We’re actually going to try a grocery budget in March ($500 for a family of 4). I think meal planning will be the biggest key to success.
MOM
February 28th, 2014 at 3:43 pm
I know we have not been the best planners for food budgets. But I have been picking up
extras of things we use when they are on sale. Things that can be frozen or shelf food.
Also paying attention to what the sale foods for the week. I have been trying to be a lot
better too.
It’s just me, so that makes things much easier. This advice is so specific to my own situation, of course.
The biggest money saver for me is being honest about what I actually will eat/buy and then planning ahead and buying it from the most cost effective source. The best example of this are Clif and Luna bars. In a perfect world I would pack a lunch every day. For a few weeks I omitted them from my shopping list in favor of sandwich and salad stuff that I wanted to be eating for lunch.
In reality, some nights I don’t get home until 9:30 or 10 and I have to be out of the house at 7:30. So I was just buying a Clif bar in the cafe at work or at a CVS on the way in for at least twice as much as at Whole Foods and even more than if I ordered a few boxes online.
I have saved a lot of money by just going ahead and buying a bunch of boxes of bars and if I pack a lunch, well, they keep. This goes for stuff like soda and desserts too. If I don’t have any at home, I just buy them when I’m out for more. I know I want those things, so I just acknowledge that and put them on the list.
I also do need a certain amount of convenience food on hand, so I put it on the list and into the budget and look for a sale and stock up.
Basically the best strategy for me is to get over what I think I SHOULD be doing with food and be realistic about what my eating and cooking habits actually are. Then shop accordingly.
I agree! When we restrict ourselves from having what we want or what we will ultimately buy we usually just end up spending way more money. It’s like at our house we also buy chocolate every week because despite saying we don’t need it we end up making a trip to buy it mid week and then we also end up picking up more items.
We also keep convince foods on hand because despite the meal planning there are nights that I just don’t want to cook or am exhausted from a rough toddler day so I have soups, healthy frozen items (veggies, veggie burgers, ect.), canned beans, pasta and sauces on hand so that we can save money and still eat relatively healthy.
We’re actually going to try a grocery budget in March ($500 for a family of 4). I think meal planning will be the biggest key to success.
I know we have not been the best planners for food budgets. But I have been picking up
extras of things we use when they are on sale. Things that can be frozen or shelf food.
Also paying attention to what the sale foods for the week. I have been trying to be a lot
better too.
Great post! Thanks for sharing. I’m trying to stick to a tighter grocery budget right now too, so I appreciate your tips 🙂
Thank you for reading!
It’s just me, so that makes things much easier. This advice is so specific to my own situation, of course.
The biggest money saver for me is being honest about what I actually will eat/buy and then planning ahead and buying it from the most cost effective source. The best example of this are Clif and Luna bars. In a perfect world I would pack a lunch every day. For a few weeks I omitted them from my shopping list in favor of sandwich and salad stuff that I wanted to be eating for lunch.
In reality, some nights I don’t get home until 9:30 or 10 and I have to be out of the house at 7:30. So I was just buying a Clif bar in the cafe at work or at a CVS on the way in for at least twice as much as at Whole Foods and even more than if I ordered a few boxes online.
I have saved a lot of money by just going ahead and buying a bunch of boxes of bars and if I pack a lunch, well, they keep. This goes for stuff like soda and desserts too. If I don’t have any at home, I just buy them when I’m out for more. I know I want those things, so I just acknowledge that and put them on the list.
I also do need a certain amount of convenience food on hand, so I put it on the list and into the budget and look for a sale and stock up.
Basically the best strategy for me is to get over what I think I SHOULD be doing with food and be realistic about what my eating and cooking habits actually are. Then shop accordingly.
I agree! When we restrict ourselves from having what we want or what we will ultimately buy we usually just end up spending way more money. It’s like at our house we also buy chocolate every week because despite saying we don’t need it we end up making a trip to buy it mid week and then we also end up picking up more items.
We also keep convince foods on hand because despite the meal planning there are nights that I just don’t want to cook or am exhausted from a rough toddler day so I have soups, healthy frozen items (veggies, veggie burgers, ect.), canned beans, pasta and sauces on hand so that we can save money and still eat relatively healthy.