Top 12 Ways to Stretch Your Grocery Budget

Whenever I am looking to cut down on my grocery spending, I go to my favorite money-saving standbys.  In the interest of a spend-less sort of year, here are my favorite:

1. Meatless Mondays. Unless you have a hunter in the family, meat can add a lot to your grocery bill.  Go for Vegan fajitas for dinner and grilled cheese or soup for lunch.
2. Cook what you have. Yes, you may have to have spaghetti a couple of times of week.  It’s less diversity, but it’s also less money to use what’s on hand.
3. EAT UP YOUR LEFTOVERS. Wasted food is wasted money.
4. Shop the mark-downs. If you know how to time it right, you can hit the stores when they mark down meat and/or veggies.  If you are good at planning on the fly, you can build your meal plan around the sales.
5. Cook from scratch. Yes, I know, duh.  But, consider making your own granola and dressings too.  Convenience foods are pricey—especially now that couponing isn’t as lucrative {and cooking from scratch is waaay healthier.}
6. Cook in bulk. One of the reasons I love freezer meals is because the cost per serving goes way down when you buy larger quantities and split it  into several meals {that, and by dinnertime I don’t feel like cooking}.
7. Do brinner once a week. We love brinner {breakfast for dinner equals brinner at our house}.  Pancakes and scrambled eggs are relatively cheap.  Well, cheaper than meat sources of protein.
8. Eat less. You probably think I am joking, but after the 30 day emergency food supply challenge I did last June, I realized that prior to the challenge, sometimes I overate just because there was food in front of me.
9. Set a budget and stick to it. When I don’t put self-imposed restrictions on my monthly food budget, I find that I am more willing to throw things into the cart that are “luxuries.”  So, if there is no money in the budget, Monkey Boy doesn’t get Doritos.  Even if we are out, and he is “suffering.”
10. Eat seasonally.  I know variety is the spice of life, but if you want grapes for dinner in the middle of winter, you are going to have to pay for them.  Eat from your canned fruit that you put up or choose fruits that store well, like apples.  They will have a better price tag.
11. Purchase a whole cow or pig if you have the freezer space.  Pound for pound, you will pay about 1/2 this way.  If you don’t have room for a whole cow, split it with friends/family or consider smaller bulk orders through companies like Zaycon.
12. Plan a menu.  Planning helps you avoid unnecessary items ending up in your cart.

~Mavis