These tips help me to feed my family healthy food on a budget. Lets learn how to save money on groceries together!
I think that everyone these days are wanting to save money on groceries, but how do you do it? Add to that what happens if you have food allergies or intolerances?
Emergency or Lifestyle?
When it comes to saving money on groceries, are you trying to really cut the grocery budget for short term or long term? When we were paying off our mortgage, we really had a strict food budget. This meant only eating a little cheese and cheaper cheese at that. It meant that my husband ate PB+J every day for lunch.
We ate very simply, but I knew it was short term. Now our grocery budget is not as tight, but I still feel that I mostly do a good job of saving money on it. Now we are in the lifestyle part of saving money on groceries. I buy the good cheese, but I don’t buy a bunch of snack food. I still make our bread, but my husband eats a variety of sandwiches for lunch.
Audit Your Groceries and Eating Habits – How To Save Money On Groceries
The first step to save money on groceries is to take a moment to see what you are already buying, what you eat and what dietary restrictions you are working with. Each family will be different.
What are your family’s dietary restrictions?
For us that is corn free, dye free, banana free, ultra processed food free and avocado free. However, we regularly have people over that are peanut free, gluten free, dairy free, shell fish free, and coconut free. This means that we have to be very careful about ingredients and make sure that we have a variety of ingredients to work for everyone.
What Food Does Your Family Like To Eat?
We like fairly simple meals. My husband is a meat and potatoes and bread kind of guy. He also does not mind eating leftovers (as long as he liked it the first time) and neither do I. What don’t we like? My family does not like Asian food or anything too experimental.
What Food Do You Normally Buy?
Take a look at both what you normally buy from the grocery store and what you get if you eating out a lot. Look at where you blow your budget and where you do really well with it.
Once you have all of your notes about the above thing it’s time to start looking at what whole ingredients you can buy to save money.
Buy whole ingredients – How To Save Money On Groceries
One of the single most important things to remember to save money on groceries is to buy whole ingredients and do the prep work yourself. Instead of buying bread buy flour, yeast and some bread pans. Instead of getting pizza use my pizza crust recipe and make your own at home. Better yet make a double batch and freeze one for an evening when you don’t have time.
Look at what food you eat a lot, the ones that blow the budget and what you like to eat when you go out and get the whole ingredients to make those dishes. Do you love ribs? Great get some good BBG sauce and a rack of ribs at Aldi and you will be so far ahead, you can even make them in a slow cooker while you are at work.
Don’t Buy Snacks, Make Them
If you love snacks (like I do) just make them yourself. They will be cheaper and so much healthier for you. Bonus, most snack items last a long time and freeze well. If you like muffins they are so easy to make at home and you can even sneak some liver powder into them. You can even make your own crackers, granola, granola bars, PB Protein Balls, cookies or just about any type of snack you love.
Stock Your Pantry and Freezer
Once you know what you like and have figured out what whole ingredients you need to make those dishes, stock your pantry and freezer. In fact I wrote a blog post about this whole idea (read the pantry list here and the freezer list here). Having ingredients on hand are the key to success. This does not mean that you need to have a bunch of fancy items on hand. Use what you have, and have what you use!
When there is a sale on something you love, buy several! This also includes freezer items. Make sure you have the meats and frozen veggies that you need to put the meals you want together.
Buy In Bulk – How To Save Money On Groceries
Now not everything is cheaper when bought in bulk, however, many items are. You need to check the per-pound or per-ounce price. Many of these items I get through Azure Standard. If you have never used them I highly recommend them, please use my code Katelyn27 at https://www.azurestandard.com/start, I believe this code gets you 10% off your first order. Some things that I buy in bulk and save a love of money by doing it is:
All Purpose Flour
Rolled Oats
Natural Peanut Butter
Wheat Berries
Yeast
Dried Fruit
Plan – How To Save Money On Groceries
You need a plan! Now I am not one who does great on a super detailed meal plan because one day I will just wake up and want (fill in the blank) even if it is not on the meal plan for that day. So, I meal plan a little differently. Mondays are Italian night, pizza, lasagna, pasta ect. Tuesdays are Tortilla night, tacos, fajitas, chalupas ect. Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday are not assigned yet, any ideas? Fridays are meatless and during Advent and Lent also cheese-less.
Once you know the type of food your family likes and you stock your pantry with the whole ingredients to make those foods, planning down to the meal is not as essential. But try to get a framework for dinner, if Thursdays are really busy for you do crockpot meals or leftovers. Plan in a way that works for you.
Embrace Rice + Beans – How To Save Money On Groceries
Rice, beans, cabbage, potatoes, pasta and bread are all great ways to stretch a grocery budget. Now they may not be the most nutritious of foods but they are still healthy and can make the difference between staying in your grocery budget and not. We add a can of beans (actually a pint of home canned beans) to our taco meat each week. This means that we can stretch a pound of meat to last one meal if we have people over or two meals if it is just us.
Rice can be added to almost anything to make it go further. Pour you soup over it, add it to ground meat in meat loaf or meatballs. Leftovers can be easily become fried rice which can be flavored a bunch of different ways.
Potatoes are the ultimate starch that can be made every way possible. Mashed, baked, boiled, fried, cooked into soups, casseroles and other dishes. They can be turned into hashbrowns and potatoes pancakes. Don’t forget potatoes au ‘Gartin. Enjoy them they are delicious, full of potassium and cheap. See if there are any local potatoes producers in your area that you can buy from. We get ours from our local potato farm for $20 for a 50lbs. bag.
Frozen Veggies and Fruit Are Your Friends – How To Save Money On Groceries
Using frozen veggies and fruit can save you so much money! Always check because occasionally the fresh is cheaper. But most of the time frozen is so much cheaper. Especially when you consider that if you get busy that week they are not rotting in your refrigerator.
I hope these tips help you feed your family cheaply and healthfully! This is more of an art than a science. What do you do to save money on your groceries?
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