip
through the sales papers to see if anything on your grocery list is on
sale. Snip the coupons that you need and
put them with your list. Another great
way to use coupons is through your grocery store’s loyalty program. Many stores allow you to virtually clip
coupons and load them onto your loyalty card – and the savings add up right at
the register! A great site for couponing
without going crazy is Lozo.com, where you just type in your grocery list and
they will email you all the coupons that match those items.
Go
generic. Store brand
products are often made by the same manufacturers that make your favorite
brand-name products, and include all the same ingredients. Skip the $5 gallon of milk, and opt instead
for the $3 store brand. Store-brand
products can be upwards of 20% cheaper!
If you’re iffy about how certain substitutes may taste, consider buying
the cheaper items that aren’t going to change much between brands, like
condiments, canned foods, and pastas.
Bulk
up. You don’t have to stock your house up like an
apocalypse is coming, but buying larger packages is cheaper in the long
run. Oftentimes, meat is cheaper in
“family packs.” What you don’t use for
one meal can be frozen for a future meal!
Another thing to consider is that single-serving products can be close
to double the price of a larger pack per serving. Look for a unit price and buy the better
deal.
Avoid
convenience.
Sure, this one sounds like a pain – but by purchasing fresh, in-season
products and preparing them yourself, you will save a bunch of money. We are a society of fast and easy, so the
idea of having to prepare things from scratch sounds a little daunting. In truth, you’re only adding about ten
minutes of prep-time to your meals!
Discourage
boredom eating.
Kids are going to want to snack when they get bored. Keep them playing, keep them busy, and offer
meals and snacks only at certain times.
No, don’t withhold food from an actually hungry child, but limit the
snacking in between meals. Offering a
snack between meals is a good way to help keep their energy up and is
recommended by the USDA for healthy eating habits – but letting them munch on
Cheetos all day long is a good way to drain your wallet, and increase their
chances of obesity.
What are your favorite money-saving tips for grocery shopping?
Let me know in the comments!
