10 Ways To Save Money On Food & Groceries Shopping – Hacks to show you how to save money on your food bill. Money saving tips + Video.
Save Money On Food
Our inevitable weekly food bill can easily climb if we’re not careful about how we choose to spend our money. Over time I’ve developed heaps of hacks to help reduce our grocery bill and share them with you today.
1. Shop From Your Kitchen
Before even setting foot in a grocery store, take stock of what you already have in your kitchen.
Search through your pantry, fridge, freezer and anywhere else that you store food.
Make a list of what you have, what’s approaching its use by date and what you’re going to use this week, to save you buying doubles/triples of what you already have to hand and have no risk of running out of.
Save money by using what you already have and reduce waste potential.
2. Menu & Meal Planning
Start with what you’ve discovered in your audit mentioned above and plan your menu and meals for the week.
Make a plan using what you already have and then complete the plan.
3. Write You Shopping List (And stick to it!)
Now that you have your menu plan, make a shopping list to fill in the blanks from what you already have to hand.
It’s so important to stick to your shopping list and resist impulse buys or sales.
4. Seasonal Produce
Think about the season you’re in, what’s in season and how can you take advantage of seasonal bounty.
In season produce will be cheaper as it’s available in abundance.
5. Cheap Cuts/Ingredients
Go for cheaper cuts of meat and ingredients to lower your grocery bill. I rarely buy expensive cuts such as chicken breasts, instead opting for a frugal whole chicken.
You can still enjoy good quality produce, just opt for ingredients that are less popular. We LOVE offal and regularly enjoy chicken livers and other dishes that are budget friendly.
6. Know Your Store Reduction Times
Learn when your store makes reductions on it’s fresh produce. Have a chat with staff and see if they’re willing to share the discount times, or shop at different times to learn when they place “reduced” stickers on items nearing their use by dates.
I’ve saved a FORTUNE by buying meat that’s a day or two from their sell by date. I either pop them straight in the freezer when home or use that day.
7. Don’t be tempted by sale items
Try to resist being tempted by advertising and promotions that work to persuade you to add unnecessary items to your grocery bill.
Stick to your shopping list and DON’T be tempted by sale items. It’s likely those items won’t be consumed as you didn’t have a plan for them and the money spent is as good as wasted.
8. Minimise Waste
Less wasted food = less wasted $. Find ways to use more of the produce you have and waste less.
Use what you have, create a system in your fridge/pantry to use oldest first and make sure you can easily see what you have.
An overstocked fridge which means you can’t easily see what you have, means there’s a serious chance that you will forget about items that can’t be seen.
9. Buy In Bulk
Look to buy regularly used items in bulk to save money. For example, on a recent trip to Costco I bought MASSIVE bottles of coconut oil and avocado, both of which I use on an almost daily basis and will be use.
If it were an ingredient that I use less often, I wouldn’t consider buying in bulk because I know that so much of it would end up wasted. Think carefully and be smart buying in bulk.
10. Eat Less Meat
I’m not talking about going vegetarian, rather think about ways to enjoy more meals without meat/chicken.
We enjoy a meat free Monday every week and find that just one meat free day a week means a reduction in our food bill.
10 Ways To Save Money On Food & Groceries Shopping Video
Watch the video where I talk you through 10 ways to save money on food and groceries:
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