How to Cut Your Grocery Bill in Half

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Having a grocery budget isn’t always easy. If you want to cut your grocery bill in half or make a grocery list on a budget these great tips show you ways to get started. Your grocery budgeting just got easier.

Cut Your Grocery Bill

#1. Meal Plan

I can’t tell you enough how this has helped limit my grocery spending. Going in with a plan puts everything into focus. You aren’t just grabbing whatever looks good off the shelves. You are making sure everyone in your household has something to eat for each meal. The main problem I face if I go in without a list is that when I get home I realize I forgot to get whole meals! Like I forgot to get deli meat for lunch but for some reason, I remembered to get the bread. Duh!

One tool that I found was a great investment was Grocery Budget Makeover. This is a handy course many are taking and comes recommended. It’s a step-by-step course that teaches you how to reduce your grocery budget with meal planning, couponing, and simple prep. I can try to cut the fat in certain areas of my grocery budget myself, but when it comes to a person that makes it her living teaching others the best techniques I won’t hesitate to try out her advice.

#2. Buy Store Brands

Buying store brands has saved me tons of money and has significantly cut my grocery bill. It’s nuts to think how much of a markup there is with name brand items. For instance, I really like Dove body wash but when I compare it to the Wal-Mart brand Dove is $4-$5 more expensive. It is pretty much exactly the same! So frustrating.

#3. Don’t Shop at Specialty Markets

I like organic food but I don’t like paying top dollar for organic food. Going to places like Fresh Market or Whole Foods never really made sense to me when most common supermarkets carry organic foods for half the cost. I ended up pricing out the normal organic fruit that I usually purchase and it turns out specialty markets price them almost $1 more than Aldi or Wal-Mart.

#4. Coupon

Need I say more? It’s pretty obvious how much money you can save if you cut out a coupon or two for items you commonly buy. This is where it gets tricky if you are buying store brands. Most coupons are for name brand items. So if you have the time to price out the value you will get using a coupon versus store brand, you might be surprised at the savings.

#5. Utilize Free Grocery Apps

I really like using grocery apps. It does not necessarily cut your grocery bill down quickly but it adds extra cash to your wallet. It’s easy and a no-brainer when it comes down to getting paid to shop. Ibotta is one of these apps and is like the Ebates for the grocery world. You find the rebates for items you would like to purchase, take a picture of your receipt and make sure those items were purchased, submit and then wait for approval. It is that easy. Also, when you sign up with this link you can get $10 back as long as you use the app within the first week of signing up.

#6. Compare Prices at Different Stores

After the course of a few grocery runs, I sat down and compared receipts for items I would buy frequently. I was amazed at the difference in pricing. I usually bounce between three different stores in my area because they are convenient. That would be Wal-Mart, Publix, and Aldi. Hands down Aldi beats Wal-Mart and Publix. Aldi, alone, saves me over $50 in groceries a week if I decide not to do extreme couponing at other stores. Some drawbacks to going to Aldi is that you have to bring your own bags, they don’t take coupons, and their selection can be limited forcing you to have to go to another store for those items.

Over time Aldi has saved us a lot of money on groceries.

#7. Buy in Bulk

This can be beneficial if you have a big household. When I was younger I was in a family of five and my dad always went to those large “buy it in bulk” stores. We were active children and in sports so our metabolisms were always running high. We ate a lot of food so buying in bulk was extremely helpful.

#8. Keep Track of Your Inventory

You would be surprised how many duplicate items you end up buying if you took the time to go through your pantry or fridge. I try to make it a point to keep track of everything we have purchased so this doesn’t happen. Sometimes my husband will do a grocery run for me and it has been a challenge for him to keep to the list. He will come home with more than was budgeted and end up buying duplicates because he thought we were out.

#9. Use What’s in Your Fridge

I can’t tell you how many times we have thrown out food because it has gone bad or we overbought. From now on we pay attention to what we buy because we meal plan and actually use what we have in the fridge. This was all thanks to the Grocery Budget Makeover. Because of this program, we were able to figure out how to make meals out of what we already had in fridge/freezer/pantry before going out to buy more.

#10. Shop Seasonally

This is something to pay attention to. There are fruits and food items that are not in season all year round. If you buy, for example, strawberries in December they are usually more expensive if you can get them. So it is best to avoid those seasonal items until they have dropped in price if you want to cut your grocery bill in half.

I hope these tips get you started to cut your grocery bill in half. If you have any suggestions I would love to hear them. Please leave a comment with your tips!

Kim Calderon

Kim is a wife and a stay at home mom who loves spending time with her little boy. She likes managing her home and seeking out ways to improve her way of living.

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