How do you make a grocery list on a small budget?

Answer 1

The best way is to start with the necessities. Milk, eggs, flour, etc. From there, go over the sale papers of your local grocery stores, and make your list accordingly. If something like butter, bread, or canned vegetables are on sale, buy a lot of them. Butter and bread can be frozen and will last a long time. Also, watch out for good sales on fruits and veggies and meats. Just because you're on a budget doesn't mean you can't have them, it just means you're a little limited. I would invest in one of the foodsaver machines, the ones that seal food airtight. They're pretty cheap.

http://www.tastefuladventures.com/admin/infodocs/Food%20Storage6.htm

Check this site out. It'll become your best friend. it's a huge list of food storage rules. It tells you how long you can keep something in the pantry, fridge, or freezer. Many foods, especially fruits and veggies, can be frozen, so you can buy things when they're on sale, and freeze them, until you want to use them. Make sure you take a sharpie and write the date that you stick them in the freezer on the food so that you can keep track of them.

Plan your meals carefully. Grocery stores are carefully designed towards the goal of making you impulse-buy. Plan the meals you want to make and stick to that list. Stay away from ready-made foods, because, usually, it's cheaper (not to mention healthier!) to buy the materials and make them yourself. Make sure you have a list before going into the store, but you don't have to solely limit your list to items on a recipe. It's always a good idea to have some basic staples on hand. Cans of diced/crushed tomatoes, beans, cream of ____ soups, broth, and pasta are excellent things to keep on hand because you can easily put together a meal with any of those. http://www.allrecipes.com is a good site. You can use the 'ingredient search' and search for recipes based on what you have in the pantry.

Answer 2

I plan my meals carefully. First I look at the sales papers online or the ones that come in the mail. I choose the place that has the best deals overall (don't run around to a bunch of stores, picking the best one saves gas). Then, starting with the meat, choose what you will need to cook with it. For example, if ground beef is on sale you could make spaghetti, hamburger helper, tacos, cheeseburgers, manwich, etc. So choose how many nights you will use ground beef and choose accordingly. Typically spaghetti and hamburger helper are the cheapest. When you make tacos or something like that you have to worry about lettuce, tomato, etc etc. Of course, you would do the same with any meat: Chicken, steak, turkey, etc.

Only buy what you need to make the meals that will be coming up until you are able to buy food again. I always make a very detailed list, not only because I am on a budget, but so that I don't wind up with a bunch of food I don't need and not enough of the stuff I do. I keep a full inventory of the food I have for this reason. You will find that you really will save money, because you buy fewer things and throw away fewer things.

Also, foods such as bananas, cereal, eggs, etc are much cheaper than buying things out of the freezer section or other conveniently packaged foods.

Answer 3

You are setting a budget. GOOD! That is the first step to financial freedom. But, you are also spending about $800 a month on groceries for a family of 5. That, in my opinion is not all that bad. My wife and I (family of 2) spend almost $400 a month (of course, we do splurge on some pricey stuff because it is just us two.) Anyway, consider some of these tips to reduce the grocery bills: 1. Buy bulk whenever you can. If you are not a member of one of those warehouse clubs, join up. It will save you money if you use the products. 2. Buy items that are on sale whenever you can. And, buy those items in bulk if they are not perishable. If they have tuna at 3 for a dollar this week, but a dozen cans, or 24. Might push this weeks budget to the edge, but you will save for the next several weeks. 3. Buy generic for some items. Generic or store brand are iffy. Sometimes it is better to buy the name brand, sometimes not. For example, I always buy the store brand sugar. Costs about 1/2 the name brand, and it does not taste any different. Will not buy generic dish detergent though, found I used almost 3 times as much. 4. Seriously examine any "treats" that you get. Do you buy gourmet coffee? If so, ask whether it is really necessary? Be honest, can you really taste a difference? What about Coke versus store brand cola? 5. Do you buy bottled water? Unless you have bad water coming out of your tap at home, there is no justification for bottled water. If you want to filter it, get a Brita or Pur pitcher. 6. Do not buy store prepared items. Getting a hot rotisserie chicken at the Deli counter is like tossing money in the street. By the time you get it home, it will be cold, and significantly less desirable. Same thing with deli prepared sandwiches, etc... 7. Stop buying boxed/prepared meals. Half of what you spend on a microwave dinner is the cost of the box. You are not eating the box, so do not pay for it. And, how tough is it to make a meatloaf, or mashed potatoes anyway? 8. Use coupons whenever you can. 9. NEVER pay $2.99+ a pound for the salad bar. Total money maker for the store, benefits you in no appreciable way. Now, those are just some of the ways that you can reduce your grocery budget, but what about the other places that you have expenses? Have a cell phone with a monthly bill? Get rid of it, and get a pre-paid one. Seriously, do you have to be talking for 400 minutes a month, or are you talking because the minutes are available to you? A pre-pay one used only for emergencies will set you back around $100 a year, unlike most other plans that are around $59 a month. What about cable TV? Do you get the full on package? All those movie channels, on demand, etc...? Drop everything but the basic plus package. You have kids, do not give up the educational channels. Seriously, how often do you really watch most of those channels? Speaking of TV, are you of the inclination to leave the TV on all the time because you like to hear the voices in the background? (A LOT of people do that. I know a woman that leaves the TV on while she is at work because her cats like it.) Stop that. Put on a radio instead. The radio will use significantly less electric the the TV. And the list goes on and on... It is not the big bills that really hurt. The mortgage, the car payments, those are easy to handle. It is the $10, $20, and $50 things that really eat away at your net pay, and if you control them, you control your overall budget. BOL

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Answer 4

Look through grocery store sale flyers and cut coupons. When buying meats, find recipes for cheap cuts and plan ahead for uses of leftovers. You could make a chicken and use leftover cut up chicken for chicken salad, or in a casserole. Make sure you use the things you buy. Don't buy things that are going to sit in your cupboards. And check out what you already have to see if there are meal possibilities that will only need small additions from the grocery store.

Answer 5

First, take inventory of what you actually have.
Second, make up a weekly or even monthly menu plan.
Third, go to budget stores and food discount stores and buy in bulk when the items are cheaper.
Fourth, if you have the area or even a place you can set several large flower pots, grow some of your own vegetables and preserve them in jars (pressure cooker is the safest), the freezer in serving sizes, or by drying. I found drying very helpful, as the fruits and vegetables are good for several years. You will have to learn how to rehydrate the items, but it is easy.
The cost of a good food dryer is usually around $70 but they can last for three or four years, depending on how much drying you do. A good pressure cooker costs about the same, but then you need jars and lids to start out. Both of these items are well worth their prices and come with instruction booklets.
I have dried or canned everything from meat to celery to strawberries. Be sure to budget for seasonal fruits and vegetables and seeds or plants, so that you can fill up your kitchen with multiple choices of dried or canned fruits and vegetables.
Also, Dollar Stores have a variety of canned meats, usually very reasonabley priced. We use them often, as we are both on social security and have a very limited income ourselves.
A bag of flour and some yeast goes a long way when you make your own bread. And pancake flour can be used in multiple ways other than just pancakes.
Instant potatoes aren't the most nutritious, but will do in a pinch and are easy and cheap. Rice bought in bulk can give you nutrition, starch, and can be used in many ways. Rice is easy to store.
By the way, if you buy coffee, buy it in the plastic resealable containers. When washed and aired out these make wonderful containers to store extra foods.
Take these tips and you will always have enough food. At the present time, from buying fruits and vegetables and growing our own, preserving and keeping track of what we have, we have at least six months worth of food.
If you apply, you can also see about obtaining some food from your local food pantry.
Good Luck

Answer 6

Depending on how small of a budget, needs to sustain life is first, second would be something from the 3 food groups, and last is choice. Choice means you have enough in the budget to get something you want but don't really need, put the cookies back

Answer 7

I find that you first have to know your exact weekly or bi-weekly budget. Say you have $40 a week to spend on groceries. Pick a week to buy your condiments (ketchup, margerine, etc.), the next week buy some frozen veggies, etc. until you have one of everything you would regularly use. Then only buy what you have used that week. For example, when you run out of ketchup, put it on your list. When you use your last pack of ground beef, buy more. You don't get alot of variety but it definitely works. When you can afford it, buy the largest size. Bulk is cheaper!

Answer 8

I do it all the time.
1. buy generic and on sale
2. plan what you want for the week
3. buy bulk hamburger and freeze it
4. find new recipes for what you like there are alot of ways to use hambuger.l
5. Use coupons It really helps
6. When something that you use a lot is on sale buy it even if you dont need it now, like ketchup.
7. ramen noodles go with anything!!!
Good luck

Answer 9

I think you have to stick to basics: flour, sugar, bread, butter or margarine, milk, cheese, eggs, rice, pasta, whatever meat is on sale. Produce is a good buy if you select fruits and vegetables that are in season. You have to eliminate all prepared, packaged foods, which means you'll be doing the prep for yourself. Takes longer but the food you eat will be healthier in the long run, without all of the chemicals, fructose, etc. that you find in boxed foods. A good hint I once read is to shop only the perimeter of the supermarket because that's where the "real" food is.

Answer 10

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