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How To Quickly Save Money On Groceries
Do you ever look at your grocery bill and think “how can it possibly be that much?!”?
Yes, I’ve been there and done that. It can be a shocker and the cost of food and household products just keeps on going up.
We have managed to save money big time on groceries in the last year or so.
I’ve written previously about the big tips that worked initially to cut down our weekly grocery bill and how we managed to save more money.
But the truth is not all of these are quick wins.
For example, buying washing powder, loo paper, dish wash tablets etc in bulk when they are on offer saves you big money over the year. But actually costs more initially because you buy more than you usually do.
So how can you quickly save money on groceries when you’re strapped for cash or on a big savings drive?
Well these are the quick money-saving tips that work for us…
Quickly Save Money on Groceries
1. Plan Your Meals
If you don’t plan meals. DO DO DO!! I didn’t for ages and we wasted so much food and money because of it. Plus we constantly stocked up on stuff we weren’t going to use any time soon.
It really doesn’t have to be anything fancy. Just come up with a two week plan and only buy what you need for the plan, unless it’s on offer.
2. Cut Size of Meat Portions
It’s so easy to get in the habit of buying massive portions of meat. You just don’t need them. Traditional Italian and Mexican family faves had much less meat in it than we routinely throw in.
After your next shop, freeze half of each portion of meat and get two meals for the price of one. Cutting down your spend on meat is definitely one of the easiest ways to save money on groceries quickly.
More: Survival Tips for Busy Working Mums
3. Meat-Free Meals
Get into the habit of having a couple of meat-free meals per week. There are SO many amazing vegetarian recipes out there. I’ve highlighted a couple in my post on getting ten portions of fruit and vegetables into your daily diet. But it can also be as simple as doing baked potatoes with cheese and a nice healthy salad.
Plus don’t forget beans and pulses. They are healthy, delicious AND cheap.
4. Cook The Cupboard
Ban yourself from buying any more pantry and cupboard ingredients for two or three weeks. Just cook your way through all the rice, pasta etc you already have in there.
It’s amazing how much stuff you’ll find you’ve got stored away.
5. Cook The Freezer
I do try to work through what we have in our freezer so it’s not sitting in there gathering icicles. It can be easy to forget about frozen leftovers or ingredients that were surplus to requirements. Do a weekly check ahead of your weekly shop and build the contents of your freezer into your meal planning for the week.
6. Bake Your Own
Ditch all those packaged and processed cakes, biscuits, pastries and pizzas and bake your own. Or go without!
If you’re really going for it, you can bake your own healthy bread. It isn’t as hard as you might think, you don’t need any fancy equipment and it works out way cheaper to make quality homemade bread than to buy expensive artisan bread.
As an added bonus, bread making is also quite a fun activity to involve the kids in!
7. Don’t Forget Quick, Healthy Basics
It’s so easy to over-complicate meals, but kids love quick, cheap, healthy basics like baked beans on wholemeal toast, baked potatoes with tinned tuna and eggs of just about every kind. If you eat these for three nights a week you’ll quick save money AND save on stress!
More: High energy snacks for tired mums
8. Jazz Up Leftovers
I have to put my hand up and say I do throw food out, but I am getting better and better at quickly jazzing up leftovers so they don’t stay lurking in the fridge.
Have your meal plan for the week, but be prepared to be flexible as and when you end up with leftovers. Use them to create a meal and shift everything else you had planned on a day.
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So many great tips for saving money on groceries ~ I found quite a few I can implement. Thanks so much for sharing at this week’s Project Inspire{d} ~ have a wonderful week!
Do hope they help Mary Beth. I was surprised by the difference even quite small things could make. Thanks as always for such a fab party.
Great tips! When the kids started coming we difficulty cut back on our meat portions. We were buying the same amount, but instead of my husband eating the extra portions; they are divided among the kids. Meal planning and I don’t see eye-eye. I have tried it unsuccessful a few times. I am trying it again, but have myself much more organized with a worksheet, shopping lists and recipes handy.
So glad you like them Kim. Have really helped us. I do cheat’s meal planning based on 4 week’s worth of recipes that I just rotate ad nauseum 🙂 Definitely couldn’t manage coming up with something different each week. And definitely save by limiting the recipes xx
I agree with all of these, especially trying to eating less meat, it is just so darn expensive. We try to make at least 1 to 2 meatless meals a week at our house. We also plan our meals based on what we have on hand, that way we always use what we have before we go out to buy more.
One add on I would say is to save money on “sandwich” meat by using fresh chicken, ham, or turkey and saving some meat for sandwiches and skipping the deli all together. Typically you are looking at a savings of like $3.00 a pound, better tasting and like no preservatives. Win, Win, Win if you ask me!
Great tip Nikki. I am getting better at stretching meat out over several meals and making sure I “plan” ways to use up the leftovers. It really does make a difference, doesn’t it?
I so needed to hear this! I use Plan to Eat website to plan meals and it creates my grocery list, but I still have to actually get around to planning them, and I really need to sort out my freezer!
Do hope it helps Sheena … it is sooo easy for the freezer to become a black hole isn’t it, from which nothing ever escapes 🙂
It all makes sense! Thanks so much for linking up at Best of the Weekend!
Such great ideas! I have always done all the grocery shopping so I don’t know why I’m still so surprised when they tell me the total…it’s just hard to believe that a few bags of groceries could cost so much. Your tips are really helpful and I’m going to put them to good use!
Oh I know Lisa – how can we spend so much!!! Do hope the tips help, let me know x
These are some really great ideas. Thanks so much for sharing them.
So glad you liked Lisa, they have really made a difference to us