Food
"He that eats and saves sets the table twice." Unknown
"Eat food, not too much, mostly plants" -- Michael Pollan
How a Large Family Can Reduce the Grocery Bill in 2024
1) Shop at least expensive markets
TIP:
The top cheapest ranked grocery stores to shop at are Aldi, Market Basket, WinCo Foods, Food 4 Less, Costco, Walmart and Trader Joe’: You can save hundreds even thousands of dollars a year if you shop at supermarkets offering low prices.
many supermarkets sell food that's just about to hit its sell-by date at a cheaper price. Look for those
Make sure you know your consumer rights when it comes to buying consumables and return any food that's substandard.
Check out the 'world' or 'ethnic' sections of the supermarket – sometimes the prices of basics like rice can be cheaper.
Check out your local international store: These stores tend to have 2x the produce and meat from regular grocery stores and usually for cheaper.
Other non-traditional stores to try: bread outlets, butchers,
Check if your grocery store does a price match, that way you can go to a single store to get the best prices on all the food instead of wasting time and money going to different stores.
Insider Report: Common Costly Grocery Shopping Mistakes
How to Spend Less on Groceries Every Time You Shop
Where's the Cheapest Place to Buy Groceries? Trader Joe's vs. ALDI vs. Costco
How to Save Money at Ethnic Grocery Stores
9 dirty tricks supermarkets use to make you spend more money
5 Reasons I Prefer Shopping at Aldi Over Costco
Buy These 10 Unexpected Things at Costco
New Report: The 14 Cheapest and Best Grocery Stores
Shop an Ethnic Grocery Store to Save Money and Expand Your Palate
Here’s what to know before you go to Lidl.
Here’s what to know before you go to Aldi.
13 Items We Buy Every Single Time We Shop at Aldi
Here’s a roundup of Aldi middle aisle deals.
Here’s a cost comparison of items at Aldi, Walmart & Kroger
21 Best and Worst Things to Buy at Aldi
The 14 Cheapest and Best Grocery Stores
Costco vs. Sam’s Club vs. BJ’s: Which has the cheapest prices?
This Grocery Store Is Cheaper Than Even Walmart
19 Ways To Save Money Shopping at Walmart
Grocery Stores & Supermarkets ratings
2) Know what's on sale... buy meat when is on sale only
When you run across an item on sale, buy several of them
Abstain From Buying Expensive Items
Learn where stores have their clearance or reduced sections: Reduced items have nothing wrong with them, instead, they usually have a best before date that’s quickly approaching. As long you use that item before it expires, you can end up saving on high-priced goods like meat.
Check the manager’s sales bin: Most grocery stores have either manager’s sales bin or a board that tells you the manager’s deals of the day.
Buy frozen meats and fish instead of fresh ... they are much cheaper
Switch to powdered variations or concentrated variations of some foods like powdered milk. Some foods like jell-o cups, popsicles, fruit juices, and broths, you’re actually paying a little bit more because of the water and liquid that it contains, as well as the container/packaging.
Shop for Certain Goods after Holidays: Many goods including holiday themed candy, baking mixes, spices, etc are always heavily discounted after the holidays.
But just by switching to the powdered variations of these products, you’ll see a hefty drop in pricing.
Grocery stores have sales cycles where they offer different items at a discount at different times. They also have loss leaders, which are amazingly cheap deals meant to get people in their store. record prices of the items you buy the most when food shopping. You’ll be able to find the best prices for specific goods and can stock up when a true price drop happens. www.mygrocerydeals.com will handpick the items priced lower than the store’s cost (loss leaders) from several stores in your area. You register at the site, select the stores in your neighborhood and watch the sales pop up. As you check an item, the site creates a shopping list for you arranged by store. Also if you type your zip code it will give you free access to local circulars.
Create a price book: Start paying attention to when your favorite items go on sale and how much the price drops. You might even want to jot it all down in a small notebook or on your smartphone. Whatever you do, just make sure you’re keeping track of those sales so you can see if there’s a trend
10 Ways to Save Money on Meat and Poultry
Buying Better Seafood for Less
Buying Beef for Less: Big Savings Large Families
Creating a Price Book - Don't Waste the Crumbs
DIY Price Book - The Purposeful Pantry
How To Make A Price Book, Save Hundreds!
A Grocery Stockpiling Guide: How and When to Save
Knowing Your Grocery Store's Sales Cycles Will Save You Hundreds
Frugally Freeze Meats and Protect Your Savings from Freezer Burn.
6 Things to Know About Grocery Store Aisles That Will Save Money
Produce Purchasing Tricks from a Produce Manager
-Plan your meals around what is on sale
QUOTES:
"The Butcher's Secret: I work as a butcher in a grocery store. Each evening about 2 hours before closing we mark down meats that are close to their 'sell by' date. Sometimes just a few packages. Sometime quite a few. Both inexpensive and expensive cuts of meat. Each store does it a different way. Some do it first thing in the morning. Others are like us. If you're nice to the man behind the meat counter and ask them, or visit your store at different times, you'll find out when your store does the markdowns. Makes meat much more affordable if your budget it tight.
Justin from Dollar Stretcher Tips
3) Make a list (use weekly flier) and stick to it
If you still receive weekly grocery store circulars in the mail, you probably know when your local stores run their weekly sales. You can save money on food by studying these sales and shopping on the right days.
Make a list (use the weekly flyer): prepare your meals around those weekly circulars and buy only what's on sale. Checking the ads in advance allows you to make price comparisons, so you can plan where to shop ahead of time.
If It’s Not on Your List, Don’t Buy It!
Flipp – Flyers, Shopping List, Weekly Ads | Flipp : Flipp is your one-stop marketplace for savings and deals. Browse weekly digital flyers from retailers near you (Walmart, CVS, Family Dollar, Home Depot etc.) or search for the items you need. For the best mobile experience and to browse products on-the-go, download the Flipp app today. Available on the App Store, Google Play, and Huawei AppGallery.
Grocer’s weekly sales flyer: You can also check your grocer’s weekly sales flyer. The in-season produce is often “on sale.”
Sign for Trader Joe's flyer and newsletter
Wal-Mart food and grocery special savings and coupons
How to Read Your Grocery Ad Like an Insider
You can create an up to the minute to do list complete with reminders via instant message or e-mail through www.rememberthemilk.com. You can upload it to your cell phone so you can always have the grocery list with you.
4) Use coupons
Connect with brand websites via email (like Hormel, Campbell) or Corporate websites (like General Mills, Procter & Gamble) or retailer websites or Apps (like Target, Walgreens and CVS) to obtain manufacturer's coupons.
Match your coupons to the items that are on sale for the week. Use coupon blogs that will do the matching and will tell you where to find coupons that will match that sale. To find those blogs search "coupon matching" and the name of the store you shop at.
If you don’t want to have to visit multiple individual websites or open multiple apps to round up manufacturer coupons, Lozo might be for you. You can print coupons from the Lozo website or opt for Lozo to email you links to the coupons.
Weekend newspaper inserts are loaded with manufacturer’s coupons.
There are places in your State where you might be able to buy Sunday coupon inserts for one dollar like: your local grocery store, Walmart, gas stations and Dollar stores
Use Multiple Email Addresses to Get More Coupons: If you really want to stock up on coupons then you should sign up to your favorite stores newsletters and and rewards programs with different email addresses.
You can also register with an online service such as www.hotcouponworld.com , to get grocery coupons. Don’t collect them for pricey convenience foods or products you don’t normally buy. Instead, make it a habit of using a coupon every time you purchase a staple like ketchup.
Here is another one worth a try like.... www.coupons.com,.
You can also try coupon clipping services: TWO EXAMPLES OF COUPON CLIPPING SERVICES: Sams coupon clipping center and Coupon Flea Market.
Coupon clipping websites are ideal if you are buying in bulk to cover your needs for many months. They will send you coupons via mail so order coupons in a way that you will get them before their expiration date.
What Happened to Couponing? Is It Still a Good Way To Save Money?
Coupons.com: How To Use It and How It Works
How to Stack Coupons and Get Huge Discounts
17 Best Coupon Sites to Save You Major Money
Looking Beyond Coupons and Co-Ops for Food Savings
Couponing Do’s & Don’ts — How to Save Money Shopping With Coupons
Top 3 Things I Learned About Reducing My Food Bill with Coupons
7 Places to Find Free Manufacturer Coupons Online
Couponing Do’s & Don’ts — How to Save Money Shopping With Coupons
Get coupons without buying the newspaper. Many store sale ads and discounts found in newspapers are online too. That include coupons and special offers on national supermarket brands you buy every week Visit www.sundaysaver.com
Join a coupon swapping group (find one at www.meetup.com) and trade away those coupons you don’t use.
Check the websites of the companies that make your favorite products for special coupons or rebates. When the item you like goes on sale you can save even more by using the coupon or rebate.
If the advertised item sells out go to Customer Service and ask for a rain check. That way you will get the sale price when the stock is replenished even if the sale is over. Make sure the rain check specifies how many items you can purchase at the sale price.
Look for an 800-number on the packaging of your favorite product and give the manufacturer a ring or sign in on their website. Many will send you coupons just because you took the time to call or be a website fan.
Collecting Sunday Newspaper Inserts
Finding Coupons For Your Grocery List
QUOTES:
There are many ways you can set up a coupon swap suggests Bethanie Frank at www.dollarstretcher.com: “One popular way is to ask your friends, family and co-workers if they want to join a swap with you. To set up this easy and fun way to save money, you first need to gather the names and addresses of everyone participating. Of course, a website or email list would work well with this idea but isn't necessary. Once the group is assembled, figure out some random order in which the coupon pack will be mailed. For example, maybe when you're done with the pack, you give it to your co-worker who in turns drops it off to her day care provider. That person in turn mails it off to her cousin in another state. The cousin will pass it along, and so on. Just don't let the group get too big, or you'll only get your coupon pack once in awhile and that's not worth it. Getting it back once a month would be a great help with your grocery shopping. So now the circle is assembled and everyone knows the person they are supposed to give the pack to. The object is to fill the pack with coupons you don't use. Remember to double check expiration dates, as you don't want to be giving out useless expired coupons. Then when you get the pack, you take what you want and replace it with coupons you don't use. Tell everyone to clip any and all coupons they see. That way, you ensure a variety. Having a group of people from different parts of the city or state can provide you with a variety of coupons you may not see in your local Sunday papers. Even refunds can be included in the swap package. Many people toss refunds when they know they won't be purchasing that particular item ever again. How wonderful to be able to pass along the savings to one of your friends or family members. By broadening this circle, you will be able to meet new people and save money at the same time. Or, if your group is particularly big, have a few swap packages traveling at the same time. That way, you'll always be able to find savings every couple of weeks. Have fun with this project and let it grow how it may. Hopefully, you'll have a fun and active group and be able to save money and try new products all at the same time. Coupon swaps aren't just about stretching that dollar, but they allow us to make friends and receive snail mail while we're keeping that budget on track. Have fun swapping!” states Bethanie.
5) Buy store brands or generic brands
Store brands sell for 25% less on average because they don't have to carry heavy product development and promotion costs. Over the years Consumer Reports' tests have found many store brands to be at least as good as national brands. Most consumers are highly satisfied with the quality of store brands they had purchased according to Consumer Reports.
Store brands are often produced by the same manufacturers that produce some of the brand names. Just with a different packaging.
saving with generic store brands.
Store Brand Foods We Love and a Few We Don't
Join the Store Brand Revolution and Save
How to Slash Your Grocery Bill Up to 45%
How to Get Your Family to Eat Store Brands
Store Brand vs. Name Brand: How to Save Money on Everyday Stuff
Consumer Reports: Name Brands vs. Store Brands
QUOTE:
Brand vs. Generic: Many years ago, I worked with a girl whose father was the president of a famous cosmetics company. She told me that their brand name false eyelashes were made by the same factory that made eyelashes for dozens of other brands and the quality was the same for all of them. However, the famous brands sold for more in the stores. She said it was often the same with supermarket items too (canned goods, for example, might all be canned in the same factory by the same people but different brand labels are slapped on the cans before shipping to the supermarkets). That was such an eye-opener (no pun intended) that since then I've always given store brand and no-name products a try first. If I don't like an item, I'll try a more expensive brand next, but that is rarely necessary. Ann
My Two Cents: Another Vote for Store Brands : I have had family members who have been "dieting" for the majority of their lives. Consequently, some think they have to have costly food items to keep their figures trim, but not their budgets! I eat very well on very little money and am quite healthy despite a few chronic conditions I manage through diet and exercise. I eat mainly store brands and my family ate them too. One way I got a picky child to eat them was to mix half of a store brand and half of a name brand, such as cereal. She never knew the difference, and eventually, I just bought the store brand, and she ate it. I did the same with my picky husband. I've had a lot of people who have shared a meal or two with me. Most of that food has been store-brand or generic and quite inexpensive. They've all left full and have never questioned my ability to make a marvelous meal regardless of the ingredients. I once checked the labels on two "healthy" margarine with a price difference of $5. They had the same ingredients, and there was no other difference between them except for a funky name for the store brand. The only thing you can't do with store brands is price match at other stores. However, the prices are equivalent to other stores. If properly prepared, store-brand foods can be delicious and nutritious without the cost or giving up flavors. Do your research as well. For instance, years ago, I had a chronic health issue and required more protein and other nutrients. Instead of buying protein powder, the doctor recommended BABY FORMULA!!! I managed to get coupons and made smoothies, which I still use. Pay attention! You never know what you can use to be healthy for less. I'm 70 now and I'm in pretty good shape! My doctor just told me recently to keep doing what I'm doing!
Karen K from Dollar Stretcher Tips
6) Buy in bulk or bigger portions or bagged products
Do price comparisons to make sure you’re actually saving.
Many times produce is cheaper by the bag than by the pound
larger packages often have lower per-unit pricing... and if you buy too much donate it to a local food pantry or trade with neighbors and friends. So make sure thee unit price is better than buying smaller or individual products.
But... there are other times that the biggest size is not the best value. Don't assume that a bigger size has a better unit price. Always check the unit price listed on the shelf tags or use a calculator to figure it out yourself.
Look into joining a bulk-buying coop with friends and neighbors
Buy meat in bigger cuts and make it last – for example, buy a whole chicken and use the breasts and thighs for a few dinners, use the extras for your lunch sandwiches, then boil up what's left and use it as stock for soups.
Rather than buying small packages, buy bigger portions and break them down. Invest in reusable containers to dole out yogurt from a big tub. Buy chunk cheese and cut it up. Get the big bag of chips and pretzels and divide them up in baggies. It doesn’t take much time, and it will save you dollars.
Slice Your Own Deli Goods: It can actually be cheaper to buy the whole meat unit as opposed to cold cuts prepackaged in packets.Then you can take it home and slice it yourself.
Make sure you use all your product before it goes bad.
Buying in Bulk: An Investment Anyone Can Afford
Food Storage Practices That Reduce Food Waste
How a Large Family Can Reduce the Grocery Bill
How Buying in Bulk Can Save You Money Right Now
10 Things You Should Always Buy in Bulk
How a Large Family Can Reduce the Grocery Bill
A Grocery Stockpiling Guide: How and When to Save
9 Pantry Staples You Need to Make Pretty Much Anything
Food Storage Practices that Reduce Food Waste
Here are 9 foods you should buy in bulk.
QUOTE:
When the pandemic hit, we didn't need to run to the store in a mad dash for what was left on the shelf. We had been buying an extra can or box of this and that for years. We had toilet paper, canned and powdered milk, flour and yeast to make bread in the bread machine, along with packs of Jello and pudding and mixes of all kinds to break the monotony. We have meat, fish, and vegetables in the freezer but it was our stockpile on the shelf that got us through the initial weeks. Once products returned to the shelves, we again started building back our overflow pantry one or two items at a time and now have a buffer during this surge in prices. We go to the store less which saves on gas and eat from our pantry to save money. I strongly encourage everyone to start their own overflow pantry. Just one or two items a week over a year is 50 to 100+ items. Buy only what you will eat. Don't waste the money on something that would be the last thing you would want to put on your plate for dinner no matter how cheap it may be. Try buying something new so you will have a variety. You do not just want to survive but thrive in any situation, from illness to job loss, shipping problems to conflict, fertilizer shortages to drought. Buy in bulk from the big box stores if the product is cheaper than it is at the grocery stores. I personally buy my canned vegetables from Sam's club because I can get 8 or 10 at once at a much cheaper price. Mary from Dollar Stretcher Tips
Homemade Cheese Sticks: I love cheese, so we buy it in bulk. I cut a block of cheese so that it will fit a french fry cutter and use it to make cheese sticks. They make great snacks for my kids so we don't have to buy the expensive individually wrapped ones from the store! Ashley from Dollar Stretcher Tips
The Bulk Food Group: I get together with friends to bulk order food from different places. It is like a food co-op of friends. It really helps the budget to purchase items in bulk, and when ordering with friends four times a year. We've saved so much by buying items like powdered milk in bulk bags. The same thing applies to bulk oatmeal, grains, TVP and beans. Bulk baking cocoa is also very inexpensive when purchased bulk compared to buying it in small bags. We often do this as a group with the ladies from church and the neighborhood. M. from Dollar Stretcher Tips
Cut Your Own Cheese Sticks: I love cheese, so we buy it in bulk. I cut a block of cheese so it will fit my French fry cutter and use it to make cheese sticks. They make great snacks and you don't have to buy the expensive individually wrapped ones from the store!
Ashley from Dollar Stretcher tips
7) Eat with the seasons
Fruits and veggies cost less when they are in season.
If the fruits and vegetables are out of season and you really want to buy them, opt for canned or frozen. They are still healthy but cheaper than fresh.
Learn To Preserve Seasonal Produce for Year-Round Savings
Seasonal Produce Guide | SNAP-Ed
Seasonal Produce Guide: Fruits & Vegetables in Season for You
Use this online guide to determine which produce is in season: In-season produce is typically cheaper than out-of-season picks. If you’re never sure what is in season in your state, you can use this guide from SeasonalFoodGuide.org. Simply select your state, enter the month and then search for all produce in season or select a specific type of produce.
A Calendar for Smart Seasonal Shoppers
Grocer’s weekly sales flyer: You can also check your grocer’s weekly sales flyer. The in-season produce is often “on sale.”
Taking Advantage of Fall Seasonal Savings on Produce
16) Buy at Farmer's market or Food Co-ops
Food Co-ops - LocalHarvest: Do you want fresh, locally grown food, but don't want to give up the convenience of a regular grocery store? There's no need to wait for your closest mega-chain supermarket to carry the good stuff. Food cooperatives are worker or customer owned businesses that provide grocery items of the highest quality and best value to their members. Coops can take the shape of retail stores or buying clubs. All food coops are committed to consumer education, product quality, and member control, and usually support their local communities by selling produce grown locally by family farms. Use our map to find one near you!
Sign up for a community supported agriculture program for a onetime fee and you can get a weekly share of the crops from a local farm. Find one at www.localharvest.org. You buy a share of the farmer's crop before the growing season begins and you receive your share every week throughout the growing season. This share varies per farmer. The advance payment helps the farmer offset the expenses.
If you're shopping at food markets, make sure you know how to haggle like a pro.
A Buying Guide For the Farmers Market
15 Tips for Shopping for Fresh Produce at Local Farmers Markets
12 Tips Shopping for Fresh Produce at Local Farmers Markets
10 Tips for Saving Money at the Farmers' Market
Support local farmers. By buying from local farmers you can get the freshest food possible and you save energy. To find farmers nationwide visitwww.sustainabletable.org and the US Department of Agriculture at http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/farmersmarkets .
QUOTES:
Time to Buy Fruits and Veggies: I always stock up on canned goods in the fall. I don't can myself, so I go to local flea markets and fruit stands to buy locally canned produce. I stock up on tomatoes, green and yellow beans, etc. I buy anything I think that I'll use in the next year. It saves a bunch on my grocery bill all year long. Patty from Dollar Stretcher Tips
8) Compare unit prices and weight using a price book
Check prices at other stores while you’re in the store (use your phone) or shopping online. That’s the only way you’ll know you’re getting the best deal.
Unit price shelf stickers under each product can help you better compare prices of like items. But if the store doesn’t have the stickers, use your smartphone’s calculator. Divide the price by the number of units in each package you’re comparing.
How To Use Unit Price To Save Money When Shopping
Unit prices can help you save on groceries Don't assume the larger package always is the best value
This Simple Grocery Price Comparison Spreadsheet Will Help You Save on Food — Every Time
Why You Should Always Double-Check Grocery Store Meat Label Prices
How an Old-School Grocery Price Book Can Save You Hundreds
9) Find rewards the store has to offer
Most stores have these and they do make a difference by either having members only sales or a points system to get deals.
Use their store loyalty card
Use free store bonus-cards for two-for-one sales, members only specials and reward points toward future purchases
go to the customer service desk and see if your store offers a loyalty or e-coupon program.
Ask for special discounts: senior, military,
Learn the store's policies: does the store give you rain-checks ?(If a product is on sale but they’re all sold out, you can ask for a rain-check that will honor the sale pricing. That way, whenever the product is in-stock again, you can still purchase it at the sale price.) What are their coupon policies... can they double your coupons, is there a limit of coupons per item, do they accept digital coupons?, do they give you the item for free if you discover an pricing error?, ask them if they accept competitor's coupons (some do); do they offer double coupon days? Do they have a Store’s Price Drop Policy (If something you bought was later reduced in price, you can actually get the price adjusted and be refunded the difference.)
Sign Up to Email Newsletters: Just by signing up to your local grocery store or convenience store’s email newsletter, you can receive weekly coupons, deal alerts, and so much more.
10) Use the Bakery
the store-made baked goods are fresher and cheaper (25% cheaper) than those commercial pre-packaged alternative ones.
Buy Yesterday’s Baked Goods: Some baked goods like donuts and bread actually will be marked ridiculous low if you buy it one day later.
11) Check your receipt
Sometimes the scanning machine will make mistakes that can cost you money. Some stores will give you the item for free if you catch a pricing error (check your stores policy to see if they offer this service).
Return Food You Don’t Like or Need: If you ever realize that you don’t need a certain product, perishable or non-perishable, you can always return it, especially if it’s spoiled. But the same goes for boxed food, chips, snacks, etc. If you don’t want it, return it. Just make sure to look at your receipt and understand your stores return policy.
18 Free Apps That Will Pay You to Scan Grocery Receipt
Why You Should Always Check Your Fast Food Receipts - The Takeout
Why You Must Say YES To Your Grocery Receipt : The Grocery Game ...
12) Buy products with longest shelf life
the oldest milk, cereal, cold cuts, bread and other packaged goods are stocked first. Go to the rear of the shelf, refrigerator or freezer to get products with longest shelf life.
make your groceries last longer
Cooking with Powdered Milk: 5 Frugal Recipes
QUOTES:
Another Powdered Milk Recipe: For those who don’t mind powdered milk (and I love whole milk, but here’s a decent recipe). Mix 1 quart very cold water with 1 quart envelope dry milk (disregard instructions to use less water). Add 1/8 to 1/4 tsp. SALT. The salt keeps the milk fresh for up to a month and doesn’t affect taste. Add one can chilled evaporated milk. Stir well, cover tightly and refrigerate overnight. What I love about this is I can “make” milk overnight without going to the store and it really does taste good. It’s not whole milk but pretty darn near and very convenient. Kathleen from Dollar Stretcher Tips
13) Shop late at night on Wednesdays or the last 4 days of the month or late in the day
Learn the mark down day/times at your local grocery store: Shopping later in the day — especially if your grocery store has a set closing time – is one of the best ways to get discounts on deli and bakery items.
You will find extra markdowns because new sales start on Wednesdays while still having the previous week's sales. Shopping later like at 8 pm might get you extra markdowns on bakery items, meat, produce and other perishables. Price might be slashed by as much as half as a last ditch effort to sell it rather that toss it out.
On the last four days of the month, stores cut prices on food they need to sell before bringing new items next month.
Knowing Your Grocery Store's Sales Cycles Will Save You Hundreds
Why Mama Always Grocery Shops on the Same Day
QUOTES:
The Upside to Shopping at Closing Time: One way to force myself to stick to my shopping list is to go to the store shortly before closing. That way, I don't have time to shop around. I hurry to get what's on my list before the store closes. There is no time for distractions.
Jenn from Dollar Stretcher Tips
14) Fill your plate with fruits and vegetables. Follow the Mediterranean diet.
Ask about discounts on slightly damaged fruits or vegetables.
Mediterranean diet helps to lower cholesterol, blood pressure and aids in weight loss to avoid and prevent heart problems like heart attacks and strokes https://www.timesnownews.com/health/article/mediterranean-diet-what-it-is-and-how-it-helps-avoid-heart-problems/340446
Buy frozen fruit and veg instead of fresh – they are much cheaper
Chew slowly, keep moving and eat 30 plants a week: 12 rules for gut health
How Potatoes Can Reduce Grocery Bills
14 Ways To Buy Produce for Less
How to salvage old and overripe fruit
How to Eat More Vegetables and Fruits
5 Easy Ways to Eat More Plants
I'm a Dietitian on a Budget & These Are My Favorite Mediterranean Diet Recipes
15) Use a meal plan.
TIPS
1) Plan your meals around what is on sale
2) Plan menus based on ads or what’s in your pantry
3) Don't buy more than you need (even if it is a deal or is on sale or because you have a coupon)
4) Make a grocery list before you go to the supermarket based o your meal plan
Mastering Meal Planning: Time and Money-Saving Tips for Beginners
Find out if these meal planning mistakes are costing you money.
Use Reverse Meal Planning To Stretch Food Dollars Further
9 Ways To Plan for a Lower Grocery Bill
Mastering Meal Planning: Time and Money-Saving Tips for Beginners
7 ways to cut down on food waste
Weekly Meal Planner & Grocery Savings Guide
Use Reverse Menu Planning To Stretch Food Dollars Further
Save the Food has a suite of web-based tools to help you. The Guest-imator helps you estimate how much food to make for a gathering; Meal Prep Mate helps you create your shopping list and meal plans; the Interactive Storage Guide has encyclopedic knowledge on how to store food best, how long it should stay there, and even how to use it if it’s a little past its prime.
Instead of going out to eat use the 5 Dollar Meal Plan. You will save time and money.
$5 Meal Plan - How We Save Money On Groceries - Natalie Bacon https://nataliebacon.com/5-meal-plan-review/ Before you read how they're using it, here's a little bit about the plan to give you some context. $5 Meal Plan is: A weekly menu that costs $5 per month to get (the menu). You get 5 dinner entrees with sides (1 freezer friendly, 1 slow cooker, and 1 20-minute),1 lunch, 1 breakfast, and 1 random weekly goodie.
Meal Planning and Getting Kids Involved in The Process
10 Ways That Budget Meal Planning Can Save You Money Right Now
10 Things You Can Stop Buying at the Grocery Store
20 Strategies for Radically Cutting Your Food Expenses
12 Ways Anyone Can Cut Their Food Bill
4 Meal Planning Mistakes that Could Be Costing You
Food: Recipes, Meal Planning, Couponing
Super Frugal Weekly Meal Plans (+ Tips for Cutting Food Costs)
Meal Planning Made Easy For Families
Meal Planning for the 3rd-5th Grade Learner
The ‘Anti-Meal Plan’ For People Who Don’t Like to Meal Plan
4 Meal Planning Mistakes that Could Be Costing You
Mastering Meal Planning: Time and Money-Savings Tips for Beginners
Extreme Meal Planning for Extreme Food Savings
Meal Plans for Your Family to Save you Time & Money | Eat At Home Meal Plans
Meal Planning and Getting Kids Involved in The Process
Plan Your Weekly Meals, Here are some simple tips to get you started: See what you already have. Look in your freezer, cabinets, and refrigerator. You can save money by using these items in the upcoming week's meals. Write down your meals. It's helpful to write out your meals for the week including breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks.
QUOTES:
Meal Planning for Couples: "My husband and I work very different hours and so we needed something that would work to stretch our food budget while also fitting our crazy schedules. We tried meal planning but ran into each of us wanting something different from the other more often than not and the other person not being present to sort out a workable alternative. So, this is the "modified" meal plan we now use with success: Each week, we decide what type of protein we want for the week (beef, chicken, pork, beans, etc.). We then cook enough of this to last for each of us to have a meal using it for the entire week. We have many vegetables in the freezer, and have rice, etc., on hand. So, each person decides what he/she wants as a meal based on that week's protein. Each person is responsible for his/her own dinner. The only rule is that the protein cooked for the week must be the protein choice of each dinner. This has worked wonderfully for us to have a lot of flexibility while also keeping our food budget in check." Sherylanne from Dollar Stretcher Tips
A Simple Meal Planning Strategy: After grocery shopping, I write out a list of all the meals I can make with the groceries I have on hand and post it to the side of the refrigerator. When I make a meal, I cross it off my list. This is a visual reminder to use up what I have on hand. Before I started doing this, I would forget about a lot of the things I had in my pantry and freezer and feel that I had to run to the store and spend more money to make dinner. Now I really try to use up what I have. Becky from Dollar Stretcher Tips
17) Never throw away food... eat your leftovers
Overbuying is a primary cause of food waste. Buy only what you need or use that week.
Do a pantry inventory: use what you have already first before going to the supermarket. Use food search engines that helps you find recipes that use what you already have at home.
Try your best to actually use what you buy at the grocery store. Put a list of food inventory on the front of your refrigerator to help jog your memory. Whatever you do, just don’t let the food go to waste.
Check your pantry, your fridge, your freezer, and every corner of your kitchen cabinet first.
Don't obsess over best before dates – just use your eyes, your nose and your common sense. In fact, most dates you see on food are really suggested “use by” dates, and they have much more to do with quality of taste and texture than they do with food safety. According to the Cleveland Clinic, taste may diminish after these dates, but overall food safety does not. The exception, of course, is dates that are clearly labeled as expiration dates for the purpose of food safety. All other labels, such as “best by,” “sell by,” and “fresh until” are indicators of taste, not food safety.
When it comes to leftovers, there is a use for just about everything, including vegetables. We recommend saving your vegetable scraps when you prepare a meal to make and freeze your own vegetable stock.
How Long Can You Keep Unspoiled Food?
Simple Steps to Eliminating Food Waste and Higher Food Bills
Food Storage Practices That Reduce Food Waste
How To Never Waste Another Vegetable or Fruit: A 4-Step Plan
Burned Dinner? Tips for Saving Overcooked Meats
10 Creative Ways To Repurpose Leftovers (and Frugal Too)
Cold food storage chart from FoodSafety.gov
StillTasty.com: Did something sit in the pantry, fridge or freezer too long and is quickly approaching or has passed the recommended use-by date? Go to StillTasty.com and do a quick search to find out whether you want to use up the item or toss it. The site has thousands of food items in its database. You don’t need to wait until a food item is expired to benefit from using StillTasty.com. It is also an excellent resource for determining how to best store a particular food item and how long it will last in the pantry, fridge or freezer (whichever is applicable) so you can prolong its shelf life.
How Long Can You Keep Unspoiled Food?
11 Creative Ways To Use Food Scraps To Reduce Food Costs
Nearly 1 in 3 forget about leftovers once they're out of sight (you could be wasting $63 a week because of that)
How To Never Waste Another Vegetable or Fruit: A 4-Step Plan
Habits That Can Help You Stop Wasting Food and Food Dollars
17 Ways To Use Stale Bread to Reduce Food Waste
Simple Steps to Eliminating Food Waste and Higher Food Bills
15 Frugal Food-Rescuing Tips from Grandma
27 Ways To Make Your Groceries Last As Long As Possible
Smart Food Storage That Can Save You Money and Time in the Kitchen
5 Ways to Reduce Food Waste by 20%
Financially secure people eat leftovers.
Think you hate leftovers? Think again.
How to salvage old and overripe fruit
How to store food and keep it fresh for longer
How To Never Waste Another Vegetable or Fruit: A 4-Step Plan
Food Storage Practices That Reduce Food Waste
Meal Planning Around Leftovers to Stretch the Food Budget
Supercook: zero waste recipe generator
Imperfect foods: Groceries that help you fight food waste
Sustainably sourced, affordable, and conveniently delivered to your door.
How long is food safe to eat after the 'best if used by' date? Longer than you think.
11 Ways to Turn Table Scraps Into Delicious Meals
Join the Ugly Food Movement and Reduce Produce Costs
Meal Planning Around Leftovers to Stretch the Food Budget
17 Ways to Use Stale Bread to Reduce Food Waste
Food Storage Practices That Reduce Food Waste
How to Freeze Bread for Freshness
Food Storage Practices That Reduce Food Waste
5 Ways to Reduce Food Waste by 20%
How to Extend Food Expiration Dates
How to Dehydrate Fruit, Vegetables and Cooked Meats | MOTHER EARTH NEWS
How a Full Pantry Saves You Money
Keeping Track of Pantry Inventory Can Reduce Food Costs
Use leftovers creatively: with a left over pot roast you can make beef stroganoff, barbecue beef and hot beef sandwiches. Other delicious dishes that can be made with leftovers are fried rice, stir fry dishes, casseroles, stews, soups, sandwiches, salad toppings (use any leftover meat), tacos and wraps. Looking for recipes that will use up your leftovers? Allrecipes has more than 800 trusted recipes for leftovers complete with ratings, reviews and much more. http://allrecipes.com/recipes/everyday-cooking/everyday-leftovers/
cook one day and then reheat leftovers throughout the week
Supercook: recipe search by ingredients you have at home Supercook is a recipe search engine that lets you search by ingredients you have at home. Find thousands of recipes you can make right now.
The Natural Resources Defense Council SaveTheFood hub for numerous tips and tools on how to reduce food waste and save money. Also, use the free FoodKeeper app from the Department of Agriculture for guidelines on how to store foods.
Before You Toss Your Food, Read This
Food Storage Practices that Reduce Food Waste.
15 No-Cook Meals You Can Make from Rotisserie Chicken
Food Storage Practices that Reduce Food Waste.
Leftovers: How to Tell When Good Food Has Gone Bad
How to Tell Whether Expired Food Is Safe to Eat
The Food Expiration Dates You Should Actually Follow
26 Recipes That Are Even Better as Leftovers
70 Recipes That Use Leftover Ham
Flashback Friday: 63 Delicious Ways to Enjoy Leftovers
Meal Planning around Leftovers to Stretch the Food Budget
For information on how long products stay good enough to eat, go to http://www.everydayhealth.com/digestive-health/how-long-is-my-food-safe-to-eat.aspx
My Fridge Food: Turns whatever you have in your refrigerator into delicious meals
Meal Planning around Leftovers to Stretch the Food Budget
17 Uses for Stale Bread To Prevent Food Waste
Food-Rescuing Secrets for Avoiding Food Waste
Food Storage Practices that Reduce Food Waste
How to Freeze the 10 Most Common Leftovers
If You Don't Eat Leftovers I Don't Even Want to Know You
4 Crave-Worthy Ways to Use Up Leftover Cake
9 Ways I Extend the Shelf Life of My Food Stockpile
3 Ways To Eliminate Food Waste at Home
5 Ways to Reduce Food Waste by 20%
13 Easy Ways to Cut Food Waste and Save Money | Money Talks News
Food Storage Practices that Reduce Food Waste | The Dollar Stretcher
How to Tell Whether Expired Food Is Safe to Eat
How to Extend Food Expiration Dates
Food waste: By eliminating food waste, you could save $600 this year!
5 Ways To Eliminate Food Waste That's Wasting Your Money
Simple Steps to Eliminating Food Waste and Higher Food Bills
Save the Food Food is being wasted at an alarming rate. And we - consumers - are the largest source of it. More than grocery stores and restaurants combined. But there's good news: we can do something about it. Everything we need is right here (and in our fridges).
BOOKS
QUOTES:
"Search for recipes that contain the ingredients in your pantry! Choose Explore at the top of any page on Allrecipes, then select Search by Ingredient. You can enter up to four ingredients that you would like to include and up to four ingredients you would like to exclude. Be sure to click the plus or minus icon after typing each ingredient, then hit Search."
"Reducing Food Waste: I hate throwing away uneaten food. Whether it's leftovers in the fridge or things that have been in the freezer too long. So I keep a white board on the front of the fridge. Freezer section on top. Fridge on the bottom. Each section has 3 columns. One column for what's stored. The 2nd column for when it was stored. The 3rd column is a 'use by' date. I can easily add or delete things. We rarely throw away uneaten food in this house! " Antela from Dollar Stretcher tips
Don't Waste a Bite: Using up those little bits and pieces of leftovers is more important than ever in this age of inflation. Making soup is great for that, but it isn't the only way! Small amounts of meat can go into salads, fried rice, stir fry, tacos, omelets, quiche and pasta sauce. Veggies are also great in all of the above. Fruits can be used up in smoothies, pancakes, muffins, and salads. An apple slice is also good in a sandwich. Make a pledge to yourself never to throw away food. If you can't get to them right away, freeze and label the leftovers, and plan future meals with those in mind. I keep a large bag in my freezer filled with little bags of produce and meat. It's a handy way to keep tabs on my "free" meal stretchers. Beth from Dollar Stretcher Tips
A Simple Slaw from Leftovers: When I have some raw veggies and fruit that I don't think I will be able to use up, or even scraps of raw veggies and fruit, I shred them and make a slaw out of them. Last night, I used up a 1/4 head of lettuce, about 1/4 head of cabbage, a half of a red onion that didn't have much life left, and an apple by shredding them and putting them all together in a bowl with some mayonnaise, a capful of white vinegar, salt, and pepper. Then I chilled the mixture. It was delicious. We had it as a cold side dish with our grilled burgers last night. We ended up with almost two pounds of coleslaw for pennies and it tasted much better than the deli version. You can add many more types of veggies to this like chopped cucumbers, any kind of onion, chopped celery, etc. CM from Dollar Stretcher Tips
Ways To Use Up Flat Soda:
If you find yourself with a partial bottle of soda that you couldn't finish before it went flat, don't pour it down the drain! Here are a few things you can do with flat soda:
Pour into popsicle molds to make fun soda-flavored frozen treats.
Use instead of water or other liquid when making a white or yellow cake for a unique, interesting twist.
Freeze it in ice cube trays to use in glasses of (fresh) soda to keep from diluting the flavor.
Replace part or all of the water and sugar when making a pitcher of powdered drink mix, lemonade, or iced tea. Use a flavor that matches or blends well with the drink you're making (fruit flavored soda with iced tea, lemon-lime soda with lemonade, orange soda with fruit punch, etc.).
Add plain or coordinating flavored gelatin to make Jell-O or "jigglers."
Root beer, cola or ginger ale are delicious poured over slow cooker pork or a baked ham as they cook. Or add to a marinade for any meat for a nice flavor accent.
Add sugar and boil to dissolve and thicken to make snow cone syrup.
Diva from Dollar Stretcher Tips
Documenting Food Waste: I did something recently that has been a real eye-opener. I took a quick photo of all the food we were throwing in the garbage. I took pictures of that half eaten bagel or banana, the milk that went bad before it got used, and the cookies that got stale because they weren't reclosed properly. We are a family of four and we try to live wisely and not waste food, but I am honestly astonished (and somewhat ashamed) when I looked at almost a month's worth of pictures of the food we are wasting. When I showed my husband, at first, he thought I was joking, but not for long. Seeing the waste in so many pictures has been a definite eye-opener for us. We can definitely do a better job and stop throwing food (i.e. money) in the garbage! Ann from Dollar Stretcher Tips
Week-Long Chicken Savings: Every week at Sam's Club I buy a rotisserie chicken. These are inexpensive (only $5 where we live) and can be stretched very far! We use the chicken itself for dinner the first night, which easily feeds my family of four. We typically have leftover meat on the bones, which I can pick off to make chicken salad, hash, or add to soup. I always boil the bones and either make a broth or use the meat I picked to make a nice soup, which I can put in the freezer. When we have pasta, rice or couscous, I use the homemade broth to add to the flavor. After boiling the chicken bones, I pull off all remaining soft bits (carefully so as not to get any of the small bones) and use that to add flavor to my dog's food for the week. So for $5 and some ingredients I also have on hand, we all have healthy, tasty options that last us all week long! C. from Dollar Stretcher Tips
Prevent Food Waste and Save: Prevention of food wasting is my number one way to cut down grocery bills. I put out garbage twice weekly. On each garbage day, I inventory my refrigerator's contents, paying particular attention to the backs of the shelves where small items can roll and hide. I find things I might have forgotten to use, then put them up front while improving storage methods to prevent "lost" food. After a similar look in the freezer compartment, I'm done. A few minutes twice a week have made a big difference in my grocery bills and usage. Bonnie from Dollar Stretcher Tips
Using Up Bread Heels: I use up bread heels in three different ways. First of all, they make great "skinny" buns for burgers or other hot sandwiches. I just save them in a bread bag in the freezer. Secondly, I make croutons. I cut them into cubes, saute in butter, onion powder and garlic powder, and then dry them out in a 200 degree oven. Thirdly, I make breadcrumbs by letting them dry out completely and then crushing them with a rolling pin. Beth from Dollar Stretcher Tips
A Creative Way to Use Up Leftover Veggies: I always seem to have a half to a full cup of veggies from dinner leftover. It is such a waste to toss them or just let them turn into a "science project" in the fridge. Now, I puree them and use them over another night's veggies, over meat, or over rice. You can spice them up, use them as flavoring for meatloaf, etc. I used leftover pureed roasted veggies over cauliflower last night! It was great! Barb
No More Spoiled Food: I have a magnetic dry-erase calendar on my freezer door. When I open a refrigerated item that needs to be used by a certain date once opened (such as lunchmeat or soymilk), I mark it on my calendar. This also works really well for leftovers. I write the name of the item on the date that it needs to be used by. I've wasted a lot less food, and since I see the calendar on my freezer door every time I open the fridge, it makes me much more aware of what needs to be used up.
Heather from Dollar Stretcherr tips
Erika (ChooseFi) said, "My 1% better is optimizing some time! As a wife, mom, and full time employee; one of my biggest frustrations is planning meals for the week and writing out a grocery list. I made a list of 25 meals we enjoy (5 meals a week for 5 weeks) and I have attempted to organize them in a way to use leftovers from one meal for another later in the week or ingredients we don't use as commonly into back-to-back weeks so I can use the ingredient up. As an example, on Monday this week we had roasted broccoli so I roasted extra, on Tuesday we had chicken and I prepared a few extra breasts, on Wednesday we had a stir-fry style dish and used the leftover chicken and broccoli. Or, as a second example, sour cream is an ingredient we don't always use up so one week we are having baked potatoes with sour cream and the next week we are having enchilada casserole which should use up the sour cream. After I thought my list was optimized, I made a grocery list for each week and then I made shopping lists in my Wal Mart app, "week 1", "week 2" etc. So, now my meals are planned out Monday-Friday and all I have to do is click "add all to cart" and my grocery shopping is complete! We are only on week 2 so I am sure there will be some tweaking and changes but I feel like I have finally hacked my biggest time nemesis!"
Zack (ChooseFi) said, "My 1% better I would like to share with everyone is the greatness of stock bags. My wife and I have always been great at cooking our meals at home but were always having to buy chicken/vegetable stock/broth for our recipes until we started making our own! The process is super easy, we just have two gallon-sized Ziplocs we keep in our freezer and any time we are cutting the ends off of onions, celery, or any other vegetable part we would usually throw away we keep in the Ziploc until it is full, then we put it in a big pot with water and limited seasoning and we have our own stock to use for all of our recipes! We do the same with all of our meat bones. This is probably only saving us 1% of our total grocery bill but is so satisfying to know we are adding more homemade elements to our cooking while also eliminating food waste."
Using Up Leftovers: A delicious and frugal way of using up your leftovers is wrapping them up in tortillas and turning them into burritos/wraps. I often have some leftover rice, beans, veggies and meats in my fridge. I mix them all up, add some sour cream, salsa and shredded cheese and use the mixture as the filling for the wraps. You can use a variety of leftovers. Your imagination is the limit. Turning the leftovers into wraps makes them more appealing. Even my kids love them and never ask what's hiding inside of them. The cheese acts as the glue for the ingredients, and when I microwave them, it helps hold all the wrap nicely together. I line the filling by one edge of the tortilla, microwave for about 20 seconds to soften the tortilla, wrap it all up, put the seam down, and microwave for another 30 seconds (times may vary in your microwave). The end result is a perfect burrito.
Krys from Dollar Stretcher Tips
Use It Up, Not Throw It Out: Regarding food, I would encourage people to reinvent leftovers that only seem beyond their usefulness. I put stale bread in the freezer to use for French toast and stratas; spoiled milk gets used as "buttermilk" in baking recipes (the heat kills any pathogens and the sour taste is neutralized by the baking soda); overripe fruit goes into smoothies or muffins; even vegetable scraps (e.g., onion skins, carrot peels) are saved and used to make broth. And often, a "sell by" date is mistaken for a "use by" date, so that food is thrown out while it is still perfectly edible. Eggs keep for several weeks when refrigerated, not just a few days. So much food (and money) could be saved with just a little common sense and creativity. Terry from Dollar Stretcher tips
A Cheap Tasty Way To Use Up Leftovers: We used to put leftovers on top of bagel halves to eat them up quickly. Then, the price of bagels soared and we switched to tortillas. A dollop of any old leftovers, a smattering of grated cheese, and a small shake of garlic salt (or hot sauce) between two tortillas, heated in a skillet or on our thrift store George Foreman grill makes quick work of reheating leftovers. They disappear almost immediately. They reheat pretty well, too, in a skillet or a toaster oven.
JD from Dollar Stretcher Tips
18) Go vegan or eat less meat
use meat as a side dish
Have meatless meals a few times a week.
Try canned or frozen meats like chicken, salmon, tuna for casseroles and soups.
Buy less expensive cuts of meat. Use a crock pot to make stews, casseroles and soups
supplement meat with lentils and beans
Buy frozen vegetables when you can. (They tend to be cheaper and they won't go bad in the freezer after a week like those fresh carrots you promised yourself you were going to eat.)
Skip pre-packaged, fresh produce. (It costs more by weight than the other fresh produce.)
BOOK: Plant based on a budget (vegan recipes under $30 a week in less than 30 min a meal)
How Red Meat Can Fit Into a Healthy Diet - Consumer Reports
5 Ways To Trim the Fat From Your Meat Budget
How to fit meat into a healthy diet
The One Formula You Need to Make a Healthy Salad
Buying Better Seafood for Less
10 Ways to Save Money by Going Vegetarian
Healthier Way to Get More Protein | Plant Protein
10 Tips to Find the Cheapest Meat for Family Meals
10 Ways to Save Money on Meat and Poultry
An Easy Guide to Portion Control
Food Rationing: Frugal Living Lessons from World War II.
5 Ways to Fight Rising Beef and Pork Prices
Ways to Stretch Ground Beef (and Your Grocery Budget)
5 Ways to Fight Rising Beef and Pork Prices
What to Make When Pork Loin Is on Sale
70 Easy Ground Beef Recipes - Best Dinner Ideas With Ground Beef
Homemade Meal Replacement Shakes on the Cheap
What to Substitute for Ground Beef When You Can't Find Ground Beef
22 Deliciously Different Things to Do with 1 Pound of Ground Beef
These 70 Ground Beef Recipes Make For Easy Weeknight Meal Planning
Depression-Era Recipes to Stretch Your Meat Budget
The Benefits of a Plant-Based Diet
How to Choose the Right Cuts of Meat for Affordable Tasty Meals
How to Get Your Family to Eat Meatless Meals
VegWeb Search the world's largest collection of vegetarian recipes
VegFamily Vegan Family Living
7 Ways to Slice the Price of Red Meat, Pork and Poultry
Depression-Era Recipes to Stretch Your Meat Budget
Our Favorite Summer Salads | Martha Stewart
15 Reasons to Make Your Next Meal Meatless
QUOTES:
Healthy Ground Beef Extender: I have stretched hamburger with a number of things like bread and oatmeal, but have found a couple of tips that keep the meat more meat-like. When making tacos, brown a pound of ground beef and then mash 19 oz. can of kidney beans with a fork, then combine into the meat, add the taco spices and voila! You have twice the amount of "meat". I don't even like kidney beans, but have found this tastes great and nobody knows the difference. The other tip I have found to stretch meatloaf or hamburgers is to combine 1/2 cup of bulgur with the 1 lb. of lean ground beef. Add eggs, and spices and mix well. The bulgur assumes the shape of the meat grain. It is very healthy, and very tasty. Anita from Dollar Stretcher Tips
Saving With Meatless Fridays: It's no secret that meat has gone way up in price, but my grocery budget has also shrunk! What to do? I remember as a kid we didn't eat meat on Fridays. So I started doing that again. Not as a religious thing, but as a money thing! I call it the side dish special! My family likes things like sweet potatoes, green bean casserole and other veggie sides. So I make two or three and that's dinner on Friday. It's not a huge savings, but every $10 counts! Jenn from Dollar Stretcher Tips
19) Go to the store only once a week or bi-monthly
make do with what you have
Avoid one-off trips to the store
Learning how to make your groceries last will help you avoid going shopping so often.
the CDC recommends only visiting the grocery store in person when you absolutely need to. That definition may vary from household to household -- for those without the space to store bulk food, going more than once a week may be necessary. Or maybe it seems too expensive to do a large grocery haul all at once rather than little by little as funds allow.
Tricks Supermarkets Use to Get You To Spend More Money
QUOTES:
Once-a-Month-Shopping Savings: I have found that if I grocery shop once per month rather than once per week, I save a lot more money. About six months ago, my grocery bill was about $350 for the month. This is for a family of two. By making my dinner list for the entire month and picking up items that are on that list only (including snacks), I was able to cut my bill almost in half. The next month we spent $190. I've been shopping monthly ever since and have seen similar savings. W. from Dollar Stretcher.com.
20) Make tasty budget friendly meals at home
use crock pot recipes for quicker meals. You can make tasty inexpensive meals. using inexpensive cuts of meat and you can you can put all the ingredients before you leave to work and the meal will be ready when you get home.
Cook ahead: Use the weekend to make a few extra meals and save them in the refrigerator or freeze them so you don't have to go out
Make your own bread: If you have the time then consider baking your own bread. You can either do it the old-fashioned way or use a bread maker, either way, making your own bread is cost-effective and a fun hobby!
MyPlate: Learn how to eat healthy with MyPlate. Discover budget-friendly food ideas. Set personal goals for healthy eating. Find easy, low-cost recipes.
There is an unlimited supply of cheap recipes on the internet. You can just do an internet search for “cheap recipes,” but our frugal readers recommended the following:
Allrecipes.com: Its Budget Cooking section is packed with easy, affordable recipes.
BudgetBytes.com: BudgetBytes provides the cost per meal and per serving of every recipe.
EasyBudgetRecipes.com: Do you know how much you spend per meal for your family? Easily search for recipes that fit your food budget on this site.
These Mini Appliances Are Must-Haves for Compact Kitchens
Budget Bytes: We believe good food doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. We believe you can create meals that you’re proud of, meals that make you feel full and healthy, meals that make you want to brag on social media, meals that will make you want your leftovers (no, really). We believe you can have all of this without spending your whole paycheck, buying a bunch of fancy kitchenware, or spending all day in the kitchen. We believe you can spend less and enjoy more.
Here is a list foods you should stop buying and start making that can lower grocery costs.
Going Beyond Cheap Recipes To Reduce Grocery Bills
Cheap and Easy Casserole Recipes: Reader Favorites
Frugal DIY Breads From Around the World
Top 100 Weeknight Dinner Recipes
11 Cheap, Healthy Meals to Try This Month
Safe Food Handling and Preparation
Expert Interview: How Heirloom Cooking Saves Money
Affordable Small Kitchen Cookers: Preparing healthy, affordable meals in minimal time is simple if you have the right tools. See if you could benefit from adding a pressure cooker, rice cooker or slow cooker to your kitchen.
Learn Pressure Cooker Canning Basics To Cut Food Costs
Going Beyond Cheap Recipes to Reduce Grocery Bills
Ways to Stretch Ground Beef (and Your Grocery Budget)
Get free book: Good and Cheap (eat well on $4/day)
This 2-Ingredient Cake Is the Best Base for a Budget-Friendly Dessert
8 Healthy Packed Lunches Your Kid Will Actually Finish
10 Meal-Prep Hacks for the First Week Back to School
20 Filling Snacks That Are Perfect for Lunch Boxes This Fall
30 Homemade After-School Snacks
20 Budget-Friendly Slow Cooker Dinner Recipes
These 70 Ground Beef Recipes Make For Easy Weeknight Meal Planning
Best Options for Energy-Efficient Cooking
How to Cook Multiple Dishes in the Oven at Once
Budget Cooking Recipes from Allrecipes
Our Allstars' Favorite Budget-Friendly Meals
20 Budget-Friendly Dinner Ideas for 2
15 Cheap Casseroles to Make on a Budget
Cheap, Healthy Dinner Ideas Under $3
Ways to Stretch Ground Beef (and the Grocery Budget)
Buying Better Seafood for Less
8 Easy Ways To Make Budget-Friendly Chicken Thighs
25 Budget Casserole Recipes Under $3
Chicken Parts: What to Do With Each Cut
These foods were invented in tough times
Going Beyond Cheap Recipes to Reduce Grocery Bills
Dinner Recipes Under $3 Per Serving
14 Nights of Dinner Ideas All Under $2 Per Serving
Easy Flavor Boosters for Frugal Meals
OUR 100 MOST-POPULAR FACEBOOK RECIPES
food everybody should know how to make
Dave Ramsey - Budget Meal Ideas (Facebook group)
6 Ways to Save Money With an Instant Pot
30 Easy Casseroles You'll Want to Make Forever
5 Cheap and Easy Casseroles to Add to Your Dinner Rotation
15 of Grandma's Best Casserole Recipes
35 Meals to Make with a Package of Ground Beef
Avoiding Dried Out Slow Cooker Meals
Solo Cooking and Dining on a Budget
Struggle Meals : TV show that has loads of good ideas for frugal meals that are also easy. It's on the Tastemade channel.
Frugal Cooking Basics for New Cooks
Best Seafood Recipes for Beginner Cooks
4 Ways The Instant Pot Saves Our Family Money
65 Easy Slow Cooker Recipes for Busy Nights - Best Crock Pot Recipes
800 recipes for SNAP program: More than 800 recipes under the United States Department of Agriculture's SNAP program are based off a $40 weekly grocery budget
$5 Dinners offers a recipe index, cooking tutorials and meal plans for dinners that cost $5 or less.
Large Family Table, created by a wife and mother of eight children, has more than 100 inexpensive recipes for large family meals.
ChooseMyPlate is the USDA's interactive tool for healthy meal planning, cooking and grocery shopping. It has a searchable database for recipes and options to create a shopping list and view nutrition goals.
“6 Ways to Make Cheap Foods Taste Delicious“
“This Homemade Meal Is Cheap, Healthful and Requires No Cooking“
Foods You Should Stop Buying and Start Making That Can Lower Grocery Costs
Gey Mark Bittman’s “How to Cook Everything: the Basics.”
Go to the library and borrow all kinds of cookbooks for free!
Why buy a cookbook when you can get thousands of recipes on line? Here are some of the sites with the most and best recipes: www.About.com/food , www.allrecipes.com, www.cooks.com , www.epicurious.com , www.foodnetwork.com . Other sites with great recipes: www.chow.com, and www.cooksrecipes.com ….
cook one day and then reheat leftovers throughout the week
The Frugal Chef: channel where people come and eat well without going broke. Over here you will find hundreds of videos on natural food that you can make within a budget.
Best Options for Energy-Efficient Cooking | MOTHER EARTH NEWS
BOOKS:
MORE QUOTES:
Storing Single Servings: Shopping for one is always a challenge. Especially for meats. Recently I got in the habit of repackaging meats as soon as I get home from the store. I take single serving sizes and put them into a regular Ziploc bag and place that inside a freezer bag. That way I can throw away the cheaper Ziploc and rinse and reuse the freezer bag. Now I'm not throwing away an extra chop or half pound of ground beef. It's also easy for me to tell what I have in the freezer. I know that each bag is one meal. Miriam from Dollar Stretcher Tips
"Take the time to calculate your spending on take out food and coffee and you may be shocked at how much money you are wasting. Think about this: If you drive through a fast-food restaurant or coffee shop five days a week and spend $5, that adds up to $1,300 a year! Imagine putting that money in a savings or investment account. Instead, plan your meals at home and spend a day doing meal prep. Not only will you be healthier, but your budget will thank you." Clark Howard
Cooking for One: I picked up this idea from my mother. She's a widow and lives in a 55+ community. She got tired of cooking for one person so she and two neighbors formed a group. They cook two meals each week and share with each other. That covers six days! I'm divorced and have the same cooking problem. I'm teaming up with two others in my neighborhood and we'll do the same thing. Only we're each cooking one meal each week for the group. Cassie from Dollar Stretcher tips
Answer to What is your go-to recipe in a pinch for time? by Stefan Pociask: https://www.quora.com/What-is-your-go-to-recipe-in-a-pinch-for-time/answer/Stefan-Pociask?ch=99&share=
Giving the Gift of Frugality: I have a friend that many years ago wasn't in debt, didn't have huge or extra bills, but was still having problems making ends meet. She didn't shop extravagantly either. I realized that she didn't know how to be frugal and most importantly didn't know how to cook inexpensive and nutritious meals for her husband and four children. I found a solution that was respectful towards her and inexpensive entertainment for all of us. I gave her whole family cooking classes! I was taught at a very young age how to make soup stock now called bone broth, inexpensive cuts of meat, bake bread and so on. Sometimes we would cook at her home and sometimes mine. I would often bring something from my freezer to her and cook it. I taught her husband how to make homemade pizza. At the same time MY late husband learned that a hearty soup and homemade bread was a meal! The children were included and thrilled that they were having fun and learning. On occasion, we would go "shopping" with a limited amount of money. I would see who would get the most for the least amount of money, such as clothing at a thrift store. The "winner" would get an extra item that I didn't mind paying a few cents for. My friend's children have grown up and unfortunately her husband passed suddenly, but she is still my friend and now more than ever very frugal and a fantastic cook! Oddly enough, we are older and on fixed incomes and the "lessons" early on have paid off where we can live well on very little. Karen K. from Dollar Stretcher Tips
Twice Is Nice: Never cook for one meal when you can cook for two. Instead of roasting a chicken for dinner, roast two. The same is true for pot roasts or ground beef for spaghetti. It takes little extra electricity or time to double the food you cook for a meal. Store the second half in the freezer or fridge. When you don't have time to cook, you have a meal already prepared. Just heat and serve. I love having precooked hamburger in the freezer for spaghetti, chili or sloppy joes. It warms quickly in the microwave and makes eating at home quicker (and much cheaper) than eating out or ordering in. Deboned chicken chunks make almost instant soup, and a frozen but already cooked roast can be used in many ways. By cooking ahead, we only eat restaurant food when we really want a treat, not because we have to. I rarely spend more than 30 minutes preparing any meal on weeknights, which is less time than it takes for someone else to prepare our meal. Beth from Dollar Stretcher Tips
My Two Cents: Finding Efficient Ways To Prepare Meals
After reading Convenient & Affordable Small Kitchen Cookers by Debra Karplus, I’d like to share what my husband and I do. I’ve been tempted to buy Insta-pots and other gadgets but we don’t have the storage space. Since it's only the two of us, we found efficient ways to cook our meals. We have an electric stove and oven but the oven hasn’t been used for five years. Instead, our pots and pans get stored in the oven. We do use the stove top for pressure canning and heating food. By not using our big oven, we cut down on electricity and we don’t have the hassle of reaching deep inside to clean it. Instead for baking, we use a decent-sized Toaster Oven that has attachments for Rotisserie meals. Its big enough to cook a small pizza in. It sits on the counter so it's easy to see inside while meals are cooking. We have three Crockpots in 1.5 qt - small, 3 qt - medium, and 7qt - large. The smallest one gets used the most because we freeze soups and stews in plastic containers and pop them in the crockpot to thaw and reheat. The other two crockpots get used for batch cooking. Finally, we also have an electric steamer for cooking grains and vegetables. Its also good for reheating meals. This year, we cleaned out our cupboards and discovered that we had a lot of casserole dishes and supplies that we no longer use for our big oven, so we donated it to our local thrift store. Toni from Dollar Stretcher Tips
Quotes from Laura from Choose FI:
Batch cooking! This is something you need to be doing whether you are making dinner for 1 person each night or 6. Whenever you cook something and you're not rushed for time, just make double or triple! It’s a small extra time investment for a big benefit and almost all food tastes just as good if you freeze it and eat it a few weeks later. If you are making a lasagna on a Sunday afternoon, make a second one and put it directly in the freezer. The weather is cooling off and it's easy to do this with soups and stews. You will be patting yourself on the back a few weeks later when you pull a delicious meal out of the freezer.
Another spin on batch cooking: find a versatile meat (or some other protein - fish, vegetables, tofu) that your family likes. This might be grilled chicken, pulled pork or chicken, taco meat, etc. Make several pounds of it and use it for various meals throughout the week. For example, if you made grilled chicken, you can use it for sandwiches one night, pair it with a baked potato & vegetable another night, put it on top of salads a third night, make it into tacos or nachos, pair it with sauce & pasta another night, etc. So many options!
Two of my favorite easy dinners: (a) Rotisserie chickens from the grocery store (or Costco)! When I haven't made a plan for dinner, I often go to the grocery store and quickly grab one of these chickens. Take 5 minutes to throw some baked potatoes in the oven and make a frozen vegetable or a salad and you have a great meal. (b) Breakfast for dinner!! Our family rarely sits down to a big breakfast (even on weekends), but we love breakfast food. Solution: Breakfast for dinner. It's usually simpler than cooking a "regular" dinner, in my opinion. I always try to include eggs to get some good protein, and also because my 10-year-old loves to cook eggs and I'm happy to outsource the job to her. We've decided to make this a weekly thing in our house and everyone is enjoying it.
Know your schedule: If your family is on the go a lot and sitting down to a family dinner is just not possible, plan for that! During the summer when we are at the pool a lot, I have a lot of "pool food" options in the house ready to mix and match and be brought to the pool for dinner. This includes salads with chicken, sandwiches, sliced rotisserie chicken & pasta salad, etc.. For when you're truly "on the go," things you can grab for kids to eat in the car or parents to eat while waiting at a child's sports practice/game: sandwiches, hardboiled eggs, cut up fruit and veggies, small containers of pasta salad, or breakfast burritos that you've premade and reheated from the freezer, etc., are just a few examples.
21) Brown bag your lunch: make your own lunches with leftovers and bring your own beverages to work
cook one day and then reheat leftovers throughout the week
H ave you ever calculated how much you could save if stopped eating out for lunch every day? Let’s get conservative and estimate that you spend $3 per day on lunch and only eat out four days per week.
Package your own snacks. Buy a big bag of cookies, crackers or chips and store them in small bags or containers.
$3 x 4 days/week x 50 weeks/year* = $600
*2 weeks of vacation per year
Add this total to the cost of left overs that you throw out each week, and Houston, we have a problem.
The solution? You could easily save upwards of $1,000/year by taking leftovers for lunch.
The Frugal Lunchbox: Reduce the Cost of Lunch at Work
The 11 Best-Ever Sandwich Recipes Developed in Our Test Kitchens
Inexpensive Homemade 'SlimFast' Diet Shake Recipes
Why Deli Sandwiches Taste Better Than Yours
How to Reduce the Cost of Lunch Meat
14 foods you can eat past their best
Easy Budget-Friendly Back to School Lunch Ideas
60 Sandwich Recipes That Are Anything but Boring
30 Sandwiches From Around The World
The Frugal Lunchbox: Reduce the Cost of Lunch at Work
Simple Beverage Savings That Can Reduce the Grocery Budget
The Best Sandwich in Every State
15 Ways to Use Leftover Roast Beef
Easy Make-Ahead Lunch Ideas to Add to Your Meal Prep Repertoire
My 13th Annual Cost Survey of 10 Popular Brown Bag Sandwiches
35 Summer Sandwiches for Easy Lunch and Dinner
BOOKS:
Beating the Lunch Box Blues: Fresh Ideas for Lunches on the Go! (Rachael Ray Books)
The Healthy Meal Prep Cookbook: Easy and Wholesome Meals to Cook, Prep, Grab, and Go
QUOTES:
"During the school year, my kids buy lunch at school most days, but in the summer, they have lunch at home every day. To keep my lunch meat bill affordable, I make a whole roast, turkey breast, or ham and slice it myself. It's about half what I'd pay per pound at the deli counter. It's so easy that I'm thinking I might send them to school with sandwiches. That would be a double savings!" Tami from Dollar Stretcher tips
"Take the time to calculate your spending on take out food and coffee and you may be shocked at how much money you are wasting. Think about this: If you drive through a fast-food restaurant or coffee shop five days a week and spend $5, that adds up to $1,300 a year! Imagine putting that money in a savings or investment account. Instead, plan your meals at home and spend a day doing meal prep. Not only will you be healthier, but your budget will thank you." Clark Howard
Lunch Meat to Your Order: Instead of going to the deli counter first for your lunch meat, try looking for whole-cooked hams. Our local supercenter has a case behind the lunch meats with a couple of choices. The servers at the deli counter are happy to slice this up. You'll save 50-70%. Plan on freezing the meat in portions that your family will use. It defrosts beautifully. Cathy R. from Dollar Stretcher Tips
Sandwich Slices for Less: My husband and I found a way to save on the high cost of lunch meats. We now buy unsliced meats by the pound at discount stores like Aldi. We found a lot of grocery stores sell it this way. We slice it ourselves on a slicer we bought at an estate/garage sale. It saves us about 50% since the stores mark it up on average 50% to pay for the deli staff and convenience. We feel we are saving a lot by doing it ourselves. It has worked out well for us. Naomi from Dollar Stretcher Tips
Sandwich Meat Savings: Instead of buying sliced deli meat, I buy spiral sliced hams, whole turkeys and London broil when they're on sale. After cooking and cutting, I freeze the pieces on a cookie sheet with wax paper, and once frozen, I store everything in resealable bags. This way, they're individually frozen. You can just take out enough for a sandwich at any time. The meat doesn't get freezer burnt, and it defrosts quickly in the microwave. Not only is this cheaper, but also it's much healthier, as processed meats are usually loaded with preservatives, fillers, and sodium! Lacey from Dollar Stretcher Tips
Easy Hot Meals at Work: Everyone knows Crock-Pots. They also make a mini size for lunches. I've seen them $25 and up. If you plug it in at work, you can have a hot lunch and save money. I've used leftovers, homemade soup, casserole leftovers, chicken and stuffing and veggies, and all kinds of things. I liked to add sliced meat, leftover peas, some cold mashed potatoes. No liquid is needed, and you can eat right from the container. It takes about an hour to get the contents really hot, so you have to have a power source and a place to put it (I had mine behind an office plant). I also use it for camping and for overnight hotel/motel stays. Clare from Dollar Stretcher Tips
23) Shop for nonperishable once a month limiting the opportunity to overspend
24) Grow your own: start a garden
-An example of things you can grow: tomatoes, potatoes, onions, carrots, peas, cucumbers, pumpkins or watermelon.
If you don’t have room for a garden, set up some pots on your patio, balcony, or even in a sunny windowsill.
make sure you know which produce to grow, and which is actually cheaper to buy from the grocery store
Consider community gardening: Check with your local Chamber of Commerce or ask at the Farmer’s Market. Often you can grow a row or two for free, or pay a small fee for a larger plot.
7 Steps to Making Money as a Part-Time Farmers Market Produce Vendor
Learn Pressure Cooker Canning Basics To Cut Food Costs
Regrowing Vegetables From Kitchen Scraps Is Simple. Here’s How to Do It
Plant a Cost-Effective Garden: These Veggies are Cheaper to Grow Than Buy
10 foods you can grow in your house or garden
Learn to Preserve Seasonal Produce for Year-Round Savings
Guide To Easy Canning | Top Tips For Canning & Pickling
25 Fruits and Veggies You Can Grow in Buckets
Becoming a Force for Good: Growing Your Own Food Changes Communities for the Better & Saves Money
How Much Can Preserving Foods Save You?
Tips for Buying Used Canning Equipment
How to Start a Garden to Save Money on Food
19 Ways to Grow Vegetables in Containers
How Much Can Preserving Foods Save You?
19 Ways to Grow Vegetables in Containers
Grow Veggies Indoors with New Kitchen Minis
5 Steps to Saving Money With a Lasagna Garden
A Beautiful Bargain Balcony | MOTHER EARTH NEWS
Fill Your Windows With Year-Round Edible Produce
How to Regrow Veggies in Water from Veggie Scraps - The Thrifty Couple
How to Plant and Grow Your Own Vegetable Garden
How to Make Quick Pickles With Just About Anything : Summer produce coming out of your ears? Save some for later with these easy pickling techniques.
How Much Can Preserving Foods Save You?
Put your backyard to work: From your ¼ acre backyard, you CAN harvest:
✔ 2,000 pounds of vegetables
✔ 1,400 eggs
✔ 60 pounds of fruit
✔ 100 pounds of honey
✔ 75 pounds of nuts
✔ 50 pounds of wheat
✔ And more!
25) Shop at dollar stores and 99 cents stores
Get the best dollar store deals- Consumer Reports
21 Things You Should Always Buy at a Dollar Store
Dollar Store Locations This is not a website... but if you are looking for great bargains a dollar prices... it is worth going to one of these stores specially if you are looking for party favors or personal items you need when traveling....check
12 items to buy at a dollar store
Other places similar to Dollar Store:
7 Ways to Save Even More at Dollar Stores | Money Talks News
22 Things You Should Always Buy at a Dollar Store
17 ways the dollar store can save you big bucks
QUOTES:
From the Editor's Desk of Dollar Stretcher.com Andrea Norris-McKnight (andrea@thedollarstretcher.com)
Hello Frugal Friend!
Even though many dollar stores, such as The Dollar Tree, now charge $1.25 rather than $1.00 per item, you can still save a significant amount of money on many things by shopping at a dollar store rather than grocery and retail stores. Consider a dollar store if you need any of the following items, especially as we approach the end of the year and the holidays:
Candy
Party supplies and decorations
Greetings card and gift bags
Items for DIY gifts: Picture frames, vases, drinkware
Gift basket items and stocking stuffers: small baskets or other storage containers, craft supplies, hair accessories, kitchen utensils and towels, crossword and puzzle books, kids books, coloring books
Some other items that are often cheaper at a dollar or discount store include:
Hand soap
Reading glasses
Cleaning supplies
Coffee filters
When shopping at a dollar and discount store, you must pay close attention to packaging. Some items at dollar stores can actually cost much more than at a non-discount store because that $1.25 is buying you a much smaller package, and therefore you're paying far more per serving or use. Also, I often read that batteries and light bulbs are rarely a good buy. The generic batteries usually don't last nearly as long as name-brand batteries. And the light bulbs are typically the old incandescent type that break easily and use much more energy — not to mention that, like generic batteries, the cheap generic lightbulbs don't last as many hours as name brands. While shopping at multiple stores can be time-consuming, it can also save you quite a bit of money right now. In addition to dollar stores and discount stores, see if there are any salvage stores, such as Sav-A-Lot, Sharp Shopper and Stretch-a-Buck, in your area that might provide a good source of savings on particular foods and household items. Keep on Stretching those Dollars! Andrea
26) Brew your own coffee or beverage at home and at work
buy a coffee maker with a timer and fill it up at night so it will be ready when you wake up
4 Ways To Ruin a Great Cup of Coffee
Using K-Cups costs up to 5 times more than getting coffee from a pot
Simple Beverage Savings That Can Reduce the Grocery Budget
27) Join a warehouse club
TIPS:
go to a warehouse club to buy alcohol
Share membership with a friend, family member or co-worker
buying alcohol at a warehouse club.
Warehouse clubs like Costco, Sam’s Club or BJ’s
10 Best Buys at Warehouse Clubs
10 Mistakes That Cost You Money at Warehouse Stores
Costco vs. Sam’s Club vs. BJ’s: Which has the cheapest prices?
QUOTES:
Once-a-Month Canning: I spend one day every month at a friend's house canning. We make pasta sauce, pizza sauce, jams, and soups. We buy the ingredients at the warehouse club and use fresh fruits and vegetables as much as possible. When we are done, there is enough to last the month and it costs us about half of what we would normally spend on the pre-made items. The best part is spending the day with a good friend. Nancy from Dollar Stretcher Tips
Sharing Warehouse Club Savings (and Membership Costs): A friend and I share a membership to Sam’s Club. We are both single so a full membership was too much for either of us. Sam’s will let each of us pay our half yearly. The sale brochure goes to my friend, but she always makes sure I get it when she has looked through it. It’s a win-win for each of us! Diana from Dollar Strtecher Tips
28) Avoid pre-made meals, avoid pre-cut or pre-sliced or individually wrapped or packaged goods:
Although pre-made meals at the grocery store are often tempting because of ease, they are usually not very cost-effective when you add up all the different ingredients in them.
Don’t Get Pre-Washed Salads. These pre-washed bagged salads serve one purpose – convenience. And with convenience comes higher costs.You’re better off buying the vegetables for your salad individually.
10 Things You Can Stop Buying at the Grocery Store
Avoid pre-cut produce and save! | KAFE 104.1
5 Pre-Made And Pre-Cut Food Items That You Should Totally Avoid
The Real Reason You Should Never Buy Pre-Cut Fruit And Vegetables
Pre-cut Fruit 101: The WoWs, Worries, And What You Should Know
The Best and Worst Fruits and Vegetables to Buy Pre-Cut
Reasons to Avoid Pre-Cut Vegetables and Fruits
29) instead of going out to a restaurant with friends and/or family do a potluck once a month.
Is Brewing Your Own Beer Cheaper Than Buying? Yes, After 261 Beers!
The Frugal Wine Lover: 15 Ways to Indulge for Less
Slow, Steady Savings: We are a family of six with a hectic schedule. Because I could never seem to find the time to meal plan or stay organized enough to prepare a planned meal ahead of time, we were relying on a lot of drive-thru and food delivery. It was killing our budget. I finally decided to take a gradual approach to cutting back on restaurant food. I first started buying family-size frozen entrees, such as lasagnas, pasta bakes or enchiladas — anything I could quickly shove in the oven — and easy-to-make sides. A package of microwavable rice went with the enchiladas. I paired frozen steamed broccoli with a pasta meal. Frozen meals aren't necessarily cheap, but they are far cheaper than food delivery. Next, I started working in easy-to-prepare meals that weren't frozen — spaghetti with a jar of sauce, chicken sausage with rice or boxed mashed potatoes. I was still buying pricier convenience foods, but we were saving more than eating primarily frozen meals. Then, I added in one casserole per week, usually a Monday meal (I would prepare it on Sunday and stick it in the fridge). I'm now working on cooking three large meals per week that provide enough for two dinners per meal. I'm trying to cook from scratch, so we're eating healthier. I know we're not saving as much as we could on our food bills (yet), but cutting out the restaurant food has cut our monthly food costs almost in half. You don't necessarily have to take drastic measures to save money. Small, gradual changes over time might better suit your schedule and budget.
Marley from Dollar Stretcher Tips
30) Make soup 2-3 times a week
Frugal DIY Breads From Around the World
19 Nutritious and Delicious Winter Soups
Quick Soups and Stews Ready in 30 Minutes
15 Ground Beef Soup Recipes for Easy Weeknight Dinners
14 Most Popular Copycat Soups To Make At Home
Dig Into These Ultra Comforting Bean Soup Recipes
Quick Soup Recipes Loaded with Fresh Produce for Comfort Plus Nutrition
12 Most Popular Copycat Soups to Make at Home
Transform Your Favorite Comfort Foods into Irresistible Soup Recipes
40 Soups That Freeze Fantastically
15 Delicious Soups You've Never Heard Of
15 Ground Beef Soup Recipes for Easy Weeknight Dinners
20 Top-Rated Soups Ready in Under an Hour
Our 20 Top-Rated Soups Give You Comfort By the Bowlful
How to Make a Simple, Healthy Soup
Our 20 Top-Rated Soups Give You Comfort By the Bowlful
30 Easy Soup Recipes with Few Ingredients
100 Best Soup Recipes | MyRecipes
20 Easy Soups Ready in 30 Minutes or Less
How to Turn Almost Any Fall Vegetable Into a Soup
20 Nourishing Soup Recipes Made for a Crowd
Garbage Soup :"I've started freezing the leftover veggies in a 2-cup container just to use in this recipe! (When it's full it's time to make this soup!)" - Faith J.
QUOTES:
Host a Winter Soup Swap: In the cold of winter, we have a soup swap at my house. Everyone brings a quart of soup to share and a quart of soup for each person attending. We generally invite six people. We each enjoy the evening of soups and everyone goes home with quite a variety. The soups can be frozen and will last for weeks. The cost is minimal and the evening is always fun. Best of all, we are able to enjoy the soups for the rest of the winter. Caryn from Dollar Stretcher Tips
A Simple 4-Bag Soup System: I have three freezer bags with a start date on them. On each bag, I write chicken, pork or beef. I put chicken, pork or beef roast leftovers in these bags — I cut the meat up into bite-sized pieces. I have another bag for leftover veggies. When I collect enough of one meat, I saute an onion and add some parsley and broth that matches the meat in the bag. Then I add some of the frozen veggies with some rice, pasta or a couple of potatoes and I have soup! Half of my ingredients would have been thrown away. It goes to show that you can make something out of almost nothing if you try. C. from Dollar Stretcher Tips
31) Establish a food budget and stick to it
· Try to keep your grocery budget to around 10-15% of your income
Pay with cash: you will know exactly how much you need to spend
Non-Cash Creative Grocery Budget Stretching Strategies
How to Manage Your Grocery Budget for Lower Food Costs
Guidelines for Reducing the Grocery Budget
When Your Food Budget Is Critical
How Much Your Monthly Grocery Budget Should Be
Non-Cash Creative Grocery Budget Stretching Strategies
24 Ways to Save Money on Groceries – Food Shopping Tips on a Budget
Best Money Tips: 50 Ways to Slash Your Food Budget
Guidelines for Reducing the Grocery Budget
Guidelines for Reducing the Grocery Budget
10 Easy Ways to Grocery Shop on a Budget
How we reduced our food budget from $850 to $550
2 Proven Systems to Track How Much You're Spending on Groceries
Stretching a food budget to the extreme:Stretching out a food budget of only $100 to feed a family of three for a month will require you to admit you need help, and then throw every trick in the cookbook at the problem
Budget Bytes - Delicious Recipes Designed for Small Budgets https://www.budgetbytes.com Budget Bytes - Delicious recipes designed for small budgets. About Me. As a food lover and a number cruncher I've decided that cooking on a budget shouldn't mean canned beans and ramen noodles night after night. Join me for delicious recipes designed for small budgets.
Use a calculator: Crunching the numbers as you shop will keep you accountable to your budgeting goals
32) Avoid impulse buying by ordering online or do curbside
Only buy what you are going to eat
Ordering your groceries online is a great way to monitor your spending and avoid the crowds of grocery stores. It’s also a great way to avoid impulse purchases. You’ll also be able to apply digital coupons, search for sales and price compare while you’re shopping.
If you are an impulse buyer when you go to the supermarket ordering groceries online may help cut back on unnecessary spending. Try www.Peapod.com, www.FreshDirect.com, www.NetGrocer.com. Buy groceries on line at www.amazon.com/grocery which offers more that 14,000 non perishable grocery items with free super saver shipping on orders over $25.
Many local supermarkets including Safeway provide delivery or pickup for online orders. It is tougher to browse on a website than to grab an item off a store shelf so you are much less likely to overspend. Some stores offer free delivery for purchases over $150.
You’ll be less tempted to grab unnecessary products that you would otherwise be walking past. Shopping online also makes it much easier to track your spending and price-compare instantly in a second window.
Again, just be sure to familiarize yourself with a grocery delivery service’s minimum order amounts, delivery fees, substitution policies and membership requirements before placing your first order. Finally, consider ordering your groceries online and picking them up at the store for even more savings.
Use Amazon Pantry: By far one of the best, most convenient ways to save money and avoid going to the grocery store. With Prime Pantry, you can purchase everyday sizes, as opposed to bulk sizes, of groceries and household items online and have these items delivered to your doorstep, saving you a trip to the store and giving you some time back in your busy life. Prime Pantry also provides great value with weekly deals and exclusive coupons.
Crowd Cow sources meat from the country's best independent, family-run farms to offer the best pasture-raised, hormone-free, antibiotic-free beef, pork and chicken anywhere.
6 Best Grocery Delivery Services
6 Best Grocery Pickup Services
6 Best Apps To Save When You Buy Groceries
8 Best Places for Mail Order Meat, Chicken & Fish - Order Beef Online
Meal Delivery Comparison: Which One’s The Best Value?
If buying online, try Honey, a browser extension that automatically applies coupons, promo codes and deals at some grocery chains.
33) Use grocery apps and sites
use a budgeting app, or whatever way you prefer to track your expense
Follow all your favorite food brands, cafes and restaurants on social media so you're first to hear about freebies and competitions.
Get Cash Back When You Buy Groceries With This App
6 Best Apps To Save Money on Groceries
How a Grocery App Can Keep Your Food Budget in Check
Keeping Food Costs in Check: 11 Free Online Resources
6 Best Apps To Save Money on Groceries
How a Grocery App Can Keep Your Food Budget in Check
Basket is the first smart grocery shopping app built for shoppers, by shoppers. We're the largest community of grocery shoppers in the world working together to save each other time and money on groceries and everyday purchases. Basket lets you compare in-store and online prices, giving you choices and putting you in control.
Download the Flipp app for free. Discover weekly ads, deals, and coupons from your favorite local stores. Play Video. ... and discounts at your local grocery stores so you can be a smart shopper and save lots of cash on food." "The app is like a digital version of those penny saver papers you get in the mail. It shows you weekly deals at local ...
OTHER APPS THAT WILL HELP YOU CUT YOUR GROCERY BILL:
Farmstand: A free app that will help you find local, in-season foods
Grocery Pal: This app will show you where the sales items are
Coupon Sherpa: This app will help you find coupons, while also displaying a coupon bar code at checkout. This is nice because some coupon apps require you to print out real coupons. Booooo.
Apples2Oranges: This app helps you determine the unit price. So helpful!
Key Ring: This app will allow you to have all your grocery store reward cards with you all the time without having to have a bulky key ring.
11 Best Apps to Scan Grocery Receipts for Money
How a Grocery App Can Keep Your Food Budget in Check
Simplify your grocery list with these free apps
How to Turn Grocery Receipts Into Cash With Ibotta
How To Use Ibotta To Get Cash Back on Groceries and More
Make Money Scanning Receipts - 11 Apps That Pay Cash
How a Grocery App Can Keep Your Food Budget in Check
Sites and Apps That Reduce Your Grocery Bill
6 Best Apps to Save Money on Groceries
7 Best Apps to Save Money on Groceries
5 Ways Your Phone Can Slash Grocery Costs
34) Find ways to get free food/food assistance
Get information on food assistance programs
How to apply for food stamps (SNAP benefits) and check your balance
Learn the Difference Between SNAP and WIC Programs
40+ Places to Get Free Food on Your Birthday
What You Need to Know About Food and Nutrition Assistance Programs
Stay Healthy and Independent with the Senior Nutrition Program
Stack Your Way to Free Groceries.
Non-Cash Creative Grocery Budget Stretching Strategies
100 Places That Will Give You Free Stuff on Your Birthday
When You Don't Have Money for Food
Use the Summer Meal Site Finder mapping tool to find directions to nearby sites and hours of operation. The USDA’s Summer Meals Program provides free meals and snacks to kids 18 and younger from families with low incomes, and some students with disabilities. Summer meal sites provide a safe environment for kids. Sites include schools, parks, churches, community centers, camps, and libraries.
Stack Your Way to Free Groceries
School Nutrition Programs for Children
5 options for consumers when they don’t have enough food
Creative Non-Cash Grocery Strategies
5 Ways to Fill Your Pantry With Free Food
Special Supplemental Assistance Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)
Everything You Need to Know about WIC”.
See if you are eligible for food stamps
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP
Visit SNAP’s Application and Local Office Locator's page to learn how to apply in your state. To learn more about SNAP benefits, read our informational article on “What to Know About Food Stamp Benefits”.
Get Help With Your Food Budget/USAGov: Find out how to get food in case of an emergency, apply for food stamps and what free or low-cost food programs are available for infants, children and seniors
You could also see whether your local YMCA or other community center is holding a food drive. Calling 311 in your city could lead you to information about currently operating food services.
Know your free or reduced-price school lunch eligibility (NSLP): Child Nutrition Programs: Income Eligibility Guidelines (2023-2024)
The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) provides nutritious, low-cost or free lunches to students. This applies to kids in:
Public schools,
Nonprofit private schools, and
Residential child care institutions.
Each school year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service adjusts income requirements to determine who is eligible for:
Free or reduced-price lunches
Free milk
35) Build a pantry
TIPS:
Freeze large quantities of sale and seasonal food
Don’t buy more than you need.
Organize your pantry before grocery shopping: Move older things to the front and newer items to the back of your cupboards. This saves food from going expired before you use it. Doing this also saves you from buying multiple things you don’t need. Do the same with your freezer.
Clean Out Your Pantry Before Putting Away New Items: Before you put away newly purchased food, take a few minutes to clean out any old, unwanted items and empty boxes. You’ll free up significant space in your pantry – and you’ll actually be able to see the food you just bought.
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Food Storage Tips for the Pantry, Fridge and Freezer
Food Storage Tips for the Pantry, Fridge and Freezer
The Year-Round Money-Saving Benefits of Doing a Pantry Challenge
The Benefits of a Household Stockpile
Powdered Milk: A Basic Staple of the Frugal Pantry
Food Storage Tips for the Pantry, Fridge and Freezer
Keeping Track of Pantry Inventory Can Reduce Food Costs
Powdered Milk: A Basic Staple of the Frugal Pantry
Food Storage Practices That Reduce Food Waste
How To Stock Your Pantry On Any Budget
Stock Your Pantry with Homemade Meals!
A Grocery Stockpiling Guide: How and When to Save
How a Full Pantry Saves You Money
20 Things That Are Actually Worth Stockpiling
QUOTES:
No more overbuying:
On your PC, phone, or however you keep notes, make a folder or list and call it something like "Shopping for the Year." Now start on day one of the month and track how much toilet paper your family uses in one month. Now time this amount by 12. This will help you determine how much you need for the year. Add a few extra rolls in case one is sick and needs more, or company comes over. You can do the same with paper towels, laundry detergent, dryer sheets, soap, shampoo, and most anything else that you buy regularly. Then you can stock up once a year (ideally during a big sale). This helps you better budget your money, plus you save trips to the store to get these things by not running out and having to go buy more. It is kind of like having the store in your home. Delma of Heflin, Alabama The Dollar Stretcher Tips
A Simple Way To Track Pantry Inventory: To keep track of pantry inventory and to make meal planning easier, I keep a spreadsheet on my phone of all of our pantry items. The list contains everything I have in the pantry, fridge and freezer with quantities and dates bought. It makes it much easier to do my meal planning since I don't have to look in cabinets or the freezer to figure out what I have on hand. I can also quickly check quantities of things I have on hand so I don't buy more sale items than I need in my inventory. This way I don't end up with more BOGO items than I can use up before things go bad. As I use and buy items, I update my inventory list. Brenda from Dollar Stretcher Tips
How To Know When To Buy When you stock up on something, it is hard to know how much to buy at a time. Put a date on an item when you open it. For example, date your dishwashing liquid when you open it. When it is empty, figure out how long it took you to use it up. That way, you will know the next time you see a good deal how many you will need to buy. If one bottle lasts one month, then if you buy four at the next sale, you will have a four-month supply and won't have to watch for a sale for another 10 to 12 weeks. Claudia from Dollar Stretcher Tips
36) Use credit cards that offer cash back on groceries or discounted gift cards
Best Credit Cards for Groceries in 2022
Are You Actually Earning Cash Back on Groceries With Your Credit Cards?
Use Discounted Gift Cards: The amount of discounted gift cards that you can purchase online is insane. And the best part about it is that some of these discounted gift cards are actually for grocery stores, Walmart, and Target. And at some of these stores you can even save up to 5% on your groceries!
Buy Previously Owned Supermarket Gift Cards at a Discount
Here are a few of the more popular places where you can buy and sell gift cards.
Cardpool: You can save up to 35% on gift cards! Plus, you can save $5 on your first gift card purchase by clicking here.
QUOTES;
A Grocery Budget Control Trick: You can use gift cards to help stay within your grocery budget. I do most of my grocery shopping at two stores and they both sell gift cards. I buy the gift cards for myself and load them each with about 40% of my grocery budget (leaving 20% to spend at other stores). When the money is gone, I force myself to eat what I have on hand. If I end the month with money still on the card, I reload the card back up to my monthly budget. For example, if my budget is $100 and there is $20 left on the card at the end of the month, I only put $80 more on the card so that I have $100 for the new month. That way, the extra money from the previous month stays in my bank account to either be transferred to savings or pay down debt. If the gift cards aren't re-loadable, just buy a new gift card and pay for part of it with the old gift card and the other part with a debit card or cash. Using the example above, I'd buy a new $100 gift card using the $20 from the old gift card and $80 from a debit card. Wesley FROM Dollar Stretcher Tips
37) Buy a freezer
leftovers, you can freeze them for use later as lunch or individual meals, or you can cook double and freeze a complete meal.
Check your freezer monthly to see what you have and use it to plan your meals
Frozen fruit and vegetables are allowed to ripen before they are frozen thereby retaining many of their nutrients.
As long as the freezer is set to -18℃/0℉, frozen foods will retain their nutritional content. They are often regarded as being more nutritious than fresh produce which may have travelled many miles and passed its peak freshness.
create a variety of freezer meals that they can toss in the oven during the rest of the month
Always freeze things in portions
Food Storage Tips for the Pantry, Fridge and Freezer
If you’re looking for a few basic and easy freezer meals, we recommend checking out this list of quick freezer meals – it has options for virtually everyone’s tastes.
If you have a bit more freezer space and an hour to devote to freezer meal preparation, we recommend checking out MyFreezeEasy, our favorite freezer meal guide.
Food Freezing Guide: Food and nutrition specialist Julie Garden-Robinson, Ph.D., R.D., L.R.D., from North Dakota State University, wrote this Food Freezing Guide. It explains how to freeze most types of foods properly and outlines which foods you shouldn’t freeze. It also provides tips for maintaining your freezer inventory and has a chart that lists how long foods remain edible in the freezer.
Tips for Freezing 6 Types of Foods That Don’t Freeze Well
Cold food storage chart from FoodSafety.gov
Tips for Increasing the Shelf Life of Frozen Foods
Freezer Efficiency: Storage and Organization Tips
12 Freezer-Friendly Soups for a Warm Meal Whenever You Want It
Tips for Frugally Freezing Fruits and Veggies
4 Mistakes You're Probably Making with Frozen Vegetables
Find out how filling up your fridge can reduce energy costs.
Is It Safe to Refreeze Thawed Meat?
Freezing Potatoes: Frugal Homemade French Fries and Hash Browns
Frugally Freezing Meats: Protect Your Savings From Freezer Burn
Use these tips to increase the shelf life of frozen foods.
Food Storage Tips for the Pantry, Fridge and Freezer
How To Increase the Shelf Life of Frozen Foods
The Secret to Saving When Grocery Shopping for One
18 surprising foods you can (and can’t) freeze
Food Storage Practices That Reduce Food Waste
Freezing Potatoes: Frugal Homemade French Fries and Hash Browns
Planning the Cost of a New Freezer
Stop Losing Food to Freezer Burn
Frozen Foods That Are Worth the Freezer Space
Freezer Efficiency: Storage and Organization Tips
How to Increase the Shelf Life of Frozen Foods
How Long Does Frozen Meat Last? Here’s What You Need to Know About Freezing Meat
Frugally Freeze Meats and Protect Your Savings from Freezer Burn.
How to Frugally Freeze Fruits and Veggies
How to Make Freezer Jam | Allrecipes
How to Safely Freeze, Thaw, and Reheat Food
How to Freeze Fruits and Vegetables to Preserve Freshness
15 Freezer-Friendly Asian Dinners
13 Foods You Shouldn't Put In the Freezer
How to Make and Freeze Soup to Speed Up Dinnertime
QUOTES:
Fresh Frozen Fish: If you catch or buy more fish than you can eat right away and want to freeze the excess, just place the fish in a quart-size or sandwich-size freezer bag, fill with plain tap water to about an inch below the top, squeeze the air out, and seal. This leaves room for the bag to accommodate expansion of the water when it freezes. Freeze them and enjoy later! I've kept fish (freshwater and saltwater) this way for up to three years, and they were as fresh and good as the day caught. Thawing does take about twice as long. Michael from Dollar Stretcher Tips
More Frozen Convenience: After reading the tip "Rice at the Ready," I wanted to share what my husband and I do. Since there is only two of us, we prepare other side dishes the same way. Our list of side dishes include mashed potatoes, stuffing, corn pudding, baked beans, cabbage cooked in vinaigrette dressing and Butternut squash. We cook a big batch and store them in plastic freezer bags. We flatten the bags when they first go into the freezer so they are easy to store. Once frozen, they can be stored vertically to take up less space. Toni B. from Dollar Stretcher Tips
Empty Freezer = Higher Energy Bills: An energy-saving tip to cut down on energy use is to fill up plastic gallon jugs with water and put them in the freezer to take up empty space. When our water was cut off for over a half of a day for maintenance, I found another wonderful advantage to this practice. I put the freezer jugs in the sink around lunchtime and went back to work. When we got home that night, we had water to drink and to cook with. We were also able to have coffee the next morning! True, bottled water can be cheap, but this was convenient and saved a few bucks. JWH from Dollar Stretcher Tips
Frugal Frozen Microwave Veggies: I love the convenience of the Green Giant frozen vegetables that come in small plastic bags that you just vent and microwave. One 10-ounce box contains enough vegetables for one dinner. Trying to be more cost-conscious, I decided to purchase a box of quart-sized freezer bags and have started buying the large (32 oz.) store-brand bags of our favorite vegetables. I divide the veggies into the bags and freeze them. (I get four freezer bags from each bag of veggies since we are a very small family.) When dinnertime rolls around, I select a baggy, vent it, throw it in the microwave for three minutes, and we end up with the same thing I was buying before at a quarter of the cost! I wish I had started doing this years ago. B. from Dollar Stretcher Tips
A Time and Space-Saving Freezer Tip: I don't like to cook entire meals to freeze because it takes too much time and freezer space. Instead, I cook components of meals and freeze them individually. For example, I never brown only one pound of hamburger at a time. I always cook three to four pounds at a time and then freeze the cooked meat, flattened out in freezer bags in (approximately) 3/4 pound batches. When a meal calls for cooked hamburger, it is already done. It saves time and freezer space. I do the same with dried beans, such as pintos or kidney beans. I like to cook navy beans to make baked beans rather than buying baked beans in a can. I just mix the beans with the vegetables and spices I like and then freeze them instead of baking.I also roast two chickens at a time and freeze the extra meat the same way. The juice left from roasting the chicken is poured into clean, used glass jars and placed in the freezer to be used to cook rice or in soup. It takes some time and effort on the day I cook, but it saves lots of time on soccer practice nights!
Melinda from Dollar Strtecher Tips
Save! Chop! Chop!: Whenever there's a sale in the produce department, I stock up and freeze. For example, I stock up when yellow, orange, and red bell peppers are on sale. Then, when I get home, I chop each pepper into small and medium-sized chunks. I put each color and size into snack-sized zipper top bags and place them in the freezer. Now, whenever I need bell peppers to add some color to a veggie dish, I have them ready and chopped in my freezer! I also do this with broccoli, asparagus, and even onions since most recipes use chopped onions. I go ahead and chop them up and freeze them flat in zipper-top bags. It's sure helped me save both money and time.
Johanna from Dollar Stretcher tips
38) Shop at your local drugstore
Convenience stores, drugstores, and gas station mini-marts are handling an expanding variety of fresh foods and some have great prices for staples such as milk and eggs. Get in their mailing list to alert you of any sales. Check their flyers you get by mail to learn about special offers.
keep an eye on the sales circulars for CVS, Rite Aid and Walgreens. All have a couple of great buys each week. Combine their sales with coupons
39) Pay with cash
If your grocery bills are out of control, stick to cash! Figure out what you should be spending on groceries each month and set the cash aside in a ‘groceries only’ envelope. It will help you keep track of your spending and what you have left for the month.
It will cut on impulse buying
Will force you to stay within budget
40) Don't buy non-grocery items at the grocery store
Things like health and beauty products, light bulbs, toilet paper, greeting cards, party supplies — don’t buy them at the grocery store! Check out discount retailers like Walmart and the dollar stores, and warehouse clubs like Costco and Sam’s Club and BJ's
41) Eat healthy and still save money
Avoid junk food, sugary drinks etc..
The prices for chips and soda can add up quickly. If you still want to buy them then make them last buy rationing.
Shrink your portion size: in the US, portion sizes have grown dramatically since the 1950s. One of the easiest ways to save money on food is to keep your portion sizes scaled down to align with recommended nutritional guidelines.
Give up soda: it is expensive, can cost you up to $1000 a year and unhealthy
Give up bottled water. If the tap water is no good, use a filter.
Give up fast foods. They are expensive and not healthy
EAT RIGHT when MONEY’S TIGHT (PDF)
MyPlate App : Meet healthy eating goals one at a time! Use the Start Simple with MyPlate app to pick simple daily food goals, see real-time progress, and earn badges along the way. This easy-to-use app can help you make positive changes. Healthy eating can help you achieve a healthier life overall. Get started with Start Simple with MyPlate!
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42) Beware of supermarket tricks used to make you spend more money
Avoid the Middle of Shelves: The grocery industry is far bigger and smarter than most people consider – and they know your habits better than you do! Research proves that most grocers place higher-priced items on the middle of shelves at eye-level because you are more likely to buy them.
You can save money on food by comparing pricing on items on the top and bottom shelves. So Avoid items at eye level: ( More affordable brands tend to be higher or lower on the shelves.)
Stay on the Perimeter of the Store: In nearly all grocery stores, the majority of fresh and inexpensive items you need will be found on the perimeter of the store. This is where you’ll find fresh produce, deli options, seafood, and dairy items.
Don’t Buy Anything at the Checkout Counters: You’d be amazed at the overcharge and premium pricing that you’ll find at these checkout counters.
9 dirty tricks supermarkets use to make you spend more money
43) Leave the over-spenders at home.
"Love ones can be bad for the budget. if they are impulse buyers"
Don't bring the kids, don't bring your spouse.
The simple truth is that each person who accompanies you on your grocery trip is likely to try convince you to stray from your list. So shop alone and save yourself the trouble!
44) Don't shop when you are hungry
Eat before you go shopping to cut on impulse buying
Hunger will make you buy things that you don't need and that are bad for you like cookies, ice cream and cake.
45) Bring your own bags
Some supermarkets charge you per bag....bring your own ... save the environment and save a few pennies. I use a double brown bag and I reinforce it with a double plastic bag that can be use as a handle to carry the groceries. The final product is very sturdy and will last many months. I also like the bags they sell at Market Basket. You might save 5-10 cents per bag if you bring your own. Every penny counts.
46) EAT ONLY WHEN YOU ARE REALLY HUNGRY: eat less
Who says that we are supposed to eat 3 full meals a day? Sometimes we eat three times a day because of habit not because we need to. Just...... eat when you body tells you to. Practice fasting . The easiest way to fast everyday is to eat highly nutritional foods (high fiber, lots of fruits and vegetables) between 11am and 7pm with a 16hr fasting. You could drink black coffee in the morning instead of a big breakfast.
You could prepare something light either for lunch or dinner or you can skip dinner altogether. If you eat nutritionally dense foods you will notice that you are not that hungry.
Most of us eat way too much food. Reducing food portion is one of the many things you can reduce to save money. Eating less is simple and effective and is good for the waistline.
47) Use self-checkout or watch the cash register during checkout
Using self checkout allows you to reconsider what you are taking home. Having a last look at what is on your cart will allow you to decide if you really need that item.
If you see something in your cart that you don’t need or is too expensive (and you can find cheaper alternatives elsewhere) then set them free.
Sometimes cashiers and POS systems make mistakes so there is always a possibility of getting overcharged or not getting that special deal pricing.
48) Do YOU Already have what you want? Try a “No-Buy challenge”:
Check your pantry, your kitchen cabinet or refrigerator before buying. Many times we have what we need somewhere in the kitchen. A great example is when we need some spices and we buy new relying just on memory, only to find out that we already have 3-4 containers of the same spice.
Try not to go to the grocery store for a couple of weeks or even a month and use up what’s in your pantry and freezer.
Saving Money by Cleaning Out Cupboards, Closets and Cabinets
Quote:
A Family-Friendly Food Inventory System: With three teens in the house, I couldn't tell when we ran out of things. I never knew what to put on the grocery list or what to count on when making dinner. I came up with two solutions. I put together a list of all of our grocery items. It's posted in our pantry. If someone takes the last of something, they are responsible for putting a checkmark on the inventory list.I do something similar with the fridge and freezer. I keep a handwritten list on the door. When I put a roast in the freezer or leftovers in the fridge, it goes on the inventory. If someone eats up an inventory item, they cross it off the list. Now I know what to buy in the grocery store!
Gwen from Dollar Stretcher Tips
49)_ Work part time for the supermarket or for a cafe or restaurant
You can be a mystery shopper and get free meals at restaurants. Work part time at a cafe or resturant you can get free meals and bring leftovers home
50) Raise Your Own Animals
Already got a garden? Take things one step further by keeping animals. You don’t have to live on a farm to raise rabbits for meat or keep chickens for eggs — all you need is a little plot of backyard for them to roam in.
52) Save when you eat out
53) Ingredient substitution
Whether you’ve simply run out of a needed food item for a recipe or you want a substitution for something that has become unaffordable or unattainable at the store (like eggs!), the following food substitution guides may point you to a convenient or affordable alternative:
BOOKS
1) Good & Cheap... eat well on $4/day
3) Greatest Secrets of the Coupon Mom
5) Grow all you can eat in 3 square feet : Small-space gardeners, find your start in Grow All You Can Eat in 3 Square Feet, packed with information on window boxes, potted plants, patio gardening, raised beds, small square-foot gardening, container gardening, and everything else related to growing your own small garden.
6) 6 brilliant cookbooks that will help you save money! 6 Cookbooks That Helped Me Save Money Without Clipping Coupons