Practical Ways to Stretch Your Grocery Dollar in these Trying Times
I feel your pain. I’m a mom and a homemaker too. The struggle is real. I like to eat well and I like to feed my family and even the occasional guest. Groceries have gotten really expensive and our income hasn’t increased to match them.
My methods are not perfect but these are some of the things we do to afford real food groceries with a limited budget.
How Much for Groceries Each Month?
That’s the first think you think about when you want to get a handle on your grocery shopping. I will tell you I’m not great at this but what I do is pay cash for our groceries. So that way I can only buy what I have cash. We are a family of three with a regular guests most every day so I shop for a family of four. I try to keep it at about $400 a month.
Meal Plan or Freezer Meals
I’m a fan of meal planning but I admit to getting off and on the band wagon. It DOES help you save money so do it and don’t do what I do. I actually prefer freezer cooking more so that is the method of meal planning I do.
Benefits of Meal Planning
- Keeps you from impulse buying when grocery shopping
- You naturally hunt your pantry and freezer before going shopping
- When you meal plan you also will be looking at what’s on sale for your meals
- Meal planning also ends up saving time. And time is money.
- You are more intentional about what you buy at the grocery store which means less waste.
Read this if you want to know more about Meal Planning, or Freezer Meals
Cook from Scratch
This is the no brainer. Although prepared foods and mixes might seem better and easier in the long irun it’s healthier and actually cheaper to make your own from scratch. This is true about so many things.
Those of us with food allergies have already figured this out but if you’re new to this start slow. Pick something your family really enjoys but it may be eating into the grocery budget. Baked good are always a nice place to start. Here is a list of things I make from scratch…
- Cookies
- Breads
- Crackers (just started this)
- Salad Dressings
- French Fries
- Pizza
- Spaghetti Sauce
- Apple Sauce
- Spice mixes
- I could keep going but you get the idea
Cook Differently
What do I mean by this? I mean experiment with cooking cuisine from other countries or areas. Often times people that come from other countries (than the US) are really good at stretching the food budget.
Most cultures have a rice pilaf sort of dish. It’s a great one dish meal that includes rice, meat, and veggies.
Buy in Bulk
Another no brainer. But make sure you do it right and buy things you actually use or yor family will eat. It’s wasteful to buy things in bulk that you don’t actually use.
Your bulk list might look a whole lot different from mine but these are things we buy in bulk…
- Apples (I can most of them and we eat the rest fresh)
- Grass fed beef
- Chicken
- Pork
- Pasta
- Rice
- Household goods (paper products and cleaning products including laundry detergent)
Grocery Budget Boot Camp
Take a course that addresses all this and more in Grocery Budget Bootcamp. I recommend the Grocery Budget Bootcamp eCourse to help you spend less on whole and organic foods. Enrollment is only open 3x a year but you can get on the waiting list. Find out more…Grocery Budget Bootcamp
Every little bit helps and the better you get at picking the right foods, the more affordable it can be. And remember, the long term health benefits of eating more naturally will likely save you plenty in health costs in the long run.