If there’s one resolution you should always stay on top of, spending less on groceries and reducing food waste should be it. To help you get started, and to keep you on track throughout the year, consider these tips for maximizing a tight grocery budget in order to get the most from your groceries:
Know What’s on Sale
Instead of blindly going to the grocery store when the fridge is empty, plan your shopping trip by consulting your grocers’ sales flyer; you can generally find them online at their respective websites these days.
“It’s always a good idea to check out what sales your grocery store is offering, and then base your meal plans off that,” says mommy-blogger Kate Trout. “So if ground beef is on sale, plan two meals, maybe one with tacos and another with hamburgers.”
Leverage BOGO Deals
Take advantage of those buy-one-get-one deals at your grocer when they come along. After all, it’s one of the best ways to maximize a tight grocery budget. There’s no harm in picking up extras you know you’ll eat when the price is slashed in half.
“A buy one, get one sale is essentially offering 50% off that grocery item,” Trout advises. “It’s a no-brainer strategy that not enough people follow.”
Make Meals With Leftovers in Mind
Before you pull out your pots and pans, plan a meal that will feed your family for a few days. You’ll stretch your food budget by making your groceries go the extra mile, and you’ll save a ton of time since all the prep work will be done for the week.
Teri Gault, CEO of The Grocery Game, does leftovers on purpose and with a plan — something she calls “Dinner Times Three.”
“For example: Dinner number one is not one, but two roasted chickens with side dishes; dinner number two is chicken tacos from the leftover chicken; and dinner number three is chicken pot pie with the leftover chicken and vegetables from dinner number one,” she explains. “No one knows they’re eating leftovers and you get the most out of your groceries, with the least prep.”
Double the Recipe
Whether you’re making a one-dish meal that can feed a crowd — or just a very hungry family of four — why not double the recipe so you can eat one now and freeze the other for later? This practice helps you use up ingredients before they expire, and you’ll have meals for days as a result. This may sound similar to Gault’s previous tip of making dinner with leftovers in mind, but there’s a difference: prep and storage.
“Any time you cook a casserole, soup, pot of chili, lasagna, or similar one-pot dish, always prepare double,” she suggests. “It’s just as easy to prepare double as it is to prepare one, and it has two advantages: it provides a pre-made dinner for those busy nights you don’t feel like cooking, and it avoids waste when you have ingredients with bigger packages than you need for one recipe.”
Brush Up on Your Food-Storage Skills
So many of us throw grocery in the trash because they spoiled in the fridge or pantry, but if we learned how to store our food better, it can last longer, and we’ll save more.
For instance, Gault says your pantry shouldn’t be against an outside wall where temperatures could get hot in the summer. “By the same token, don’t store seasonings near the oven or stove, as they won’t last as long,” she says. “And don’t store eggs in the door tray where temperatures fluctuate too much, or milk in the front of the fridge for the same reason. If you’re in doubt, drop the egg in water. If there is a stream of bubbles or if it floats, it’s a goner.”
Add Apps
Personally, I love my shopping apps, especially the cash-back ones like Ibotta and Checkout 51. I made nearly $100 on just those two apps alone last year, but there are other options to help you stack the savings too; Paribus and Dosh are two examples.
Shop at Night
According to Trout, one of the best ways to maximize a tight grocery budget is to do your grocery shopping at night. “That’s when you can find a lot of the best deals in the meat department,” she says.
Why? It’s simple: Meat has a very limited shelf life, so grocers are forced to move it at lightning speed to make room for fresher cuts the next morning.
Invest in a Vacuum Sealer
Usually, buying in bulk offers a better value dollar-for-dollar. But what will you do with all that bulk food once you get it?
“I used to shun the idea of another gadget,” Gault admits. “But vacuum sealers are fantastic for getting the most out of your groceries. Value packs of meat can be divided into usable portions and frozen without freezer burn indefinitely. You can also vacuum seal leftovers and have a smorgasbord one night for dinner, ‘fresh’ from your freezer.”
Have a Plan
Just like you should never go grocery shopping when you’re hungry, you should never go grocery shopping without a plan.
“If you go to the grocery store without a detailed shopping list, chances are, you’re going to overspend,” Trout warns. “If you know exactly which items you need to buy, which items are on sale, and what your budget is, then you’ll get in and out without spending more than you planned.”
Photo Credit: epSos.de
“Leverage BOGO Deals
“Take advantage of those buy-one-get-one deals at your grocer when they come along. There’s no harm in picking up extras you know you’ll eat when the price is slashed in half.
“‘A buy one, get one sale is essentially offering 50% off that grocery item,’ Trout advises. ‘It’s a no-brainer strategy that not enough people follow.'”
Isn’t this math wrong? It’s like getting the item 25% off, not 50% off….
The math is correct.
Example …
Regular price: Two items at $1.00 each equals $2.00
BOGO: The same two items would cost $1.00 total (that is, $0.50 each). That’s a 50% discount off the regular price.
If you buy one and get one free. Cost of 1 = $1. Cost of two =$1.
Average cost of two for buy one get one free = $.50 which is 50% off of both.
If you’re going to make more and freeze it, make sure to have some plan to use it before it goes bad in the freezer. If you pull it out and it’s freezer burned, you went from saving money to completely wasting it. Our freezer definitely suffers from ‘out of sight, out of mind’ syndrome, so a plan to avoid that from happening is key.
Good point. This is especially true for meat. The key is to re-wrap it from the original packaging you get from the grocer. For example, when we buy individual chicken thighs, legs and breasts, we individually wrap each piece in plastic wrap as tightly as possible and then place all of the individual pieces in a Ziplock bag, making sure to remove as much air as possible. Same for roasts, hamburger, etc.; re-wrap in plastic wrap and then place in air-tight Ziplock bags. It’s what we do at my house and it keeps the meat free of freezer burn for very long periods.
I agree, Michael. I’m sometimes guilty of this, too. I appreciate the additional insight.
Another way to save money is to save your veggies that are about to go bad or unused by freezing them. Then, once you have a large amount, use them to make your own vegetable stock, which you can also freeze. You save money twice – once by not throwing out food and again by not having to buy stock. You can also save the parts you would normally throw out while prepping – pieces like the tops and leaves of celery, for example.
Grocery delivery has helped me do SO many of these. I’m definitely more likely to just get what I need (and intend to get) and the service I use has a whole section devoted to sale stuff, so I can start there. The markup is not high, and I paid one flat fee (less than $1/week) to get free delivery all year. It keeps me from going to the store for just one thing, and coming home with 12 things. I love it.
Aside from preparing for a grocery list, I always compare prices and nutrients. As I do this, I get the most value of my money. Just have fun doing this because it can really get the most from your groceries.
We have a salvage grocery near us. It’s both a blessing and a curse. We can count on certain types of foods to be there, but the odd ball items are some of the the best values, so you can’t make a list for those. Plus they sell out quickly. They don’t take coupons. Recent finds, 6oz chunks of frozen salmon for $1.49, Oscar Mayer deli sliced roast beef 10 oz. 99 cents, Liberte yogurt 4/$1, a box of clementines 99 cents.
Online sales flyers help when making lists from the regular stores. I aim to stock up on loss leaders with coupons printed off the Internet. Not as successfully as those “coupon queens” out there, but still do well. Most times brand loyalty is overrated.
Going to alternative venues. All our local dollar stores take coupons. Both CVS and Rite Aid have stackable deals through their loyalty programs which net a good value. Just avoid their regularly priced stuff. Getting food directly can also save. Eggs from a farmer. Produce at a pick your own place or farm stand/farmer’s market at the end of the day. This is especially good if you can or freeze. In another locale we benefitted from bulk buying through a food coop. One person coordinated the orders, an 18 wheeler came to town monthly, and we all pitched in during delivery day.
Great tips, Mikey. Thank you.
(And Len, I love your blog!)
Making your money go further at the grocery store doesn’t have to mean traveling to multiple stores or spending hours trying find every hidden deal.
Thanks for helpful article.
Know the prices. Keep a record of the unit cost for your regular items. This is especially helpful at farmer’s markets where unit prices are not typically displayed. Rather than blindly buying X product week, when the price bumps up, switch temporarily to a substitute that is lower cost (typically in season).