Common Sense Grocery Budget Cuts
Cutting back on expenses is the name of the game these days. We want the most we can get for the least amount of money spent, right? I sure do! This is the first post of a series on Proven Strategies for Budget Cuts in The Home. Our hope is that you may find ideas which you can implement to assist your family budget. We are going to begin with one of the largest expenses in the home which cannot be cut completely out, the Grocery Budget
To use a valuable phrase, When we fail to plan, our plan fails. You may be applying this phrase to your household budget but are you applying it to the subcategories of your budget?
There are 2 things to consider about the Grocery budget.
- You must make a grocery budget
- Meal planning is the only way to implement your budget successfully.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Americans are spending less on food now than ever since 1984, actually $24 per week less than at peak spending in 1988. What are some of the ways that other people are managing to cut back on food expenses for their family?
Meal Planning
Getting organized with your meal planning will result in less impulse purchases and less over-spending!
Renee over at Renew Your Space At Your Own Pace has done the grunt work for us. She has created Free Printable Menu Planning pages which are so simple, all you have to do is fill in the blanks! Go to this post, Meal Planning Printable for your Planner for her free pintable’s. These free pintable’s allow you to
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List the potential menu’s,
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Take stock of your ingredients in the pantry
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Create your shopping list
Menu Changes
Have you ever heard the ‘we were so poor’ stories of how people walked five miles to school, backwards, uphill, with no shoes, in the snow? I sure did. I could just see my father doing that! There may be a need to make sacrifices if change is going to occur. You may want to consider meatless main meals, involve the family in meal planning, teach the children to cook some of the simple less expensive meals, cook from scratch which is less expensive than cooking prepared foods, learn to make snack foods instead of purchasing the expensive one’s in the store, and purchase less expensive cuts of meat. Crockpot cooking is another way of creating less expensive meals.
For some great inexpensive meal ideas check out these blogs:
- Cheap Recipe Blog has a tab at the top of the page called $10 Food Day. You will find suggestions for a full day of menus to feed a family of 4 on $10 per day!
- One Income Family Living is a fantastic blog by a frugal Mom sharing menu ideas, grocery list and purchases on a $50 weekly budget! Click on the ‘weekly grocery’ links for ideas. You will also find links to the recipes like this one for Tortellini Soup
You do not have to give up healthy foods to cut your budget. You simply have to be a bit more savvy while shopping. That may involve shopping at multiple stores and becoming educated about the Sales cycles of grocery stores.
Sale Cycles
Grocery sales tend to repeat about once every 6 to 12 weeks with the most repetition between 6-8 weeks on common items. This is good information to know when you are budgeting. Let’s call this Extreme Budgeting. Of course you shop the sales but you can greatly reduce your grocery budget by stockpiling when certain staple items are at their lowest price.
Stockpiling
Don’t be afraid of the idea of stockpiling. Let me explain. You will want to stockpile mostly staple items when they are at their lowest price such as toilet paper, sugar, flour, canned cooking soups etc.. Be careful not to stockpile too many of an item to the point of the date expiring before your family could use it. That would be counterproductive.
Use coupons
You don’t have to become an extreme coupon user to save money on your grocery budget. Most grocery stores have ecoupons these days. Simply register on your favorite grocery store website and download the ecoupons to your frequent shopper card. Of course clipping coupons and matching them to the current sales will net you an even greater savings!
How to Save Money on Groceries Without Clipping Coupons
This is a valuable post written by The Humbled Homemaker chock full of excellent advice and tips! I am an extreme couponer myself, but I go through seasons when I just don’t want to put the work into it! Can I get a witness? These tips are proven and I myself have resorted to them.
“Here are my top 6 tips for saving money on groceries–without using coupons”
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Buy on clearance
- Shop at discount stores, like Aldi or Save-a-Lot
- Shop for bulk items at club-type stores like BJ’s, Costco and Sam’s
Visit The Humbled Homemaker for the last 3 of her great proven tips and the rest of the story here.
What are some of the ways you have been able to cut back on your families grocery budget?
I have managed to cut my overall budget and stick to it…however, the grocery bill is still an issue for us. I tried the extreme couponing and, pardon my french, I sucked! This gives me some more ideas and the links you included are awesome! Thanks for sharing!!
Awww, I’m so glad you found something helpful to you, Bobbi! Thank you for stopping by too.
Great post with lots of neat tips!
This is a really good article! Thanks for all the tips/ help!
Thanks for stopping by. I hope you found some information which will be helpful to you.
What a great article. You set out the points for saving money in a clear and concise way. My husband and I do all of the above. He’s very diligent at checking the larder, writing the menu and the shopping list. He works out what he expects to pay too. I just tag along for the ride, knowing he will cook the food and wash the dishes afterwards. Aren’t I lucky?
You most certainly are a lucky girl! It is best to achieve a successful budget if both are working together! Thanks for stopping by.
Ah! I’m so pleased you’re getting good use out of it 🙂 It sure has helped me focus in on what we really need. I definitely need to use my crockpot more… just so useful & makes filling meals! ~Renee
Those one pot meals from the crockpot can be quite frugal! Glad to share your Free Printable, it is very helpful!
Growing our own food is the way to go for us. Seeds are not expensive and with a bit of work we can grow a lot of food – basically free.
We grow certain items but not an entire garden like you. Your gardening skills are awesome! Growing your own food is an excellent way to save on the grocery budget!
I am always looking for ways to save on groceries. It is our biggest expense. It’s more than our house payment each month. Well, Ok, our house payment is tiny, but still! We spend like $500 a month or more for 3 people.
I stockpile and sale shop. I don’t find coupons very useful. We don’t buy much of the stuff that the coupons are for, but maybe I should try again?
I followed those frugal blogs you recommended! I can use all the tips I can get. I want so badly to be debt free!
This post is great and it is going to bless a lot of people.
Amanda, I am so glad you were able to benefit from this post. We have to work together, don’t we! I believe with some effort, you can get your grocery bill down!
Shirley, you have included some great tips to cut the grocery budget. I especially like the one about Renee’s free meal planning printable.
I never grocery shop without a list because I know I will run my bill up with things I don’t need. I also tend to stick to the outside aisles where all the healthier foods are.
I’m looking forward to the next post in your series!
I saw that your post today was about being frugal as well 🙂 Does this mean we have our minds on shopping! If we go into the grocery store without a list, or a plan, the budget is automatically blown!