Thrifty Ways to Cut Your Grocery Bills

 

Out of all your non negotiable bills food is the one with the most potential to be cut back on.  Your electric bill, phone bill, or gas bill have very little wiggle room.  By smart shopping and using some thrifty planning ideas you can not only cut your grocery bills, but also eat healthier!  Here are some things I have learned from 15 years of tight budgets and feeding 6 people.

1.  When on a great sale buy allot!  When a certain item that is something you use all the time goes on sale buy a months worth.  You will still have some by the time the next sale comes on for the same item.  You can save up to 75% off on things like meat peanut butter, canned fruits, coffee, flour, ect.

2.  Have a monthly dinner plan.  Plan out what you want to make every night for dinner this will save you hundreds of dollars a year.  Then write down any special ingredients you need to make it.  I write down every nights meals for the month following a simple meal plan that caters to our weekly schedule.  So on busy nights I use crock pot recipes, on Mondays I do a simple recipe, ect.  I can also plan leftover meals by knowing what dinners will leave certain leftovers.  This will save you tons of money because you will eat out less and you will eat healthier.  You also will know exactly what to take out in the morning to defrost so there will be no last minute dash to the freezer to see what's available.

3. Buy generic.  Generic foods are almost always cheaper than name brands, even with coupons.  However always cross check the name brand prices just to be sure!

4.  Plan you attack!  Every week check you local grocery store adds and plan accordingly.  I shop at one store for their items on sale and then the other.  I probably never buy items unless they are on sale.

5. Cut back on convenience foods, chips, soda, beer, alcohol, and flavored fruit drinks.  These are just empty calories that also cost allot of money.

6.  Check the unit price!  Sometimes when an item is on sale it seems like a great deal compared to the other brand sitting right next to it.  But if you check the unit price you find out that the other brand is actually cheaper!   I always check the unit price and have saved hundreds of dollars a year.  Below is a pic of a store price label.  The unit price is the 9.80 one.