5 Ways To Grocery Shop On A Budget
It’s no secret that food prices have risen significantly in the last year. Not only are food prices rising, but manufacturers are now reducing the size of food products as well. Grocery budgets are feeling very tight and figuring out how to feed yourself and others is becoming increasingly difficult. Try out these tips below and see how much you can save.
1. Plan Out Your Meals
Planning out your meals for the week can take a little time, but will help your wallet in the long run. This will also reduce the stress when 5 o’clock hits and you don’t know what’s for dinner. Plan out 3-4 meals for the week. Focus on meals that can be used for leftovers the next day. As you plan out your meals, you also want to be mindful of what your week looks like. If you have a busy week ahead of you, you would want to focus on finding easier, faster recipes than ones that take more labor.
Don’t forget to plan out your snacks as well! Having snacks throughout the day and knowing what snacks you have for the week will reduce feeling overly hungry and spending the money to order a pizza instead of cooking what you have on hand for dinner. :)
2. Condense Ingredients When Able
Once you have your meals picked out, look through the ingredients list for each meal. Remember that you don’t always have to follow recipes to a T and you can condense where it makes sense. For example, if one recipe calls for 2 cups of chicken broth and another recipe calls for 2 cups of vegetable stock. Instead of buying 1 container of chicken brother and another container of vegetable stock, buy 1 container of whichever you prefer or is cheaper. Another example could be if a recipe calls for quinoa, but you know you already have rice at home and it would be a reasonable substitution, then using the rice already on hand instead of buying quinoa.
3. Utilize canned/frozen foods
Canned and frozen foods are your friend! These foods get a bad rap, but are truly a great way to get nutritious food and to save money and time. Canned and frozen foods are typically processed right after harvesting at the peak of freshness. Fruits and vegetables that are out of season are much more expensive, so buying canned/frozen can help reduce costs. Also, these foods require little preparation and time is money!
4. Check Your Pantry While Writing Grocery List
How many times have you bought something, just to come home and see you already have that thing way in the back of your fridge or pantry? Consistently checking your pantry and fridge will help reduce throwing out foods due to being past expiration date and will help use up what’s already on hand. And actually write out your grocery list so that you can stay on task. This doesn’t have to be super rigid by any means, but the more you get foods that aren’t on the list, the more likely you will be to waste food and thus waste money.
5. Add In Some Vegetarian Meals
Not only are vegetarian meals a good way to get in more vegetables, but they can be lower cost as well! Plant based protein rich foods include beans, legumes, lentils, hummus, nuts/seeds, soy (tofu, tempeh, edamame). Eggs and dairy products such as milk, yogurt, and cheese are also great protein sources as well to make your meal balanced and satisfying. These protein sources are generally cheaper than meat based protein sources such as chicken, beef, fish, etc.
6. Bonus!
Use those coupons!! But use them if you have a plan for the food. Otherwise sometimes it can just end up going to waste anyways. It’s only a great deal if you use it.
Remember that if this is not something you are used to doing, it might take a while until you get the hang of it and find what works best for you. This does take time and planning, but the pay off is worth it!