Cutting Food Budget?

Question

I normally spend $130.00 per week on food. What are some easy ways to cut my food budget? Any hints would be appreciated

Answer 1

Hello:
Here are some ideas to help you save on your grocery bill:

1. Cut coupons,coupons can save you alot of money on your grocery bills.

2. When non-perishable items are on sale stock up on them. Things like canned goods,toilet paper,paper towels,etc..

3. Make out menus if you can and that will help you to plan out your food items because you will only be buying food that you need for your breakfast,lunch or dinner menus.

4. If you buy large packages of chicken,or hamburger,freeze the leftovers that you can't use into single serving portions,and that will help to save alot of money too.

5. Try store brand products,they are much cheaper and they will save you alot more money than the name brand items will. With that being said,there are just some things that I can't hack the taste of that is store brand such as peanut butter or miracle whip,so I do buy brand name items for those things and for my Heinz ketchup too! Generic ketchup just isn't the same as Heinz! :-(

6. Store brand cereals are just as good if not better than name brand cereals and they save you so much money! I buy the Kroger brand of cereals because they are much cheaper and in some cases,they taste much better than name brand cereals do.

Answer 2

There are so many ways. Preplan your meals and stick to your grocery list. I was forced to do the same thing. I just wanted to be sure that my child had nutritious food. Some of the things I did was set up a weekly menu and used this as my guide. For example. I would buy three to four pounds of hamburger. this I could use for three meals and a snack. first meal tacos, then another night would be speg and meatballs and another night might be meatloaf or shepherds/ chinese pie. For a snack I would save a little burger for nachoes or english muffin pizza's. The little pizzas are another meal we do we use the whole pack and each person gets to make them their way, However i do not buy much extras for this we usually use whats on hand and cheddar cheese from the taco's and it tastes just as good. Stews soups casseroles are great this time of year and really help stretch the budget. Also the ole standby kool aide with only 3/4 of a cup of sugar and please you wont save anything even your sanity if you make your kids drink powdered milk cause its cheap lmao. and those box foods mac and cheese and canned spaghetti o's and stews are so bad its not even worth exposing your family to good luck and sorry I rambled
Another way to save is to have a breakfast night ie eggs and bacon or pancakes. Try switching to can fruit during off season just get it in water or light syrup. Go Generic many items are the same and made by the same company only packed different ie.. cereals peanut butter sauces things like that. Grab the bakery deals two for one. Bread Freezes great and thaws fast. have a soup night add rice or other ingredients suck as dumplings. You may also use the chicken or beef leftovers to make your own soup. I will par boil my chicken then add bullion and whatever else and it works fine. Check out the wed site in sources or just use a search engine and type groceries on a low budget thats what I did.

Answer 3

You didn't mention how many this budget was to feed.
Well, I did it but it took a little while to work out. I only buy produce that I will be using within a week, after that the fresh food doesn't look so fresh anymore so out it goes in the garbage. The same thing for fresh fruit, unless it's bananas I can always freeze the brown ones for banana bread. I try not to shop before dinner because I'm hungry then and everything looks good. Instead of buying frozen entrees I make extra to freeze myself for another meal. I freeze my bread while fresh (takes only minutes to defrost) so I'm not tossing out stale bread. I only buy in bulk tinned goods and I can wait for the specials. Rarely buy so called junk food. These are treats but not a daily thing.
I always plan at least a week ahead and always have a shopping list.
I don't have any problem with the cost of my groceries but I do have a serious problem when they must go into the garbage untouched.

Answer 4

In the first place don't miss your meals. Make sure you eat three times a day. Even if you are not hungary at meal time take something no matter how small. If you miss any, it makes you loose appetite or eat more next time. In other words skipping meal makes one spend more in the long run
Secondly, keep peanut at your reach. Taking about twenty nut 20 minutes before meal suppresses appetites and helps the system to utilize food effectively.
Finally, buy food in bulk (wholesale price) and cook most of the time

Answer 5

Go through your recipes and decide what ones you want to make this week and buy the ingredients needed. Try making two recipes that contain the same meat so you can purchase family size, then split in half. Just make one at the beginning of the week and the other a few days later.

Answer 6

start buying in bulk , you can cook 1 large piece + make several meals from it . freeze the extras for later . hold the extra money back for a bit + buy a deep freeze , then you can really start saving . i've done this over + over , i've saved thousands in the past 3 years .

Answer 7

Write a list before you go and only buy the things you absolutely need

Don't go to the store hungry, you'll be tempted to buy more stuff

Buy all your paper products from a warehouse in bulk supply (Like Sam's CLub or Costco)

Answer 8

buy store brands....not name brands
use coupons ....
start eating by portion sizes ...
anything along those lines .

heres a website that you may want to read :

http://okcmaddy.blogspot.com/2007/01/challenge-cut-back-on-grocery-budget.html


AND this one is 13 ways to cut back on the Family Food Budget !!!! It should HELP a lot !

http://www.menus4moms.com/articles/000026.php