Grocery Budget – 4 Ways To Cut Your Grocery Budget In Half (Yay!)

Are you struggling with your grocery budget? Have no fear! Here are 4 ways to cut your grocery budget in half (so you have more money in your pocket).

In case you haven’t guessed, it can be expensive to feed your family if you allow it to be!

The cost of food makes up a large portion of most household budgets, and the price continues to climb year after year.

Check out these several alarming statistics surrounding the cost of food in America:

• According to recent stats, the household weekly grocery spend is $254.96 on average.
• Couples with children between the ages of 5-14 spend the most on their weekly grocery shop with an average spend of $336.

Fortunately, there are a few techniques that can help you save big on your next trip to the grocery store!

These days my idea of living dangerously is going grocery shopping without a list.

You know your life has changed when going to the grocery store by yourself is a vacation – Motherhood.

Each time you go to the grocery store with your kids, it is a potential learning opportunity. In order not to overemphasize materialism, focus on other things to do with money. Beyond the lemonade stand, I try to emphasize the importance of saving money and of using it to help other people. Bill Rancic

Use these strategies to dramatically lower your food bill and stick to your lower grocery budget:

 

GROCERY BUDGET

TIP # 1 – Stop paying for convenience.

To realize the biggest savings, avoid pre-packaged foods or foods that have been pre-washed, pre-chopped, or pre-cooked.

• Look for whole foods that you can cook and prepare at home, rather than buying food that has been highly processed.

Preparing whole foods at home is cheaper and gives you greater control over how much sugar, salt, and fat are added to your meals!

• Cook at home rather than eat out.

If you don’t know how to cook, consider asking your friends and family to share their favorite recipes with you. You can also search online for instructions on how to prepare your favorite ingredients.

• Several sites allow users to enter three or four key ingredients and then provide recipes for their use.

This is a great way to use up food items that may be close to their expiration date. Therefore, you’ll be throwing away less food! Check your pantry and see what you can whip up with what you have right at home.

GROCERY BUDGET

TIP # 2 – Plan menus around weekly sale items.

Prepare dishes with items that are already marked down or on sale for the week.

• Many grocers offer specials on items in their meat and produce departments once or twice a month. Other stores also offer significant markdowns on meat, fruits, and vegetables that are close to their expiration date.
• Shopping early and often can help you identify your grocer’s sales and markdown patterns.
• Most meats and produce can be safely stored in your freezer until you’re ready to use them. Stock up on these special deals and plan your meals around these sales.

GROCERY BUDGET

TIP # 3 – Avoid confining yourself to shopping at only one retailer for groceries and other household items.

Look for specials, markdowns, and rewards programs at all of the grocery stores in your area.

• A bigger store chain doesn’t necessarily mean better savings! Include smaller, regional grocery stores, as well as area farmer’s markets, on your list of places to shop for savings.

GROCERY BUDGET

TIP # 4 – Save big with coupons and rewards clubs.

Many stores offer special discounts to members of their loyalty and shopping clubs.

• Sign up and remember to bring your membership card when you shop. Save even more by using coupons you find online.
• Several sites offer coupons for many common grocery items. Many of these sites allow you to download coupons directly to your Smartphone or your favorite retailer’s rewards card, so you don’t have to spend as much time printing or clipping coupons.
• Using a coupon on an item that’s already on sale will produce extra savings. Keep in mind that you aren’t really saving if you use a coupon on an item that you wouldn’t normally buy!

Yes it’s sometimes true that rising food prices can make it more difficult to afford a nutritious diet. But it isn’t IMPOSSIBLE.

There are a few tricks that will make it easy for you to afford healthy and appealing foods, while dramatically reducing your grocery bill.

Take these tips on board to help you dramatically reduce your weekly grocery bill spend.

I also recommend that you shop with a list in hand to make sure you stick to your plan.

Have a plan before you enter the grocery store.

The whole design of the store is to make you spend more money than you planned.

Also make sure to go grocery shopping after a meal.

You will spend less if your tummy is full, instead of allowing your hungry eyes to want to buy everything in sight.

 

  

A penny here, and a dollar there, placed at interest, goes on accumulating, and in this way the desired result is attained. It requires some training, perhaps, to accomplish this economy, but when once used to it, you will find there is more satisfaction in rational saving than in irrational spending. P.T Barnum

The habit of saving is itself an education; it fosters every virtue, teaches self-denial, cultivates the sense of order, trains to forethought, and so broadens the mind. Thornton T. Munger

Being frugal does not mean being cheap! It means being economical and avoiding waste. Catherine Pulsifer

Frugality is one of the most beautiful and joyful words in the English language, and yet one that we are culturally cut off from understanding and enjoying. The consumption society has made us feel that happiness lies in having things, and has failed to teach us the happiness of not having things. Elise Boulding

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