12 Ways to Save Money on Groceries

While we all have food choices, some of us have a better ability to afford those choices than others. If you’re needing to tighten the budget a bit, here’s some ways to do so.

1. Check the meat clearance counter. You’ll save money but need to freeze or use food right away. This can add up to savings from ground meats on up to steaks and pork chops.
2. Check the prices of ground turkey – some areas it’s around $1/pound. Mix a pound of ground turkey with two pounds of ground beef to cut the fat without substantially changing the test. Aside from cutting the fat it trims your cost by stretching your beef.
3. Get large containers or save the ones with screw on lids for storing bulk foods. Large plastic containers that have pretzels or other snacks in them are great to ‘recycle’ and store pasta, keeping it dry and bug free. Smaller jars can work great for seasonings.
4. Buy in bulk but watch costs to make sure it’s cheaper.
5. Watch your per serving cost for the best value. Stretch meats with oatmeal…for example when browning meat for sloppy joes add a couple handfuls of oatmeal and mix in before adding the sauce stretches your meat, adds fiber without changing the taste or texture of the sloppy joes.
6. People pay a great deal for convenience. Make your own convenience and save money! Get reusable containers and when you make dinners make an extra serving or two – seal and freeze one, and take one the next day for lunch. Doing this regularly means you have “heat and eat” dinners for those nights you don’t feel like cooking. Don’t buy the premixed slow cooker dinners and others – it does not save you time cooking and doesn’t take that long to slice some vegetables and add to the crockpot!
7. Check discount stores for day old baked goods – use older bread for making croutons and stuffing.
8. Check store brands and generics to save money. While sometimes there is a difference, often the taste is no different and the offshoot is from a major company but costs less.
9. Use “edible landscaping” to grow some of your own food. Peppers, herbs and other plants can be pretty and productive. Sunflowers are easy to grow and feed the birds in the winter for pennies if stored properly. If you have a deck only use containers to grow what you can and dress up your outdoor area.
10. Shop at farmer’s markets and buy direct when you can – this can save money and with a little effort you can make your own salsa and other foods for not much time invested.
11. Learn to process your own food. Canning, drying and freezing have never been easier than with modern appliances.
12. Mix up, bag in zipper bags and label cake mixes and cookie mixes. Mark with baking directions and what ‘wet’ ingredients – eggs, oil and so forth – to add.