Money Saving Ideas for Food
- Smart grocery shopping saves money on the food budget.veggie stand image by Mat Hayward from Fotolia.com
The grocery budget is one of the first places families look when the need to save money arises. Saving money on your groceries doesn't mean you have to sacrifice your favorite foods. Smart shopping methods help you shave money off your grocery bill each week and a little planning can pay off in the form of major savings. - A grocery stockpile means fewer trips to the grocery store which can lead to money savings. By keeping plenty of the staples on hand, you have the basis for several different meals in the pantry. The key is to stock up on items when they go on sale. When your favorite meat goes on sale, buy extra and place it in the freezer. Stockpile canned goods when they reach a low price. Any food that will last for several months is good for a stockpile. Set aside a portion of the weekly grocery budget to go toward stockpiled items. If you find a good deal on something that week, put your stockpile budget toward buying several of that item.
- Building your menu around the grocery store ads means more savings. Browse through the weekly ads making a note of the good deals. Grocery stores typically place loss leaders near the front of the sale flyer. These are items that are priced very low to draw people into the store. While the store might not make much money on the loss leaders, they hope you'll purchase other regular priced items while you're there. Use these loss leaders as the basis for some of your weekly meals. When you combine these items with stockpiled items you already have, you can plan some inexpensive meals.
- Planning out your meals with weekly menus is another way to save money on food. By planning ahead, you know exactly what you need at the grocery store. This prevents random purchases that you may or may not use. Before you start your menu, take stock of what you have on hand. Look in the freezer and pantry to see what meals you can make with the items on hand. If you have chicken in the freezer and pasta in the pantry, you just need Alfredo sauce for Chicken Alfredo. Create a menu form that you can print each week. Fill in the main dish and any side dishes for each day. Write out your grocery list based on the menu. Stick to the list at the store avoiding any extras.
- Meat is usually one of the biggest expenses for meals. Instead of eating meat every night of the week, add in a few meatless meals on your menu. Some ideas include pasta and sauce, homemade macaroni and cheese, grilled cheese sandwiches or a baked potato bar with different toppings you already have in the refrigerator. Breakfast meals also tend to be more affordable. Serve breakfast for dinner to add variety to the menu and save money. Scrambled eggs, pancakes, a breakfast casserole or hash browns topped with cheese and bacon work well.
- A home garden saves money throughout the summer months on vegetables and fruit. Most vegetables are available as seeds or starter plants at nurseries or home improvement stores. The seeds or plants are relatively inexpensive and most produce lots of vegetables each year. Tomatoes, peppers, green beans, peas, carrots and other vegetables are easy to grow at home. Dwarf sized fruit trees and bushes allow you to grow your own fruits at home. You don't have to run to the store for the produce, you know where it was grown and you save money.
