how can my family lower it's food or grocery bill for each month?

Question

we have already cut out dinning out almost completely so I am talking about the amount we have to spend at the grocery store each month. Thanks.

Answer 1

I can tell you what I did and worked for us!

First, plan your Menu for the week ahead, including breakfasts, lunches and Dinners. If some meat item is on sale, say a Beef Roast cut, it's worth the money spent because you can get 2 meals out of it. If you have a big freezer and Bread is on sale, buy 10 Loaves at once and freeze them.

Now that you have your Menu laid out, go through the kitchen and see what need's to be bought for it all and any staples you're low on and need to purchase.
Mark all these down on a List.

Bring the List with you and stick to it as much as possible - I can guarantee you that you and your family will not only be well-fed, but you'll save money doing it this way!

Good luck!

Answer 2

I do a lot of "from scratch" cooking and really avoid convenience foods. A bag of flour can become a cake, a loaf of bread, pastry crust, coating for fried chicken... We buy fresh potatoes for fries, mashed, scalloped... Chunk cheese is often cheaper than shredded (and the kids like to do the shredding anyway). Besides, homemade pizza just taste better!
And cut out the junk food! People do not NEED soda, chips, candy.... Juice, fruit, popcorn (real popcorn--not microwave) is healthier and cheaper.
Maintain an inventory of your kitchen. By staying organized, I know how much we have of a particular item and which are being consumed faster than others. This helps me make my shopping list, replacing items we need and passing on ones we don't.
Next, I go through my coupons and pull ones for the items on the list. (I do not buy things just because I have a coupon. The coupon is used for things I was already going to buy.) I usually save around 5% on my grocery bill by using coupons.
Once I'm in the store, I "put my blinders on" and stick to the list. I can get my shopping done faster and not waste money on impulse items.
My food budget is between $150.00 and $200.00 for a family of four every two weeks.

Answer 3

my bils and husband used to work at the slaughter house, so now every year we buy a couple of cows and butcher them ourselves. we spend about $400 and have meat (hamburger, steak (ribeyes, sirloins, T-bones), roasts, cube steak) for a year. Meat is a huge budget buster. Otherwise we eat a lot of pasta's, fruits, vegetables, milk, eggs. We prepare most meals from scratch.

Saving money at the grocery takes planning. Plan for when certain fruits and vegetables are in season and plan your recipes around them. Buy dry goods on sale. Use coupons. Buy the discounted meats and USE THEM right away. Prepare meals with the intention of eating leftovers. Buy fruits and veggies at farmer's market, flea market, etc. Keep fruits and veggies in the drawers in the bottom of the fridge, so kids can easily grab and go. Don't buy cookies or snacks or prepackaged foods. An FYI, those prepackaged pasta meals, hamburger helper meals, etc are HUGE diet killers. They will add weight to the stomach faster than anything.

Also remember that other items may be going into your grocery budget. For example, I always wonder why we can't get out of the grocery for under a $100, but we are buying diapers and formula too. So budget busters like that add up.

Answer 4

Shop wisely compare the amounts in weight vs the amount you pay....

example: 2- 12oz cans of corn for .89 each
or one 22oz can for 1.39, you get
2oz less but are you really going to
miss them? yet you saved some $$

Stay away from name brands as you are paying mainly for the name.....and also where you buy your groceries makes a big diff. on the price you pay. I have 2 groceries stores close by... one is all nice and pretty and everything is more expensive than if I go across the street and buy at the not soo pretty store. Ok soo that store might not be as "clean" as the other but since almost everything is prepackaged and aslong as the dates are good...save money!!

Answer 5

use coupons and purchase generic items when possible. Also buy items that can make several meals - such as pasta, potatoes, etc. You can use some items to make a lot of different meals with the same items and still not be monotonous. Don't buy the branded products when generic is just as good but you are not paying for packaging and national advertising - for example - froot loops versus the generic fruitio O's. Hope that helps. Also look for in-store specials like the 10 for $10 deals, etc. Or the buy one get two free deals.

Answer 6

I have found that the best way to cut the cost of a weekly grocery bill is to go to the food outlets dented cans off name items, etc. There are a lot of good products in the off brand names.
Depending on the size of the family you shop bulk. It may sound dorky but it works coupons. You can now find coupons on the net.

Answer 7

I have a big family (my husband, me, our four kids, and my mother). I buy what I can at Sam's Club (Costco in some places) and I also use Teri's List (The Grocery Game). It sounds gimmicky but it only costs $10 every three months. The system really works. There are also many coupon clipping services on the Internet that can help you stock up on the coupons you used most of. Good luck!

Answer 8

All of the answers above sound pretty good as general advice and when I needed to cut my grocery bills I followed a lot of them. Here's one further idea.

If you need to cut your costs, you need to pay the least amount you can per unit of the item. This helps you compare prices when the amounts in the packages are different. You want to figure how much you're paying per pound, per ounce, per can, per square foot.

To do that you take the price of the item and divide it by the number of units. For example, Ragu Oldstyle Pasta sauce - Traditional costs $1.99 for a 14 oz. jar. Divide 1.99 by 14 oz and you get $0.1421 cents per oz. If you look at the can of Hunt's Traditional however, the 26.5 oz can cost $1.09 the per ounce price is $0.0411 ($1.09 divided by 26.5 oz). That makes it cost effective to buy the Hunt's brand and see if you like it.

Once you figure out the lowest price per ounce you try that and move up the price chain until you find something your family likes. Sometimes it's worth paying more for some items, it just depends on your tastes.

Don't assume that buying in bulk will save you money. That Ragu sauce I used as an example above it would. The 26 oz jar cost $2.79 or $0.11 per ounce. The 45 oz jar is $3.99 or $0.09 per ounce. The 66 oz jar is $5.29 or $0.08 per ounce. In that case, if your family will use the larger jars before they spoil they are more cost effective. But if they'll spoil before you can use the entire amount you're wasting money. Some times too, the prices per ounce are the same no matter the size. I don't have my numbers on this computer but at one of my stores it doesn't matter how big a package of popcorn I buy, it's all the same per ounce. I've also stopped shopping at Costco/Sam's Club/BJs because where I live the bulk purchases aren't cost effective. Especially when you add in the fee's to join the club stores. However, I did save when my kids were in diapers. Just depends what you need to buy.

Oh, I got the prices from Peapod.com where they actually give you the per unit price. A lot of stores include it in the small print on the shelf labels, too. But sometimes they're incorrect or don't measure in common units so it helps to have a calculator along.

If you're really serious about saving money like this, you can do a price book where you keep totals for the items you buy across all the stores in your area. Sometimes it's a big surprise when you find out which store is really the cheapest for the items you use.

Answer 9

Don't buy junk food or fancy bakery items. You have to stick to the basics, and do some baking at home, even if you use mixes, it's cheaper.
Stick to basics for meals - casseroles with ground beef, try out different ways of making chicken dishes- chicken legs and backs are often on sale. Use all sorts of meal "stretchers" - biscuits with stews to help fill up, chili is cheap to make. It's actually not hard to cut down on costs, because you still have to ensure you are serving enough fruits and vegetables. Remember there is nothing wrong with frozen veggies, and canned fruits.
Good luck - and check out lots of cookbooks at the library, and on the net.

Answer 10

The easiest thing to do is join a warehouse shopping club. If used correctly you will lower the costs associated with grocery shopping (gasoline/transportation) as you do not have to go as often.

Then you can dramatically save money on the items you use the most (toilet paper, paper towels, laundry soap, diapers, shampoo, cream rinse, toothpaste, etc. etc.) Also items such as milk, cheese, bread, butter, juice, cereal are alot cheaper there.

I only go to the warehouse every two months or so and spend a couple hundred dollars. I figure I save nearly $2000 a year by buying non-perishible items in bulk.

Just stay away from the convenience foods, they will kill your budget.