My new goal is to cut our grocery bill. I can’t do much about the mortgage or the car payment but I can make our food budget more reasonable. I’m not that good with coupons, but I do watch for sales and I plan our meals and it’s already made a dent in our budget. I’m trying to get down to $30 per week. I talked about spending $50 per week previously, and since I have cut cupcakes out of the budget I figure we can reduce it even further.
Here’s my tips for making a grocery list that will save you money:
- Get one of those magnetic notepads that I always see in the $1 section at Target. Stick it on the fridge and write down items as you run out of them. Then, when it’s time to go to the store, just take the list with you.
- Determine how many days it will be before you shop again. I try to make it at least 7 days, sometimes 10. Any less and you’re susceptible to more impulse purchases.
- Make a meal plan before you head to the store. (See below for tips on that.)
- Time yourself. Do not spend more than 30 minutes in the grocery store. The longer you’re there, the more you spend.
- Stick to the perimeter of the store for the healthiest stuff.
- KEEP THE LIST IN YOUR HAND. If I put it down for even a second, I will lose all control. Keep a pen in your hand too to help you cross items off.
- Use a calculator to add up items as you go. Once you’ve reached your limit of how much you wanted to spend, you need to reevaluate what you REALLY need for this upcoming week and what’s just a “want.” (How did these Oreos get in my cart?!)
Keys to menu planning:
- FIRST, take stock of what you already have in the house. You’ll be surprised what you can make with just a few ingredients.
- THEN, make a list of all the meals you could make with the food you already have. If you have ground turkey, then write down things like meatloaf, turkey burgers, meatballs, sloppy joes, etc. Then analyze what ingredients you’re missing to complete those meals. Write those down.
- Try to have meals blend into one another. Obviously, you don’t want to eat pasta meals three nights in a row (well, maybe you do) but make sure you can use leftovers for the next day’s meal (or two days later). So I’ll have chicken-based dishes every other night, with a ground meat-type dish in the middle, pasta on Thursday, fish on Friday, etc.
- Be flexible. You might not make the meals in the same order you thought you would. But since you have all the ingredients then it’s really no problem to shift them around based on what’s easier to cook that day.
Stick with it. It can be almost awkward and lame at first. You’ll be clutching a pen and paper and staring into your cabinets like, “When did I become that mom?” But you’ll soon realize that “that mom” is saving money and isn’t stressed about dinner every night. So give it a try and let me know how it is.
This is an awesome idea Tara. For me to actually do this will take some effort from my part.
Love the ideas and suggestions. I will definitely try it in my houshold. The only thing that I struggle with is snacks for my son. He has to take a lunch everyday to pre school and some of the snacks that I provide can be costly. Do you have any suggestions on how to factor in snacks with a $30 a week budget for food?
@J.Watson – Some of the snacks I pack for my kids are pretty cheap. I’ll pack some Cheerios (a big box specifically for snack purposes can last at least two weeks), pretzels (get a big bag for $2.50), or some oranges (cut up ’em really small). I buy snack stuff at Sam’s Club because it’s much, much cheaper.
Wait a minute Tara! You feed a family of 4 for $30 per week, including meat, fresh fruits and veggies? Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner aaaannnd snacks?! Please enlighten me….I know I live in the D.C. area, but groceries can not be THAT much more expensive than Ohio!
Tara, these are great tips, and something I’m passionate abt too. I’m not that good at coupons (yet) but one of the things I’ve been doing is clipping them anyway, to build my ‘stash’. Manufacturer’s coupons give you plenty of time to use them, making it possible for me to gather several of them to use in 1-2 shopping trips later on.
I’m really good at catching sales too, and I pretty much know that in my neighborhood, the brand names go on sale at the 1st of the month (when the manufacturer’s coupons will have the greatest impact) and the no-frills towards the end. If it’s a buy multiple items for one low price, I buy them all–I also like to keep an eye on making sure I’m adding cans & other non-perishables to my pantry stock too. Hurricane Sandy taught me that fresh is best, but nothing beats a can of ravioli in the middle of a storm.