Cutting Grocery Costs

jessudd

How do you keep your grocery bill under control? My husband is going to school full-time this year, so we really need to make some budget cuts, and it seems like food is one of our biggest expenditures, but neither of us wants to give up healthy eating in favor of say, Ramen noodles every night. And there never seem to be coupons to clip for fruits and vegetables!! I try to buy in-season as much as possible, and we eat very little meat. We buy a few convenience foods, but I usually try to spend my weekends cooking, chopping and prepping food for the next week...

Any hints for keeping food costs down without sacrificing good, quality, healthy food? Or recipes that will go a long way? We're pretty much experts on rice and beans right now...

recipe4success

Try to buy in bulk...it costs more initially but the price/unit cost is much better and can save you money in the long run

edinbors

Do you have an aldi's where you live? If so that cuts mine down by about half from when I go to walmart!

jrich1

Plan our menu out and try to plan it around what we can find on sale

kaittx13

Frozen fruits and veggies tend to be cheap and they are just as nutritious as the fresh ones. Maybe that could help the costs with out cutting back on the healthy part

ohh and bottled water.. dont buy it. get a plastic water bottle that you can reuse and just fill that up. that could save alot if yall buy bottled water

tn2010

We had to do this same thing and I found shopping in bulk was a saving grace. Of course, only buy veggies that last a long time and/or that you eat quickly. We bought store brand as much as possible for staple items (canned beans/veggies, cereals, flours, condiments, pastas), and cut out luxury items like soda, juice, and packaged cookies/crackers (we made our own baked goods). Buying store brand pantry items allowed us to spend more money on fresh produce. We also bought meat and cheese in bulk and froze it in smaller portions.

jessudd

Thanks for the great tips!! We just had our one year anniversary, and most of last year we were on opposite schedules (I worked days and he worked afternoon/evening), so I'm still getting used to buying for and feeding me plus my hungry hubs... plus cutting our budget in half this year! I'll definitely use your advice!!

pressica

You have a lot of the ideas that I have. Cooking on the weekends and making meals ahead. Making sure that you shop only off of your list. Lots of vegetarian dinners. Buying what's on sale and in season. I usually sit down with my grocery ads, and make my menu that way. Also, try to keep an inventory of what you have on hand. A lot of money goes to waste just by things going bad. Make your lunches at the same time as dinner. I put away enough for my lunch the next day and then reheat.

Also, since it's just the two of you, I would say check out the bulk bins. I go to Winco and buy just enough for the week or month. It saves so much money. Instead of buying a huge bag of couscous or brown rice, I just buy a little bit. This is especially helpful with spices because I don't like to buy a big thing of a spice when it is just for one recipe.

I am curious what else people will suggest. I wish we had an Aldi's in my area.

KellieMcMurdy

Aldi's is a huge help for our budget as is Sam's club since we can buy in bulk and store what we don't need immediately. If there's something on sale you could make it ahead and freeze it so all you have to do is heat it up, I do that quite a bit with casserole dishes, makes life a little easier on those truly hectic days. Oh, if you're in an area with a natural spring you could get water from there instead of buying it. Not sure if any of this helps but good luck.

Kpatty

Hi. I coupon! I save 1/3 or more of my original bill (My last shopping experience I spend 268 and saved 100! These groceries will last about 3 weeks!) I shop where I can get almost double the amount of the coupons. Coupons.com, Couponmom.com, frugalgirls.com are all great resources for coupons, freebies, samples, etc! I usually shop every 3 weeks, too...so meal planning is a big deal for us! If you like organic brands you can write to the companies and usually they're good about sending you coupons (so I've heard...I've never tried it). The Sunday paper is good about having coupons, too! It's worth taking the time to clip and shop where you can double the coupon's values (like Publix)! I hope this helps!
I save big on fresh produce from our local Farmer's Markets too! I usually get produce for 1/2 the price of the store's and it's fresher and local! )
Let me know what you think or if you need more tips!

ivyjbres

Plan our menu out and try to plan it around what we can find on sale

Combine that with buying groceries in bulk and only buying what's on your shopping list. Then next week when you make menus, inventory your kitchen and use as much as you can and only buy food that fills in the gaps.