Cut Grocery Costs with These Ten Easy Steps!

Here's a familiar scenario: You begin the month with high hopes of taming that grocery monster and keeping it in line with your budget. But, by the 30th, you are grimacing as you total up the receipts and realize that you have actually spent twice what you expected ... again. 

If that's your life, I totally get it! Not only that, I've lived it! 

But, you can change it and I'm going to show you how! 

Before we begin, here are some things you should know: 

• Our monthly food budget is $400.
• We have a family of 6.  
• My oldest is away at college. Since, he isn't at home much, most of the time I am cooking for 5 people.
•  My personal goal is to throw away no more than 3 percent of all food which comes through my home.
•  I'm vegan. But, these tips work - even if you eat meat and dairy.

1) Call your local stores and ask when they do markdowns

 Time your shopping trip for when you can find the most plentiful markdowns in produce, meat, and dairy. I plan most of my weekly menu around what I find on markdown for half price.

2) Take advantage of price matches. 

Actual example of my price matching haul from HyVee

Do you have a local store who offer price matches? HyVee does! I take the other store flyers there and consistently score the cheapest prices in town on produce.

3) Shop the perimeter. 

The perimeter is where the healthiest food lives. I gave you a prime example in this post as to why it's actually less expensive to buy a $5 bag of potatoes than it is to buy a $5 bag of chips.

One caution on grocery store shopping: Watch those endcaps. Just because there is a stack of pasta sauce and pasta, doesn't mean that it's on sale. Know when the price is a good deal.

TIP: It's a good idea to separate out 20% of your monthly grocery money for "stocking up" when you find a great deal.

4) Follow coupon matching sites

Coupon matching sites provide weekly (sometimes daily) lists of items on sale at national chains. They also list manufacturer and store coupons, which allow you to purchase those items for pennies - sometime for free.

One caution: Just because it's super cheap - or even free - doesn't mean you should buy it. Food that is devoid of nutrition is still crap - even if it's free. Additionally, if you get if for free and it sits on your shelf unused (I'm so guilty of this!) then it isn't worth getting. Be sure that you are spending every penny on food that not only nurtures your family, but is actually stuff that you will use!

The Kroger Krazy ladies are amazing! They tell you how to combine weekly sales with digital and physical coupons to save money like crazy! If you live in the South, the Southern Savers website is terrific at matching coupons for you. The Krazy Coupon Lady has an extensive site full of money-saving match-ups.

5) Bulk cook! 

I bulk cook once a week. I will admit to you that I was surprised at how much money this one move has saved me! Get those kids chopping, whisking, combining, and mixing ingredients for you. You'll have fun, pass down important life skills to your kids, and save money - all at the same time! I have chronicled an extensive listing of my weekly bulk cooking adventures. Click on "bulk cooking" under "labels" on the blog and you'll find them all.

 6) Shop seasonally. 

I get strawberries in bulk when they are on sale for 99¢ a pound in March and freeze them. That way, I eat strawberries at the cheapest price all year long! This same concept works for every other kind of fruit and vegetable. Get the scoop on exactly how I do this!  Download my FREE seasonal produce savings guide!

Here's what's inside this free 8 page e-book:

• An overview of what produce to look for in each season

• Lists of the most common in-season fruits and vegetables each month

• Ideas on how to store produce

• Tips on extending the shelf-life of late autumn produce

• Tips on "putting by" produce for the winter months

7) Shop farmer's markets. 

You can often get super fresh produce at fantastic prices. I love supporting local small farms! At farmer's markets, you can connect with the person who actually grew the produce, ask about their farming practices (if they don't spray, they are generally super happy to give you this information), get great tips on storage and usage, and help grow and sustain your local community all at the same time! It's a "win-win" for everyone!

Tip: Cultivate a relationship with those farmers. Some of them will allow you to exchange labor (your children or you working at the farm) for free produce. We've done this several times.

8) Join a CSA - community supported agriculture - group. 

We've been CSA members for over a decade! In this program you pay a fee in January and then receive a bushel basket of produce every week during the growing season. Get recommendations from others. Not all CSA programs are equal. Our CSA local organic farmer is VERY generous in the size of the bushel baskets and allows us to exchange one item every week if we get something that we really don't like.

Tip: I plan my entire weekly menu around the items we pick up on Saturday mornings and then process and freeze items that we won't use in time before they go bad.

 8) Be stringent in labeling leftovers. 

Each container of leftovers should be labelled with the name of the item and the date. No more wondering how long they have been in there. It saves you from throwing food away. Find out more about our food waste goals, specific steps you can take to prevent food spoilage, and how to avoid throwing food away, in this post.

9) Keep a list of snack items on the fridge.

This means kids won't be grabbing items that you have plans to use later and you can steer them toward healthy items that you currently have in abundance. We buy popcorn in 50# bags from SAMS. My boys all know that they can make some air -popped popcorn if they want a snack.

10) Keep it simple. 

The simpler you keep menus, the easier it is to prepare meals and to avoid throwing excess food out. It also makes is so much easier for kids to find food in the fridge, heat it up, and help put supper on the table. Here are some examples: Hot stuffed baked potatoes, meals in a bowl, and rice, pasta, and beans are not only inexpensive, they also make food go further and keeps tummies filled up longer.

Your turn! 

What's cookin' in your kitchen? How are you rocking your grocery budget and saving money? Let us know in the comments section. 

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Do all to the glory of God, 

Hope