The rise in grocery prices has driven us to become more aware of our spending. It seems that every week when I go to the supermarket, at least one item that I regularly purchase has gone up significantly. In order to make ends meet financially, we’ve had to make some sacrifices. One of the easiest ways to cut spending is by taking a look at our grocery budget and how we plan and shop for groceries.
When we got sick and tired of our financial situation in 2018, I came face to face with the reality that there were ways I was wasting money every day without even leaving the house. The biggest hurdle I had to overcome was learning to take control of our grocery budget. I have a confession to make, and I’m probably going to get some snide “must be nice” remarks, but hear me out. When we started taking control of our finances, we were so broke that we were on Food Stamps and WIC. My husband was finishing up his first year of teaching at a public school and I was pregnant with our fourth child. Looking back, I’m thankful we had ways to supplement our budget so that we didn’t go hungry. However, I’m also thankful that I learned frugal homemaking habits that allowed us to never have to fill out another SNAP application (even though with our income we still qualified).
I not only learned how to cook from scratch, but I also learned how to creatively substitute ingredients if I was out of something instead of running to the store for that “one item”. Wasting less food meant that our grocery budget could stretch and cover more days in the month than we previously thought it could. Aware of the money we were flushing down the toilet (literally!), we turned it into a game to see how little we could spend each week on groceries and use the rest of our budget to pay off debt.
My frugality was a necessity while paying off debt, but it didn’t stop there. Months after we became debt free, grocery prices skyrocketed (thanks hyperinflation!). I still use the same frugal habits now that I did back then. Not in any particular order, here are my best tips for saving money on groceries. They are unparalleled to the usual “cook food at home instead of eating out” obvious advice that you didn’t need Google to tell you! Some may seem simple, but they are paramount to taking control of your grocery budget.
1. Use cash at the grocery store instead of a card. I’m not going to go into the details of whether or not you should use a credit versus debit card, but one thing is certain: you spend LESS when you use cash. Behavioral scientists have studied human brain activity while paying with cash versus plastic, and the conclusion was that it is more painful to part with cash, therefore you spend less.* Challenge yourself to stick to your cash-only budget, even if it means leaving your card at home! A helpful tip to make sure you’re staying within budget is to add up the items on your calculator; for the ultra-nerds out there, you could pretend to do a grocery pickup order and enter each item into your cart to see the running total.
2. Create a meal plan based on what you have in your fridge and what’s on sale. Some call this “reverse meal planning” but I call it “zero waste meal planning.” Take inventory of your fridge, pantry, and freezer. What needs to be used up quickly? Can you pair those leftovers with sale items from the store? Are there any ingredients in a recipe that you can substitute for what you have on hand? Can you make an entirely different meal using what’s already in your fridge? I like to build a stockpile of what we use when it’s on sale, but I only spend about 25% of our grocery budget on sale items. This prevents me from buying too much, risking it expiring and going to waste. Always look at the “price per unit” when buying items in bulk compared to regular inventory. Believe it or not, but the bigger item is not always the best deal! If you are not familiar with what a good “sale price” is, keep a running price list of frequent items you buy. When something is on sale, compare the price to your list. By using up what you have and buying what’s on sale (that you’ll actually use), you will save a ton on your grocery bill.
3. Write down your meal plan and put it on the fridge or somewhere you will see it often. You can be flexible and switch things around when life happens, but at least you’ll have an idea of the meals you are going to make for the week. “Failing to plan is planning to fail.” I don’t know about you, but I’m more motivated to cook when I at least have somewhat of a plan of what we’re having for dinner. This prevents me from staring into the fridge at 5 p.m., seeing that I have no meat thawed out, and wondering what the heck am I going to cook? They key here is to *actually* look at your meal plan, so remember, place it somewhere you’ll see it often. Get into the habit of checking it every night to prep any veggies, take meat out of the freezer, etc. This only takes a few minutes and has a big impact on dinner prep the next day. You’re less likely to swing by the drive thru when you know dinner will take less than 30 minutes to cook because you’ve already prepped your ingredients.
4. Only go to the grocery store once a week. Plan a good day and time during the week that you can grocery shop. Weekday mornings are best. Another idea is to call the grocery store and ask when they mark down meat or produce and shop during those times. Become familiar with the store’s sale circulation and shop when they will have sale items in stock. The items are still fine to buy, but they will be nearing their “best by” date. You can either use up the items right away or preserve them by freezing or canning to use later. By designating only one day to grocery shop, you avoid running to the store for “just one item”; we all know that one item usually costs $50 because of the other random things you “just had to get” at the store! If you run out of something, get creative and make substitutions.
I hope you’re noticing a trend here… Use what you already have, shop what’s on sale, substitute an item if need be, and remember to use cash! By implementing even just a couple of these tips each week, you will notice your grocery bill decrease. Don’t be afraid to get creative and try something new. What do you have to lose?
*I don’t know what the actual study was, but we learned early on in Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University that debt is dumb and cash is king. I’m sure you could find the study on the internet.
The Resourceful Housewife 