Could you be spending less money at the grocery store every month?
My biggest monthly expense, after paying rent and loans, always seems to be food. According to the USDA, the average couple spends about $625 per month at the grocery store. That’s a lot of money that we’re spending on food, especially if you consider the fact that it does not include dining out!
Would you prefer to watch instead of read? You’re in luck! This video contains all of the information in this article.
The Backstory
When my wife and I began our debt free journey and started budgeting for the first time, we’d go to the store every week and spend around one hundred-fifty dollars. I got to thinking about how if we could cut that expense, we could put more money toward our loans each month. I did some quick math and figured out that we could be out of debt a couple of months sooner if we cut our monthly grocery budget from six hundred dollars to four hundred dollars. That would mean a savings of two hundred dollars per month, or twenty-four hundred dollars per year.
Cash Envelope System
To make sure we stuck to our budget, we decided to use the cash envelope system. At the beginning of the month, we take out four hundred dollars from our bank account in cash, and put that cash inside an envelope in our home. This cash is only spent at the grocery store, and at the grocery store we only use this cash. If the cash runs out, no more groceries that month! Time to raid the pantry – which, thankfully, has only happened once!
Tip 1: Eat More Efficiently
Our first real challenge was developing more efficient eating habits. We were used to cooking a different meal each night of the week, which was forcing us to buy small quantities of foods. This was a lot more expensive than buying in bulk. Initially, we doubled the recipes we were making to have enough food for two meals. Later, we tripled the recipes and did meal prep for an entire week on Sunday afternoons. Meal prepping has been a game changer for both our budget and our time during the week.
Tip 2: Pre-Written Shopping List
Another game changer has been using a pre-written shopping list. A lot of times we would find ourselves picking up extra items at the grocery store while we were shopping because they looked good on the shelf or because they were on sale and we didn’t want to miss a deal. When we go to the store, we stick to that list as best we can and try to avoid picking up anything extra that we didn’t want beforehand – kind of like with our monthly budget.
Tip 3: Try New Stores
The last tip I have for you today is to try shopping at different stores. We were doing most of our shopping at Publix, a grocery store chain in the Southeastern United States, for the simple reason that it was closest to home. We explored some other stores and found that we could get a lot of the same items for a lower price elsewhere, without sacrificing quality. Choosing to shop at less expensive stores like Aldi or Trader Joe’s has made an enormous impact on our grocery budget. These grocery stores might not have as wide of a selection as others, but they make up for it with quality products and low prices. Sometimes we need to visit another grocery store to get certain specific items, but we’re alright with that since we’re saving fifty dollars or more each week.
What are your tips for saving money on groceries? Let me know in the comments!