With rising unemployment figures and ever worsening economic news, many people are finding it difficult to make ends meet. One way to significantly save money is by slashing your grocery budget. You can eat well while simultaneously cutting your grocery bill. Of course it takes some extra time and effort, but it can be done.
Below we list 7 ways to help feed your family for less in tough economic times.
Eat less meat. Consider this fact, for most of the world’s population meat is a luxury and not a necessity. Since meat makes up one of the largest components of your grocery budget, you can save money simply by cutting down on the amount of meat you serve. Alternate sources of protein such as eggs, beans, nuts, oats and split peas can be used in place of meat, and in many cases they are much healthier. Try going meatless for a night or two a week. Check websites like allrecipes.com and meatlessmondays.com for great, quick meatless recipes.
Take advantage of store brand products. Store brand products have come a long way. Many are now as good or better than their national brand counterparts, but cost considerably less. Why has the quality of store brand products improved so dramatically? In an intensely competitive environment grocery stores have been competing on everything – price, selection, cleanliness, produce selection, all in the effort to lure shoppers away from their competitors.
Now they are using their lines of store brand products to help distinguish themselves from the competition. Get hooked on the taste of Jewel (a chain of grocery stores in Chicago) brand cookies or Jewel brand of raisins and you might drive past the competing Dominick’s supermarket chain to purchase them. Take advantage of the high quality of store brands to save your family significant money.
Buy your paper goods from the dollar store. Your dollar store can feature some tremendous bargains. They are also great places to get paper goods like paper towels, paper plates, and plastic silverware on the cheap. Don’t be afraid to snap up the discounted holiday print napkins and holiday colored paper plates in January.
Journey to your local ethnic food market. If you’re lucky enough to live in a city that has ethnic food markets then you have a treasure trove of savings at hand. Asian, Indian, and Mexican ethnic grocery stores frequently have rock bottom prices on produce and meat, as well as great deals on breads, grains, beans, cheeses, and spices.
Stock up and freeze dairy products. Milk and other dairy products are often offered as loss leaders. They are drastically discounted to draw you into the store where it is hoped you’ll purchase higher priced merchandise. Stock up when you see super cheap milk, butter, and cheese. These items can easily be frozen so that you’ll have a cheap supply. Just remember to pour a little milk out of the jug before freezing to account for the expansion of milk that occurs when it is frozen.
Take advantage of meat discounts. Many supermarkets offer steep discounts on meat as it approaches its sell-by date. This meat is perfectly good but the store must sell it by its sell-by date. To take advantage of these significant savings on meat, ask you store butcher or store manager when they discount their meat. When you get home you have a few options. You can cook the meat, as in the case of hamburger, and freeze it for a quick meal later, or you can place the meat directly in your freezer for later use.
Make good use of left-overs. Many people let money fly out the door when they let left-overs go to waste. Become a fan of cheap pre-made pizza crusts, salad greens, and baked potatoes as these make great foundations for left-over meals. Have extra sauce or gravy, place it on top of a baked potato for another meal. Extra corn, peas, and chicken – mix them together in a bowl of salad for tomorrow’s lunch. Left over turkey – make your own turkey pizza.
Alternatively, consider a left-over family smorgasbord night. Save all the left-overs from the previous week in the fridge or freezer. One night a week make a meal of all the left-overs. The kids will love it as they get to pick and choose their favorite foods to eat.
Do you have money saving grocery tips that can help others? We’d like to hear from you. Share your tip by leaving a comment below.
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Nice post
A budget is a spending plan that includes everything you will spend money on. A good budget is a spending plan that includes everything you will spend money on and stays within your income.
Budgeting tips, information, advice, and resources to help you set up a successful budget and stay motivated.
Budgeting is something that many of us don’t like to consider as we think it will tie us down. But if you really stop and think about it, budgeting is simply a means of looking at your income and expenditure and deciding on what is most important to you.
I am so glad for this website. It is tough in this economy trying to provide for your family but I have become a coupon buff and I can tell you it really makes a difference in shopping. I live in Florida so we have the Albertsons,Publix and Sweetbay and my favorite store is Super Walmart.So my suggestion is to use coupons as often as possible but make sure you look at the value of the coupon and see if it is worth the buy to you.
Happy couponing.
Vivyanne