Save $50 a week on groceries
When you work out your budget on paper, you will probably notice that apart from rent or mortagage payments, food is the biggest expense you have. This is especially true if you have teenagers in the house and tenfold true if your teens are boys!
Cutting back on expenses is something that most moms become familiar with the moment their baby comes into the world. Suddenly we need to reallocate the going out money to diapers and formula, and as the kids get older, to school supplies and clothes. But food is one area that is really tough to cut back on.
Personally, I have had weeks where there was no money coming in and my family subsisted on rice and beans and oatmeal for days on end, but when you have a bit of cash, food is usually what you spend it on! So, how can we find a happy balance between beans and overspending on granola bars?
Here are a few hints:
- Buy in-store brands or no-name brands. These generally taste the same or very similar and are much cheaper. For example, instead of buying a $7 box of name brand cereal, go for the $4.50 bag of generic cereal, that is basically the same. You can save nearly 40% just by making the switch and no major lifestyle change is needed! (tip: if your kids are set on fancy cartoon characters on the box, repackage the cereal when you get home, stick it inside a saved cereal box.)
- Watch for seasonal sales. If you want apples in the dead of winter, youīll pay for the luxury of having them shipped from warmer areas or grown in hot-houses. So why not stick to eating fruits that are in season? They can be up to half the price! Many fruits and veggies can be frozen for later use if you plan to cook with them, so stock up while things are on sale!
- Use just a little of expensive ingredients. Does your family love the taste of shrimp or another high-priced food? Instead of buying huge amounts to serve up, put favorite expensive ingredients into other dishes, not on their own. For example, make burritos or fajitas using strips of steak, donīt serve a steak up to each person. One or two cuts will serve the entire family and you save money.
- Put a limit on sugar. If your family tends to devour cookies and sodas, why not make a break for health and cut back on buying such sugary goods? You donīt have to stop altogether, but just buying one pack of cookies a week when you used to buy two will make a dent in your grocery bill.
- Prepare food yourself. Buying prepared food is a big expense. You pay up to 75% more for pre-cut veggies and the like! Why not spend a couple of hours each weekend preparing food for the following week? Wash and cut up salad ingredients to store in Ziploc bags until needed, or pre-bake a pie crust to fill with pudding later. There are plenty of ways to cut back on prep time. You can find some of them at this website: ????????
- Buy on sale. Watch the flyers in your newspaper for sales and stock up when something you normally buy is cheap. Only buy what you would regularily buy, donīt get stuff just because itīs on sale. For example, donīt buy potato chips on half price when you donīt normally buy them.
- Clip those coupons. You can save quite a bit of money with coupons, but once again, remember to only buy what you would normally buy. Itīs not saving if you get 2 for 1 roll-on deoderants that no one will ever use!
Sit down and take a look at your weekly grocery list. Is there anything you are buying that could be made at home? Do you tend to make impulse buys? If so, you can try having a friend or one of your kids remind you when you try to buy something that isnīt on the list.
With a little common sense, you can easily save about $50 on groceries a week. What will you do with that money?
