4 Tricks to Cutting Your Grocery Budget in Half

When creating a budget one of the hardest areas to cut is the grocery bill! Feeding your family can be really expensive.

The cost of food often takes a large chunk of the household budget, and the prices just keep getting higher!

In fact, The US Department of Agriculture’s Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion,says the cost to feed a typical family of four is anywhere between $550 and $1270 for a more “liberal” budget per month!

This is more than rent for many families!

There is some good news though! We have a few tricks that will help show you how to cute your grocery bill in half!

How to Lower Your Grocery Budget

1. Never Pay for Convenience

The biggest way to cut your grocery bill is to avoid pre-packaged food. This includes any foods that have been pre-washed, already chopped up or already cooked.

You’re essentially paying for the service of having this done.

Instead, look for real, whole foods that you can prepare and cook at home. Preparing whole foods at home is cheaper and a whole lot healthier.

This also means cooking at home, instead of eating out. If you aren’t a great cook, ask a friend or family member to show you how to cook their favorite, easy to make meals.

You can also find tons of delicious recipes online that only require a few ingredients and a tiny bit of prep work.

Just make sure to use up the foods before they go bad. If I find a great deal on some favorite fruits or veggies, I’ll pre-chop them and freeze them for later!

Wasted food means wasted money.

2. Use Weekly Sales to Plan Your Meals

Grab the sales paper or go online before you go grocery shopping.

Take a look at what’s on sale for that week and plan your meals based on those sales items.

Many grocery stores have sales cycles and will offer specials for items in their meat and produce department once to twice a month.

Also, keep an eye out for big markdowns on fruits and veggies close to their expiration date. These items are often very inexpensive and are great to take home, chop up and eat or freeze for later.

Keeping a regular shopping schedule will help you get to know your grocery stores sales cycles.

With a little time, you’ll be able to identify great deals easily and quickly, and stock up on items when they are lower priced. This will save you more money in the long run.

3. Don’t Limit Your Shopping

To really cut down your grocery bill, avoid limiting yourself to just the same grocery store.

Check out the specials, markdowns and reward programs at the other grocery stores in your neighborhood.

You’d be surprised how certain items can differ largely from store to store.

For example, our local Walmart has the BEST prices on chips, beans and other pantry type items. But when I’m buying gluten-free items for my husband, Aldi’s always wins the price game and saves us a ton!

And Kroger has the best selection of produce for the price. Now, I don’t go to each store every week, that would just be insane for us.

But I do shop at Walmart and Aldi once per month and stock up on the items I need from them. Then I make a weekly trip to Kroger for fresh produce.

It works for us, and helps keep our grocery budget low.

4. Always Use Your Rewards Cards or Coupons

Or both! Many grocery stores have apps now. For instance, our Kroger has an app with digital coupons.

I always download the app and check out the coupons to see if I can save more money.

The best part, I can “clip the coupon” by tapping it, and it saves it to my rewards card. It gets auto deducted at the register!

I also make sure to use our rewards points that add up. Before our points expire each month, my husband can usually get a free tank of gas from the points.

So check that you’re not missing a few money-saving perks!

*Just make sure not to buy an item just because it has a coupon! It’s still a waste of money if you didn’t need the item anyway.

This list isn’t extensive, but some of the core properties to keeping a lower grocery budget!