5 ways to save money on groceries

I think we can allllll agree that spending all of our money on groceries is SOOOO disappointing. We dream of going on fun vacations, buying a boat or a lake house or a new car. We want to fund our kids’ college funds and save for retirement. BUTTT we have to spend money on food. Every. Single. Month. The average American household spends between $550 and $900 each month on food. That is $6,000-$11,000 each year. Wouldn’t it be nice to have something more fun to show for that $11,000 than a chubby tummy??:) So for me, when I am trying to save money and rein in my spending, I start to tighten the purse strings on my grocery bill first. You can find a whole list of ways to save money on groceries HERE, but today we are going to focus on SHOPPING YOUR FRIDGE, PANTRY, and FREEZER to save money on your groceries.

5 Steps for shopping your home and saving money on groceries:

1. Clean out your fridge weekly. It sounds silly, but just by cleaning out your fridge each week, you can save on re-purchasing items you already have, using items that are close to their expiration, and remembering what items you already spent money on. First, I clean out all items that need to be thrown away. No matter how vigilant we are, there will always be those things that slip through the cracks. Just toss it and get it out of the way so that you can see what you have to work with. Then I mentally inventory what foods I have that need to be used up quickly. This week I had leftover pasta noodles and sauce. My kids are HORRIBLE at seeing leftovers in the fridge and seeing that as lunch. So I like to get creative. I took the leftover noodles, sauce, some cheese, and a little bit of leftover ground beef, and made a casserole. Instead of tossing those extra noodles, we got a 100% free extra meal from items that would have stayed in the back of the fridge and eventually been thrown out. Is it a mind-blowing dinner??? NO. But it was quick, easy, and free.

Next, I dig through those fruit and vegetable drawers. If there is fruit or veggies that need to be used up, I will cut them up and offer them for snacks during home-school. For some reason, I whole apple is not appealing to my kids. BUT if I cut it up and put in on a plate with some peanut butter, I am mother of the year. If I cannot find a quick use, I will cut up and bag fruits and veggies and throw them in the freezer for smoothies or soups. Frozen fruit is EXPENSIVE. Just toss those strawberries that are a little too far ripe to eat into the freezer for another day. Free smoothies for breakfast…YES PLEASE. Use that freezer to SAVE MONEY ON GROCERIES!!!

Last, I take a quick inventory of the condiments and sauces that we use. I add items that are getting low to my grocery list, but also try to keep track of what we DO NOT NEED. Nothing is worse than realizing you are out of ketchup, running to the store to grab some, and coming out with $200 worth of stuff you REALLY didn’t need. Remember the biggest tip for saving on groceries is to STAY OUT OF THE STORES. It is also so annoying when you purchase something ONLY to come home and realize that you already have 4 of those items in your pantry. So let’s move to the pantry to try to save some money on groceries.

2. Next, I will take a quick trip through my pantry. I group like items together and see what I have EXTRA of. This week I noticed that I had 9 cans of cream soup. I don’t even use it that often, but for some reason I throw a few in on almost every shopping order. By grouping them all together, it showed me DO NOT BUY CREAM SOUP GIRL!! The next biggest area I look at is my bread basket. I HATE wasting bread. If I have bread, buns, or tortillas that need to be used up, I will make homemade uncrustables, put grilled cheese and soup on our dinner menu, make a large batch of croutons, or bake up some tortilla strips. Find those forgotten pantry items and put them to use.

How does this all save money on groceries?? Instead of picking out meals and running to the store to grab the ingredients I need to make it, I am creating meals based on what I already have. It makes makes me feel like a 50’s housewife to be honest. Like I should be cooking in my dress and pearls or something. BUT it saves me from going over budget on groceries!! If you don’t know what you SHOULD be spending on your groceries each month…start HERE. If you don’t know what you ARE spending on groceries each month…start HERE.

3. Monthly, it time to inventory that freezer. This doesn’t have to take much time or effort. Just open up the freezer, sort like items together, identify what meat you have in there, and see what you have that can be used to create another “free meal.” For example, I inventoried the freezer a few days ago and found a rotisserie chicken that I had thrown in before we left on vacation that I TOTALLY forgot about. Plus I had 6 bags of frozen rice that I had batch cooked a few months ago. So I can use a bag of rice, the frozen rotisserie, and that cream of chicken I have been hoarding, and make chicken and rice. BOOM. Just like that, I have added an extra dinner to my menu without spending a dime. That dime was already spent months ago…so I don’t want to waste it. By shopping my own freezer and pantry instead of running to the store, I can usually come up with at least a weeks worth of dinners. If you think about that in terms of your weekly grocery budget, that could save me $150. If I then take that saved $150 and put it towards debt or into a sinking fund, I have just FOUND $150 EXTRA dollars in my budget.

4. Get creative. Remember that the goal is to save money so that you can use it for your WANTS instead of your NEEDS. So keep your goal in mind. If you are putting that extra money towards a Disney trip or a girls weekend, it will make it easier to put in the tiny bit of effort to shop your fridge for dinner. ORRR if you are slowing digging your way out of a mountain of debt, keep your goals in mind. I am saving this money NOW so that I can live the life I want LATER. Budgeting is always about goals. I am NOT going to the grocery store TODAY, so that I can go to Hawaii next year. Or I am NOT shopping today, so that I can stop giving all of my money to the credit card companies in 6 months. Keep those goals in mind!! Having a goal will keep you accountable.

5. Limit your grocery store trips. You cannot spend money if you are NOT shopping right?! It is so easy to pop into a store for JUST ONE THING. But it is MUCH harder to leave with JUST that one thing. Try a week long spending freeze and shop your own fridge. If you have a well stocked freezer and pantry, you could make it 2 weeks. That could be an extra $300 savings to put towards debt. Without MAKING more money, the only way to find more money in your budget is to LOOK for it. If you could “find” between $150 and $300 extra dollars each month, you could save $1,800-$3,600 dollars after a year. JUST by eating food you already purchased.

As my Grandma use to say…

Use it up. Wear it out. Make it do. Or do without.

And the best part is, by “doing without” you are actually making it so you can DO WITH later. I would rather eat a casserole once in a while at home so that I can eat a churro in Disneyland next year. Attempting to save money on groceries only takes a TINY bit of time, a little bit of elbow grease, and some creativity. BUT is totally worth it when you get to use that money for more than just a chubby tummy. Happy saving. JESS

If you need more help creating a budget, start HERE and HERE. Start paying off that debt, saving some cash, and creating the life you want!!

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