How to Spend Less on Groceries and Meals
Are you looking for ways to spend less on groceries? Me too! For many of us, the cost of meat is eating up a good chunk of our grocery budget and making it harder to feed our families.
The trick to serving less meat is in the vegetables and other protein choices. Vegetarian options can stretch your grocery dollars while providing filling, healthy meals your family will love.
The next time you plan your menu for the week, instead of planning on enough meat to feed your family for seven days, substitute 2-3 vegetarian meals for your dinner. This one change can save you 30% to 50% on what you normally spend for meat.
If the thought of no meat shocks you, with the right recipes, you can even stretch bits of meat, like a small amount of left-over meat, to make a satisfying meal for everyone in your family.
Menu Ideas to Spend Less on Groceries Meals
- Grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup and your favorite salad.
- Quesadillas: Grilled tortillas with cheese, pico de gallo, and bits of taco meat if you like.
- Bean and cheese chalupas with avocado. Add some bits of grilled chicken for variety.
- Cheese enchiladas, Spanish rice, and refried or borracho beans
- Mexican style pinto or black beans, corn bread, and a fresh garden salad
- Chef salad with lots of different vegetables, boiled egg, and cheeses. Add bits of ham, bacon, or chicken to suit your tastes.
- Mini pizzas, home-made with a variety of grated cheeses, Italian-spiced tomato sauce, and other toppings as desired. Some great ideas include fresh tomatoes, chives, walnuts, and spinach. Let everyone design their own concoctions.
- Tortellini stuffed with cheese and mixed with herb and garlic flavored feta cheese, chopped tomato, kidney beans and a bit of olive oil. Serve on a plate of baby spinach.
- Roasted vegetable casserole with potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, cream of mushroom soup, carrots, and cheese. Add some left-over chicken if desired.
- Fried rice with soy sauce, bits of egg, corn, and chopped carrots. Serve with egg rolls.
- For a fun change, fix omelets for supper using eggs, cheese, mushrooms, tomatoes, and spinach. Bits of ham or bacon flavor it nicely while using only a small amount of meat. Put out a variety of “fixin’s” for everyone to choose from.
These menu ideas are just the beginning. Explore, experiment, and get your family involved in the process. Make it fun! There’s nothing like good old family time in the kitchen. Only your wallet will know that you’re saving a lot of money in the process!
Tips to Spend Less on Groceries
It’s expensive to feed your family! The cost of food is a large portion of most household budgets, and the price continues to climb. Just look at these statistics. According to the USDA, the average cost to feed a family of four in 2024 on a “thrifty” budget is around $980 per month.* The Consumer Price Index (CPI) states that from December 2023 to December 2024, food price increased 2.5%, although it feels like much more when you’re in the stores. Fortunately, there are a few ways to help you save big on your next trip to the grocery store!
* Source
More Ideas to Spend Less on Groceries
- Stop paying for convenience. To realize the biggest savings, avoid pre-packaged foods or foods that have been pre-washed, pre-chopped, or pre-cooked.
- Look for whole foods that you can cook and prepare at home, rather than buying food that has been highly processed. Preparing whole foods at home is cheaper and gives you greater control over how much sugar, salt, and fat are added to your meals!
- Cook at home rather than eat out. If you don’t know how to cook, consider asking your friends and family to share their favorite recipes with you. You can also search online for great recipes to help spend less on groceries.
- Use recipe websites that provide meal ideas based on the ingredients you have on hand. This is a great way to use up food items that may be close to their expiration date. It’s also a great way to avoid throwing away food. Try MyFridgeFood, Tesco Real Food to cook with ingredients on hand, or Big Oven to use up leftovers.
- Many grocers offer specials on items in their meat and produce departments once or twice a month. Other grocers offer significant markdowns on meat, fruits, and vegetables that are close to their expiration date.
- Most meats and produce can be safely stored in your freezer until you’re ready to use them. The key to making these items last in your freezer is to repackage them to prevent freezer burn. So, stock up on these special deals and plan your meals around these sales.
- Avoid confining yourself to shopping at only one store for groceries and other household items. Look for specials, markdowns, and rewards programs at all of the grocery stores in your area. If you live near a Shoprite and a Big Y, look for deals at both. Walmarts that carry groceries are another great place to get affordable groceries.
- A bigger store chain doesn’t necessarily mean better savings! Smaller stores like Aldi’s offers savings on meats, cheeses, milk rolls and especially produce. Another small store to save on paper goods, cleaning supplies, plastic cups and tablecloths is Dollar Tree.
- Save big with rewards clubs. Many stores offer special discounts to members of their loyalty and shopping clubs, which is an easy way spend less on groceries. These rewards cards and clubs can tell you in advance what’s on sale and even let you accumulate points for free items. Just remember to bring your membership card when you shop. Also keep in mind that some stores may want you to load sale items onto your card in advance, so be sure to read the rules.
- Look online for coupons. In addition to rewards clubs, many store websites offer digital coupons for common grocery items, and allow you to download coupons directly to your Smartphone along with other savings specials. Another place to find coupons to spend less on groceries are manufacturer websites for savings on items like pasta, sauces, detergents and more.
Rising food prices can make it difficult to afford groceries at the supermarket, but there are many ways make it easy for you to afford healthy foods, while reducing your grocery bill!
