5 Practical Ways to Save Money on Groceries. Simple tips that work for any family, any budget. Use every week to trim food costs and stick to your budget. Also, learn how to make a meal plan.
Sometimes saving money on groceries is just plain ol’ hard.
One week you’ll have a plan to use up what’s in the kitchen and supplement with the great deals at the store.
Then the next week nothing is on sale AND you’ve got a bare kitchen (because you ate it all last week). All the money you saved that first week? Gone.
Have you ever felt this way before?
Oh goodness- you’re so not alone!
Spending less on your grocery bill literally happens one shopping trip at a time. It’s 50 cents here, a few bucks there. It’s choosing to eat stir-fry with millet because it’s in the pantry, and not making a trip to the store for rice. When you stick to the list and shop for competitive prices, it is truly possible to feed your family on a budget.
Seriously, the grocery budget is achieved over many months, if not years, with each menu plan you write and each item you put (or don’t put) in your cart.
So let’s get to work. I have a few tricks up my sleeve that keep our budget in check month after month. If they can help me, I know they can help you!
Practical Ways to Save Money on Groceries Right Now
How can I spend less money on groceries?
(1) Stop buying salad dressings.
Salads are a GREAT way to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables.
Most store-bought salad dressings are filled with something to make it taste good (sugar), something to make it creamy (lecithin) and something to make it taste “fresh” even though it’s been sitting on a shelf for well over a year (preservatives).
Stop spending $3-5 PER BOTTLE and start making your own instead.
Enjoy these homemade dressing recipes!
Ranch:
Caesar:
Classic Italian and Greek:
Perfect for Asian Flavors:
Amazing for Mexican Flavors:
Tip: Turn any vinaigrette dressing into a “creamy” dressing by substituting plain yogurt for the olive oil.
(2) How to Save Money on Groceries: Stop buying snacks.
Seriously, just stop. I know it’s easy to have them on hand, but you’re really buying expensive items for the packaging. And if you’re looking for some that are allergy-friendly? Fuhgeddaboutit!
Most boxed snacks, even store brands, have SOMETHING in them to keep them shelf-stable, or they’re processed in a way that prevents them from going bad.
Yikes, which is worse?!
Choose fresh fruits, veggies, and healthy proteins instead, and create a snack box in the fridge and/or the pantry. Here’s how:
1. Line a large, flat container with either a napkin or a paper towel. Add as much of the following as you have, or can fit:
For the fridge:
- Carrot slices
- Celery slices
- Zucchini slices
- Cheese slices
- Cherry tomatoes
- Homemade gummies
- Homemade fruit leather
- 2-3 spoons (for scooping and eating yogurt)
For the pantry:
- Homemade granola clusters or granola bars
- Mandarin oranges
- Bags of trail mix
- Small apples (halved for little ones)
- Bananas (halved for little ones)
- Honey roasted almonds
2. When the family is hungry, pull out the box and leave it on the counter for them to pick/choose their snack(s). Put it away when they’ve chosen and make them wait until mealtime to eat again.
If you’re willing to scoop some yogurt for those who choose it, this is a very mommy-hands-off approach and MUCH healthier than the boxes. Plus kids like being able to pick what THEY want for a snack. You just limit their options. 🙂
(3) Stop throwing food away.
Don’t throw your kitchen scraps into the trash can! Make vegetable soup or homemade stock instead. Here’s what I’ve used from my fridge to make minestrone soup:
- Celery
- Cabbage
- Carrot
- Zucchini
- Squash
- Apple
- Onion
But I could have also saved:
- Tomato tops
- Wilted lettuce
- Wilted spinach
- Broccoli stems
- Beet greens
- Asparagus ends
By no means is this an exhaustive list, but it helps to show how much food we throw away that is still perfectly edible!
Here’s the recipe I used to add these scraps to my minestrone soup. You can also make chicken stock with kitchen scraps as well!
(4) How to Save Money on Groceries: Don’t worry about buying everything organic…
At least not right now. If you’re really trying to save money to pay rent or utilities & etc, the cost of organic food might be out of your budget (plus organic isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be).
There’s plenty of ways to mitigate this though, especially if organic food is a priority to your family.
- First, only buy organic what you eat a lot of, and what you whole-heartedly believe is worth it.
- A food that you eat once a week doesn’t need to be organic. But the chickens or produce you’re eating at every meal? That should rank a bit higher on the list.
- Learn how to find affordable organic food in your area and shop the Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen.
- Find ways to enjoy the farmers market without going broke and learn what the stickers on produce mean at the grocery store.
There is a time and a place to buy organics (and grass-fed, local, raw, non-GMO, etc.), but prioritizing your budget and needs comes first. (This is the very first lesson I teach in Grocery Budget Bootcamp!)
(5) Learn to like beans to save money on groceries.
There. I said it.
With every penny at stake, there’s no room for “I don’t like beans.”
I know dried beans aren’t the most glamorous food, but you need nutrition, they’re a nutrition powerhouse and they’re cheap.
Find a couple of varieties that you can tolerate and eat them often. Garbanzo beans, white beans, and brown lentils are the friendliest types of beans for beginners. They’re even more affordable when buying in bulk.
Make bean burritos, eat them over rice, add them to burgers, make hummus, bake brownies – do what you have to do to eat them at least three times each week (including all meals, not just dinner), especially if you’re cutting back on other protein sources.
(6) Focus on your task of saving money on groceries
It is SO easy to get distracted by the pretty packaging and the different varieties of foods at the store. I found myself oohing and ahhing over cheese just last week!
- Always shop with a list and stay focused. In fact, shop as if you’re already late for an appointment.
- Shop without kids if at all possible, and definitely not hungry.
- Treat grocery shopping as an errand.
- You’re on a mission to get in, shop the list based on your meal plan, and leave. Viewing this errand as an excursion or something fun to do is a sure-fire way to ruin the budget.
- Don’t get distracted by things that are not on your grocery list and don’t even bother going down the aisles you don’t have to!
More Tips on How to Save Money on Groceries
- How to Save Money with a Pantry Challenge
- 38 Ways to Save Money on Food Year-Round
- 10 Ways to Save Money on Coffee
- How to Save Time and Money with Batch Cooking
5 days to save $75
Need to save money on real food? Download my free guide to saving $75 in 5 days using easy, practical baby steps.When the budget is super tight and you need to pinch pennies stat, what small steps do you take to save?
Hey Tiffany;
Just read my first “Don’t waste the crumbs ” email I signed up for. I need to confess, I had just glanced at your site and decided why not get this info sent to my inbox.
Wow! I am so completely impressed with every tip offered, every recipe gets checked over, and atleast two of these have made the cut.
I have been running my own home, and all the needs of a family of five, and more often meals that included many weekly
drop-ins for years and years. For the most part, this was done on a shoe string budget, as we were involved in missions (not noted for its great salaries, nor does it attract those looking to make big buck). I learnt a lot about ” throwing that extra bean into the pot” during these times. Our budget forced us into learning to live with little, yet always having food to share. Gardening was a must. Local farmers gave us great deals on beef, pork and poultry. Learning to can, another must, as well as leaning to use a freezer properly. Going straight to the source, if possible always saves money.m
Now, we are thankful to have learnt to live with little, and learnt to live with much. Our life style has changed a great deal since our children have their own families. Once again we must reajust our spending, as my husband has just retired, and we will be living on a fixed income( much less, might I add ). After reading your web site I was invigorated and challenged by our newest set of circumstances. You have kick-started my need to be far more created with looking after the home-front. I want to do this with as much pizzaz and joyful experimentation as I can. I do have many years of experience to draw upon, but times have changed and there is a plethora of new ways to do up financial limitations with a flare! So, rather than beginning this with a groan, I’m excited by your creative suggestions. Some are new for me, others are just fantastic reminders to get back to our roots once again.
Tiffany, thanks for the inspiration and I would be remiss if I didn’t tell you, how much I look forward to all your wonderful up-coming email.
Truly grateful for you and your latest findings.
Thoughtly delighted;
Colleen
I really am pumped about your web site and plan to spread the word to all the people I will come across, whether seniors, or recently unemployed, or those who love to do thing up with a bang, and not so much the buck!!!
Wow Colleen! I’m incredibly humbled by this comment, yet excited at the same time! I’m SO glad you’ve found encouragement, reminders and new ideas here as you venture into a new season in life. Thank you for taking the time to share this with me – I look forward to “seeing” more of you here!! <3
One thing that has really helped me save money on groceries is to take advantage of what is offered at work. Even though I’ve worked in a variety of jobs, most have offered some sort of food perk. While working at a conference center, I got take home lots of the food that was going bad in the kitchen. (I used brown bananas for banana bread and froze spinach for green smoothies.) A food gift corporation I used to work for over a year ago has so much overstock that I still get to occasionally come in and take a bag of groceries. And of course if a free meal is served at work, I’m game for that too! (Yes, sometimes free work food requires sacrificing some health aspects, but other times it provides me with a quality of food I could never afford on my own!)
Yes Jessica! I did this too when I was in a typical work environment, and I still encourage my husband to take advantage if the food isn’t too poor in quality. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you for these ideas. I do still try and budget for snacks but now I will make my snacks fruits and veggies and other whole foods! I do try several times to have beans as the centerpiece for dinner with the attitude of “learn to like beans”. However, even after a year or so my kids still spit the beans out or just plain refuse to eat them. It’s very frustrating and a bit defeating. I can get them to eat it if I do “refired” bean burritos. Any suggestions are welcome and appreciated
*refried beans
Beans are tough Desiree, and we struggle with it too. One way is to find out what they like by talking to them, and just serving that once a week or every two weeks. If they like bean burritos, would they like chipotle-style rice bowls with beans?
I have learned myself that “deal with it” doesn’t work for us. They rebel! But if I’m more gracious, they respond better. Also consider the MANY different types of beans out there – they’re all good! I’m actually working on a recipe now that has red lentils – I should have it ready by Monday (and it’ll be an easy way to sneak beans in!)
DH recreated our meat sauce by adding lentils to it. We love it even more with the lentils than without.
Wow! That’s a great idea Debbie! I have a few different lentils too… which kind did he use?
Thanks Tiffany, these are great!
“Nowadays it’s an event. People are buying snacks as they shop, leisurely perusing the isles…”
This is so me, Ha! No more … I’ve known for a while that temptation starts with the eyes. I am going to work on getting “in and out”.
My tactics are; shopping once a week or less, making homemade salad dressings, mayo, Spaghetti sauce and BBQ sauce, gf flour blend, spice blends, etc. Definitely not buying packaged snacks; I believe it makes mealtimes much more enjoyable anyways. Buying in bulk if the price is better and then prorating the costs over the next several months (using a savings account).
I do everything as naturally as possible but am so guilty of buying salad dressings when I know how easy they are to make. Well that stops now! Thank you for the ideas and recipes.
Grocery shop once a week instead of running to the store every few days. There is always something to catch your eye and tempt you to buy even if you are only there for one specific item. Planning your menu out for a week, even just for the main meal each day, makes it much easier to know exactly what you need so you can have it available. If you don’t like to feel tied down to a specific meal on a specific day, make a list of meals to cover the week, and choose which one to fix each day (don’t forget to plan for using the leftovers).
I really like these ideas however, I end up spending more money some weeks because the store will have ‘unadvertised’ deals. They are usually extremely good and may only be on for that day.
For example mustard that we buy and is 3 dollars a bottle will go on for 1 dollar… I end up buying 10 of them, if two or three products are on sale like that it can eat up a good 50 dollars. A good brand of frozen pizza’s were on sale for 1.25 each regular 4.50. We don’t each processed foods very often but this price was so cheap, a person could not make a pizza for that price.
It saves in the long run but it eats into that week or month’s budget.