Published: by Jessica Fisher
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Are you struggling to get your grocery budget under control? Follow these strategies to adjust grocery spending without sacrificing taste.
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- Are you wasting food?
- Can you stretch your dollar farther?
- Can you DIY for cheaper?
About this time each year folks start to pay a little more attention to their budgets. Whether it’s the Christmas hangover finally ebbing away or the approach of tax day, February has us sobering up when it comes to overall spending and specifically the grocery budget.
If you’ve done a grocery audit recently, then you’re already aware that there are some places you could cut back. Perhaps you’ve identified that you waste a fair amount of food or spend more than you have to at the store.
Today, let’s drill down to see how you can adjust your grocery spending without sacrificing great meals.
Are you wasting food?
Food waste is a universal issue that many of us succumb to. It can appear differently for each us:
- overbuying produce at the grocery store and forgetting to use it before it goes bad.
- ordering more food than we can eat at a restaurant and letting it go to waste.
- cooking too much and then not wanting to eat the leftovers.
According to the Waste Free Kitchen Handbook, “Americans are throwing away an average of $120 each month per household of four in the form of uneaten food.”
Yikes! If that’s your house, you’ve got some money to recoup!
The good thing is that there are lots of small ways we can shift our behavior to avoid food waste and adjust spending on groceries.
If you suspect that you’re wasting food, consider these steps:
Use what you have.
All too often, we waste food when we simply have too much. Seems like a good problem to have, but it can lead to wasting money, which decidedly is not.
Whether you shop your kitchen once a week when you write your meal plan or do an extended Pantry Challenge, using what you have can help you pare down the excess.
Make a habit of tidying your fridge and pantry cupboards every three days. When you do so, you get a good idea of what you have on hand. In many cases, the desire or need to shop will diminish because you are reminded that you have enough.
Repurpose leftovers.
Using up the abundant produce you bought with the best of intentions is one thing, but what about last night’s dinner? If “reheat and eat” isn’t your favorite, remember that you can use leftovers in lots of delicious ways.
- Make soup from leftovers.
- Tuck leftover roast chicken and vegetables into a pot pie.
- Shred the rest of the pot roast and make Beef Taquitos.
Many leftover prepped meals can be enjoyed in new and different ways without having to do the “same old, same old”.
Plan meals that build on common ingredients.
Leftover ingredients, such as the sour cream you bought for a casserole or the fish sauce you bought for stir fry, can also fall prey to going to waste. Hedge against this by planning meals that build on one another.
If you know you’ll be opening a carton of buttermilk for cornbread, be sure to plan to make a ranch salad dressing or chicken marinade with what’s left.
Whenever you buy ingredients that aren’t regular grocery staples, be sure to have a plan for using the rest of the package.
Can you stretch your dollar farther?
Once you’ve got a handle on the food stuff you already own, turn your attention to your spending habits. How can you do more with your money?
Plan more affordable meals.
Meal planning on a budget is neither rocket science nor deprivation. It’s simply a matter of focusing on low-cost meals.
The good thing is that some of the best meals in the world are low cost! Consider
- Homemade Soup
- simple pastas and marinara
- beans and rice
These cost just a few pennies but taste amazing.
Shop wisely.
Not all stores offer the same prices or amenities. Perhaps you can forego the olive bar and the barista service in exchange for lower cost groceries. I promise you won’t miss them when you see your lower bill.
Once you shop the store with the best prices, think about what you’re buying.
- Generic label items are often just as good, but half the cost of the name brands.
- Stock up when you see a good sale on ground beef or other regularly used items.
- Frozen veggies are more convenient and often cheaper than fresh.
- And does it make financial sense for you to buy organic?
An article from UC Davis Health states, ” Organic foods are not healthier, per se, in terms of nutrients. You are still getting the same benefits in conventionally grown foods as you are in organic foods.” While organic can make us feel good, it’s not always the biggest bang for your buck.
You can make some simple changes at the grocery store that will adjust grocery spending overall.
Can you DIY for cheaper?
Often making something yourself is better and cheaper than paying someone else to do it. This is true for oil changes as well as adjusting grocery spending.
What are some ways that you can cook at home and save money?
Bake more.
If your household consumes a lot of bread or baked goods, one way to adjust spending easily is to bake your own bread. A loaf of decent bread is $3 to $4 a loaf. Baking your own can cost as little as 50 cents!
These recipes will all cost you less to bake yourself:
- Easy Homemade Pie Crust ($1.69/batch)
- Homemade Hot Dog Buns (18 cents/bun)
Home baking isn’t expensive, can serve as a fun hobby, and tastes so much better than grocery store or restaurant offerings.
Stretch your meat purchases.
It’s generally true that grilling a steak at home will cost you less than dining in a steak house, but sometimes that isn’t enough to stretch your dollar as far as it needs to go. Instead, stretching the meat purchase to cover several meals is more the ticket.
Protein is usually the big ticket item in the grocery cart. If you can find meat on sale or manager special, excellent. If you can stretch protein for more than one meal, so much the better. Here are some ways you can do that:
- Bulk up taco meat with beans like in these .
- Use leftover roast chicken and gravy in a Homemade Chicken Pot Pie.
- Make Sloppy Joes instead of burgers.
- Eliminate the meat altogether, such as in a Black Bean Pot Pie.
With a little trial and error, you’ll find budget recipes that suit your tastes as well as your grocery budget. You can adjust your spending on groceries when you look to the Good Cheap Eats System, and specifically avoiding food waste, savvy grocery shopping, and cooking at home as ways to save.
What do you do to adjust grocery spending?
This post was originally published on November 8, 2014, but has been dramatically updated for content and clarity.
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Reader Interactions
Comments
Bathesinmilk
Instead of Costco I head to a restaurant supply store. Some things are waaay cheaper and some not so very much. It pays to keep track of prices. Ingredients are often cheaper, for instance, I get a pound of yeast for about $3.00 and it lasts about a year. Way better than yeast packets (3 teaspoons/$1 and some odd change) and the meats cost less… Cash & carry is one such restaurant supply store in the Seattle area. Totally no frills, but plenty of parking.
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Donna
I have had great luck with researching and talking to meat farmers at my farmer’s markets. (We even have indoor farmer’s markets inside here in WI in the winter!). They are often able to sell me quality, organic meat for decent prices (cheaper than stores) if I order over 50 or over 100 lbs. I’ve even gone in with three friends and ordered over 200 lb (at a super cheap price for organic) and then split it three ways. I have a deep freeze so it’s worth it for me. I then look at that meat like gold and use every stitch of it. It has been a terrific exercise for me to use things wisely, incorporate more veg and fruit into our diet and teach my kids about how to stretch good, quality food. Good luck on your search!
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Jessica Fisher
That sounds like you’ve got a really good thing going!
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Alice E
Sorry about the price of the frozen veg at Costco, I was going to suggest them. Also, I would suggest flexibility in meat purchases and thinking outside the box, so to speak. We are currently using up a batch of ground pork. Several weeks back the store had the whole pork loins in Cry-o-vac on sale for 1.79 a pound. I bought two and had them ground at the store and had another one sliced as ‘breakfast’ (thinner) chops. My store doesn’t charge extra for slicing or grinding when you buy the whole thing, but even if they had a charge it would probably have been much cheaper than ground beef which was running around 4 dollars a pound! So, I would suggest asking what they would charge to slice/grind a cheap cut. I know this would vary and not all stores will do it without charging, but it saves me a great deal of money sometimes. I do have to package the meat in meal size portions for the freezer, but that doesn’t take that long.
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Jessica Fisher
I wish our store would grind for free. Mine won’t do it for pay, either! I have done it myself in the food processor, though. It’s not perfect, but it works.
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Carla
Lately my prioritizing has been buying meat on markdown and making my menus around that—allows me to stockpille, but also work off of said stockpile as we only have the freezer in our fridge. For those having that much trouble with stockpiling, have a separate budget for that. Put those items in a separate part of your cart so you can keep a closer eye on them. Jessica—I know this is hindsight, but big travels (sometimes only if it’s more than a week) I often count restocking money into the cost of the trip. It’s sort of like photos—the cost of scrapbooking/printing costs get included as I learned the hard way that those bite after the trip. Considering how far under budget you went on your trip, you might want to consider pulling $100+ from that $3000 to make the most of your grocery month, especially with holiday costs later in the month???
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Jessica Fisher
Yes, I am going to need to count restocking into the price of the trip. We lumped our October grocery money into the cost of the trip, but maybe I should pull that back out for restocking. We are in our crazy time right now with two birthdays, Thanksgiving, and lots of family stuff going on. I will definitely be spending more than I want to this month.
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Heather @ My Overflowing Cup
I can’t believe you lost so much weight on vacation! That’s wonderful. Most people come home from a trip complaining about how much they gained. Cooking from scratch definitely saves my family a ton, but it is hard work so #6 is a big one for me, too. Baking bread saves a lot, even for my family of just 4. I have a sandwich bread recipe that we love so I will try to get that posted on the blog for you soon. Costco is wonderful for saving on a ton of foods, if you can avoid all of the traps. I know you said you don’t eat frozen veggies, but Costco has a wonderful selection of them at a great price. Most of them are organic, as well. We like the Stir-fry blend, green beans, corn, and Mixed Vegetable Blend. I also use the Mixed Vegetable Blend to make a wonderful creamy vegetable soup (posting that one soon!), Stretching meat is a big one, as well as baking all treats rather than buying them pre-made. Thanks for this list of tips, Jessica!
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Jessica Fisher
Yep, the scales at the Y and the doctor’s office both confirm my weight loss. I’m thrilled! Now just to keep it that way.
I looked at the Costco frozen veg yesterday and it was pretty pricey for organic, almost $3/pound. I’m thinking I can get a better deal on the fresh stuff here. Not as convenient in some ways, but maybe once I have enough stuff to plug the freezer back in….
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Heather @ My Overflowing Cup
Really? WOW! Either prices have skyrocketed or their pricing is different between stores. The frozen veggies I have purchased from Costco are in 5lb+ bags and are usually between $6 and $7 a bag. I’m so sorry to hear that because they are really high quality. Of course, I prefer fresh, but I prefer frozen to canned. You’re right, keeping the weight off is the hard part! Thanks, again, for your posts, Jessica. They are always so encouraging.
Jessica Fisher
Costco changes their pricing for EVERY store. I have three Costco’s within about 15 miles of me and they have VERY different pricing and even carry different products. The manager told me it’s based on the competing stores in the neighborhood.
Heather @ My Overflowing Cup
That’s very interesting to know. I knew that what they carried varied, but I had no idea their pricing would be so different. Thanks for the info.
Danielle
We also try to eat mostly unprocessed foods and organic when possible. I was at Costco this weekend. Cheese prices have totally gone up. I heavily rely on the 2.5 blocks of Tilamook Cheddar and it was $9.29, but frozen b/s breasts were $1.99/lb. Of course my family prefers b/s thighs and they didn’t have the frozen ones and the refrigerator ones were $2.69/lb, which is still cheaper than the grocery store, but more than I was hoping to spend. I’m pretty sure the giant bag of mozzarella cheese went up too ($15.39/5lb bag). I usually buy one every month or 2 and freeze into 2 cup servings for pizza and other dishes. I used to buy the block and shred myself, but for some reason the pre-shredded stuff at Costco is hormone free, but the blocks aren’t. I don’t love buying it already shredded, but I can’t find a good price on hormone free mozz cheese and I make pizza weekly, so I go with the Costco stuff.
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Jessica Fisher
Yep. Went to Costco yesterday and the cheese had gone up but bacon and butter were back to a doable price. My mozzarella cheese was only $10, though. Less than even. It’s so interesting to me how Costco does its pricing.
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Lizzy
Here’s a link to the sandwich bread recipe I usually use. I make it about 1/2 whole wheat flour, and it still rises up big and beautiful. I’ve doubled the recipe in my stand mixer with no problems. I don’t have a bread maker, but since the recipe uses instant yeast, I imagine it would work fine in one. Let me know if you try the bread!
http://www.annies-eats.com/2008/07/24/american-sandwich-bread/
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Jessica Fisher
Thank you! I’m going to need to do some experimenting. Just stocked up on yeast yesterday.
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Sandi
Every store is different, of course, but our Costco is nearly deserted on Monday and Tuesday so it is very easy to shop then. The later in the week, the busier the store, and weekends are packed. You might want to ask your store which days are less busy so you can go then. I agree that those cheeses will suck you in!
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Jessica Fisher
I’m going today. We’ll see what happens!
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Susan
Time of day is the trick for me. I live in a populated area and going after dinner or when they first open is the easiest way to avoid the crowds. You might get lucky and have better-stocked shelves as well.
Jessica Fisher
If I go when it’s not crowded, I tend to be calmer and shop more wisely.
Carrie Roer
The stockpiling is my weekly weakness too. We budget 400 a month for a family of 4, and because of great sales in the first week on the things we use often (eggs, flour, peanut butter, etc) my cash envelope is already half empty. I think I’m going to plan now to stay away from stores all week.
My husband and I have been discussing getting a deep freezer, but unfortunately he’s balking at the idea. He grew up in a family who had one but never used it, and I grew up in a family who used it constantly. I would love to save up and get halves/quarters of pork/beef, since I haven’t bought any in months because even hamburger has stayed well over $3 a pound. I’ll have to crunch some numbers for him with the cost of the freezer, the cost to run it, the cost of bulk meat, to see if it’s worth getting…
^^Nia Hanna thanks for the input on bread recipes! We haven’t bought a loaf of bread since February, and while we like the recipe we have (it’s a white-wheat bread from the book that came with my machine), it’s not the greatest sandwich bread.
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Jessica Fisher
I think that the stockpiling can be a major money suck, especially when we go overboard on seasonal items. One strategy that has worked for me is to buy the necessities for the week. In your case, I would only use $100 for that first week. If there was leftover out of that $100 after I put the must-haves in the cart, that’s what I’d use to stockpile.
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Karen
I’m hoping you will share more on finding a good sandwich bread recipe. I would like to start making that too.
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Jessica Fisher
I definitely will.
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Brighid
On another food-related website, someone mentioned Zaycon foods in a comment post. Their most recent chicken breast sale was the same price as the grocery store sale price so I didn’t buy any but for you, it might be a deal worth looking into. They were quoting $1.89/lb but the minimum order is 40 pounds.
The $.49/lb sale turkeys probably don’t qualify as high quality but if money’s tight, it’s probably worth having lowered standards.
For those of us with a deep freeze, buying a half or whole! pig or beef cow can be a bargain once you factor in the fact that you’re not just getting stew beef and hamburger. I’ve been known to tell our guys “Enjoy this because I’m never buying this at the store!”
Lastly, is there a store that has regular markdowns for meat? We have a local store which is terribly expensive but the meat they didn’t sell on the weekend is generally marked down by Wednesday morning. It’s pretty hit or miss because I’ll only get their sale stuff with the markdown so you can’t really count on it.
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Jessica Fisher
I do need to research Zaycon some more. I’ve heard a lot about them. Not sure on the quality part, but need to see.
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Janel
I met their rep at BlogHer – will tell you what I know when we talk later.
Nia Hanna
It was hard for us to find a good sandwich bread we like too, but we have 4 that we use, depending on time.
Our first is the recipe for cinnamon rolls over at AmysFinerThings, we just shape the dough into a loaf and bake in the oven. My bread machine didn’t do a good job baking it. Because its a heavy dough and rich with sugar and egg and because my bread machine dough cycle is only 50 minutes, I like to let it rise for another 30 – 60 minutes in the machine before shaping into a loaf. I let it rise another 30 – 60 minutes in the loaf pan before baking. Oh and we add 1 Tablespoon vital wheat gluten for each cup of flour used in this recipe. Since reading about adding Apple Cider Vinegar as a dough conditioner for whole wheat dough, I’ve gotten good results adding 1 T per Tablespoon of yeast used, so for this recipe we use 2 T ACV to match the 2 T yeast used.
My second is the 100% whole wheat recipe in Beth Hensperger’s Bread Lover’s Bread Machine book, but I sub the molasses with honey because we don’t like the molasses flavor in our bread and it’s very noticable.
Our third has actually become the first choice lately because it is the quickest and it is the 40 minute rolls recipe over at Lynn’s Kitchen Adventures. After the dough cycle in my bread machine, I shape into a loaf, let rise about 30 – 45 minutes and bake. We add the vital wheat gluten to this recipe too, using 1 Tablespoon per cup of whole wheat flour. Oh, and we like this recipe better using only 1 Tablespoon of yeast (any kind we have on hand), but the recipe calls for 2 Tablespoons. The ACV doesn’t work well for this recipe.
Our fourth is the recipe over at Tammy’s Recipes, and we use the dough conditioners she suggests. Lecithin granules, they sell these at Sprout’s, but Amazon has them cheaper and you only use a little, so one will last us a while. A sprinkle of ginger, I add six shakes and you can’t taste this in the finished product. For the absorbic acid, we use ground/ crushed vitamin C tabs, but I’ve read the ACV works too. And we use the vital wheat gluten for this recipe too. I know this one has a few more ingredients, but it’s a good recipe, that is so soft it folds just like store bought bread.
BTW all these recipes have only lasted 3 days before molding, and we’re in CA too. Only time loaves last about 7 days is when I use freshly ground flour that I grind myself at home.
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Jessica Fisher
Thank you! Those are all my friends! I will check those out. I have a honey whole wheat in my new book that we like a lot, but it’s very sweet. Needs to be adjusted for sandwiches. Thanks for the links!
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Angie
I have a suggestion for the 5 week months. Unless you are paid only twice a month, 2 months a year you get an extra paycheck. Maybe if you budget groceries per week instead of per month, it will be easier for you. Even if you still shop biweekly or monthly, the extra money in your budget will help get you through those long months. Good luck!
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Jessica Fisher
Great suggestion!
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felicia
When I’m in a bind with the “5 weeks between paychecks” dilemma, I keep a gift card on hand that I order through my credit card rewards program.
I order a Walmart gift card as they will price match my local stores if I bring the ad with me to the store. I’ve been having a hard time getting them to match ALDI though.
The gift card is great to get me through those “must have” items (some fresh fruit) until that monthly paycheck is deposited to my bank account. This helps me to avoid tapping into the upcoming month’s food budget and it holds me to task to only spend what I actually “need”.
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tracy
It is the stockpiling that kills my budget every week. I have been trying to stick to a 100 a week for a family of 7 which is very ambitious here in Canada, but doable because my two freezers and fridges as well as cupboards are full of food. The problem is I get sucked in by the sales on items that we use all the time, and eventhough I have 6 packs of cereal I have to buy four more boxes because between the sale and the grocery points the boxes are 2.50 instead of 5.50. I tell myself that this food is not for this month so not to count it in this months budget, but it is money coming out of this months budget so that really does not work. I reset the buget every month with good intentions and blow it every month. It gets frustrating.
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Jenn
Wow! I’m in Canada as well and there’s no way I could feed my family of 6 on a hundred dollars a week! I could a couple years ago, but not now. Good for you!!! 🙂
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Karen
What Jenn said!! I’ve been spending that for four! But stockpiling is crucial for me, since DH is self employed in construction and weather can have a big negative impact on our income over the winter. I do try to limit it to screaming deals like the several bottles of less than half price pure maple syrup that one store was discontinuing, or organic meats with that pink sticker. I find more of them when I shop about an hour after store opening. We live in orchard country, so local fruit is much cheaper in season, direct from the grower. I can and freeze that and berries from the garden. Nooo, never giving up my stockpile. I’m also letting my points accumulate for redemption in January and February. I use the pantry challenge to use up things that I am oversupplied with or that get sidelined otherwise, not to see white space – that would terrify me.
My priorities are much the same as Jessica’s, I have two big meat eaters who do physical labour outdoors and weight train as well. A recent diagnosis has made organics and non gmo foods the top priority. Cutting back on sugar has helped because I buy much less of it than in the past, and bake fewer sweet things. Using more expensive natural sweeteners keeps me more aware. My biggest challenges are how to stretch my now costlier meat into filling meals that keep certain family members from raiding the fridge later and snacks that aren’t perceived as “rabbit food”. I do like your veggie plate idea, but need something to satisfy the triple-burger-mid-afternoon pair. Packable lunches for cold weather are also a problem. Cutting expenses at the grocery store is great except when the money gets spent on a fast food lunch.
Jenn
Karen, my hubby is in construction as well, so I know all to well how we have to keep a stockpile going. From January to April, it is pretty lean around here! I guess you could say that feb-apr we have a prolonged pantry challenge lol! My stockpile is a saviour those months! And same with the points redemptions – at Shoppers I stock up on toiletries and PC points for food. 🙂
Jessica Fisher
Hang in there! April’s just around the corner!
Jessica Fisher
Do you do a pantry challenge very often? We’ll be doing one in January. Might be a good time for you to recoup your savings and use up what you have. When I started doing a challenge twice a year that helped me keep my stockpile in check.
Also, buy your necessities and THEN if there’s leftover money in the budget, add to the stockpile.
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Courtney
Your comment about Kettle chips cracked me up. I have to stay far, far away from those darned things. If calories and health weren’t a consideration, I’d be living on a steady diet of Kettle chips and dip!
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Jessica Fisher
Seriously!
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Sherri S.
We’re in the same boat as your family FishMama. I did a quick check of the grocery budget this week and found that we only have $60 left. **SIGH** Our biggest problem is the months where we have to go 5 weeks between paychecks (as we had to do in October). I really have to stock up at the beginning of the next month and it wipes the budget out. Then, because I’m wiped out, I have to dig through the pantry and use up everything we have to make it through the rest of the month, which then wipes us out at the beginning of the next month. Anyone have any good suggestions on how to keep those “long” months from destroying my budget. I’ve already cut out just about everything I can think of–groceries-wise–and I’m still struggling.
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Jessica Fisher
I guess we’ll figure this out together!
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Donna
Hi Sherri! On months like that when I stock up at the beginning of the month, I try to use as many leftover “bits” to make casseroles, soups, etc. that I can freeze to use toward the end of the month. I also tuck away extra butter, cheese, etc. that I can to use later in the month too. Sometimes “out of sight” means out of mind, and I don’t use it! It is super tough to stretch that budget on those 5 week months!
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Jessica Fisher
Excellent ideas!
Molly
Are you having trouble finding oranges? They’re my husband’s favorite fruit, and they have been REALLY hard to find lately. I may have done a happy dance at Aldi this week when I found them and bought several bags.
Right now the most important priority in our grocery budget is just sticking to it – there is NO wiggle room. I have to be under $100/week no matter what. What’s working is not stocking up on everything, rather picking and choosing – like buying the 2 lb package of cheese that I know we’ll go through instead of 1 lb each week, or absolutely buying brussel sprouts when I find them for variety in our veggies, or only buying 1 lb of butter at a time and stretching it because butter is delicious but expensive. And I’m watching the baking addins – those nuts and chocolate chips add up, but I can make a yummy pumpkin cake (thank you for that delicious recipe!) without a ton of extras. 🙂
Whew, you can tell I’ve been thinking about groceries a lot lately, too, especially since our budget is going to get tighter next year when paycheck deductions change.Reply
Jessica Fisher
Cuties are on sale this weekend for $2/bag, but the quality is pretty poor. I haven’t had a good orange in a while. Glad you like the pumpkin cake! Yay!
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