Does anyone else hate spending big bucks at the grocery store?! I sure do!! It bugs me to spend so much money on things that are just going to go in my mouth and come out a day later…I work hard for that money! Before I got married I didn’t pay attention to how much I was spending on food. I was young, single, and had money in the bank. Did I use a budget? Nope. Did I plan out my meals in advance? Heck no! When I got married and finally realized how poor I was, the budget and planned meals were born. After seeing how much money we’ve saved by using a budget and planning our meals, I wish I had learned this lesson much earlier in life. We spend about $60 every two weeks on food for the both of us, which comes out to about $0.71 a meal per person, and yes, this does include breakfast, lunch and dinner! That’s amazingly cheap!! Makes you think a 3 dollar burger is EXPENSIVE. How do we live off $30 a person for two weeks? Haha…I’m about to save you soo much money on groceries. You can thank me later 
Plan out Your Meals Ahead: We plan our meals 2 weeks in advance since my husband gets paid twice a month. On Sundays, we sit down together and fill out the days on the calendar with our favorite, inexpensive meals. At the same time we make a shopping list of the exact ingredients we will need. It’s so nice to always know what we’re going to make after a long, busy day, and also to know that we have all of the ingredients for it.
- Limit Trips to the Store- We have saved a ton of money and time by only going shopping twice a month. We go the day my husband gets paid, and after making our meal plan. We are able to shop for all items we will need for the upcoming weeks, and it cuts out unnecessary trips to the store. Since we try to keep our bill under $60 this cuts out extra snacks and treats, which will only help keep off those unwanted pounds!
- Experiment with Inexpensive, Yet Tasty Meals- We have about 10 different meals that we both love and rotate throughout the month. They are very inexpensive and easy to make. Fast and easy is key since we both have very busy days. Some of our favorites are pasta, stir fry, fajitas, chicken and potatoes, and taco salad. It’s amazing that we can make great tasting, healthy food at such a low price!
- Buy in Bulk- We buy items such as flour, rice, cereal, and meat in bulk. You get a much lower price per pound when buying more. It’s also better to buy in bulk because then you only have to buy those items once every few months
PRICE MATCH!!!- This is my favorite money saving tip! We recently discovered that Wal-Mart will price match any deal from any other store. We always use the ad from Buy Low market, (which has the best prices on fruits and veggies around) and sometimes the ad from Sunflower market to get the cheapest prices on fruits and veggies, and sometimes meat! Since Wal-Mart has better quality items, we get better food for the same price. For example, this last Tuesday we got a $7 bag of oranges for $1.60, avocados for $0.25 instead of $ 0.68 a piece, and got almost half price on ground beef. You get the best of both worlds! Do all of your shopping at one place and get the lowest price on everything! Just tell your cashier that you have items to price match and they’ll adjust the prices. I would suggest taking the ads with you so you know the exact prices. WE SAVE AN AVERAGE OF $10 EVERY TIME!
Let me know in the comments section if you have an money saving grocery tips that I didn’t mention! Happy Shopping!
