Inflation can seriously dent the family budget. After all, prices on many items increased by 50% in two years, 2020 – 2022. That’s as much as they increased in fifty years, between 1922 – 1972!
Food money-savers include eating more meals at home. Ensure that you buy the ingredients for those meals at the lowest prices. This requires simple planning: peruse the latest supermarket fliers from your area, taking note of the “loss leaders.” Then, plan a handful of simple entrees that can be made with these items. Always stock up of well-priced items that keep well. Finally, avoid impulse-buying by shopping with a list, and on a full stomach.
Instead of the usual 10 tips, here are 8 major money-savers that will flow together seamlessly; so by the end of the week, you’ll already find more money left in your wallet. Best of all, you can still enjoy the foods you like!
Table of Contents
- Rediscover that Cozy, Little Dining Spot Called Home
- Cooking from Scratch: have it “your way” for less
- It Doesn’t have to be Hard: Simplify Menus
- Flexible Planning Keeps you in the Game for the Long Run
- Flexible Shopping will Surprise and Delight You
- Skip the Convenience Store – It’s not Worth it
- Always Shop with a List (no, we can’t simply trust ourselves)
- Never Shop When You’re Hungry…or Tired!
- Resources for Further Exploration
Rediscover that Cozy, Little Dining Spot Called Home
If you buy a lot of your meals out, you’re going to be saving a lot of money by this plan! It starts by fixing more of your meals at home. We’ll talk more about cooking in a moment; but the supermarket has a huge array of alternatives to take-out. In fact, there are major chain restaurants that watch what sells at Trader Joe’s, and tweak their menu accordingly!
A basic example of cost-effectiveness is serving ice cream cones at home versus going out for them. A family of four going out for ice cream cones is lucky to get change back from a $20 bill. Even with today’s inflated cost of groceries, you could bring home 2 or 3 different kinds of ice cream and a box of cones, and scoop triple the amount of cones (12) for about half the cost.
Admittedly, when you eat at home, there is more clean-up, and everybody does not get his own personal choice of entree. In a way, though, this can be a good thing – You are a family, not four strangers waiting for a bus. If you’re all eating the same thing, it gives you something to talk about together. Then, enforce a rule that nobody leaves the kitchen, until that extra clean-up is finished.
Cooking from Scratch: have it “your way” for less
If you’ve never cooked before, you’ll be thrilled to learn that it is easier than ever. It’s easy to find recipes on the internet, but a good, simple cookbook is still the most efficient tool for learning how to cook. You can glean more information in less time; including the ability to skim the index, even if it’s 1,000 recipes, at a glance – No ads, no waiting for pages to load, no splattering ingredients on your phone, or printing pages that you can never find again.
My personal favorite is BH&G cookbook, a simple paperback with simple recipes. This is not the book for trendy meals with radicchio and red curry paste. It’s the book that will be there for you with a tested, easy-to-follow recipe when you want to make something normal that everyone will eat, like chicken soup, meatballs, cookies, or potato salad. By the way, I found it amusing that the only bad reviews for this book were from people who were disappointed that it was a standard paperback, even though the format was clearly stated on the webpage. If they wanted the big-a$$ version with the ring-binder and the coated pages, why didn’t they order it? Seriously, what did they expect for $8?
It Doesn’t have to be Hard: Simplify Menus
I find if my menus get too complicated, it’s not long before I give up completely on any kind of meal planning. The rule of thumb that works best for me is to cook one “recipe” per meal, and fill in the rest as simply as possible.
For example, if I cook marinara sauce, I do not also bake rolls, make homemade salad dressing, bake a cake, etc.. I only need to boil up some spaghetti and put a pan of frozen green beans on the stove.
When my kids were younger, I avoided fussy recipes – They weren’t appreciated, anyway. Kids have simple tastes – Pizza, pasta, chicken – and it’s a smart move to capitalize on that. I keep them happy with their favorites, and they eat their vegetables.
Flexible Planning Keeps you in the Game for the Long Run
Planning meals down to the last detail can end up costing you more, even if you do your best to focus on saving money. Overly-strict planning can cause you to miss money-saving opportunities, like using up something while it’s still fresh, taking advantage of a good buy you’ve just discovered, or working unexpected leftovers into your meal.
Remember that pot of marinara sauce I mentioned in the last section? Once that’s made, and you freeze the rest, it opens up a world of family favorites – Lasagne, meatball subs, baked ziti, and more.
Variety Keeps Budget Meals Interesting
Of course, you don’t want to get stuck in a rut, either. I avoid this with a daily rotation of my main ingredient. My husband works a 6-day rotation, so my cooking rotation looks like this:
This does not mean that I make steak, spaghetti, roast a chicken, etc. every 6 days. It just gives me a direction in which to go, and creates a flow that takes us through a week of great meals.
To illustrate, a little extra chicken opens up the possibility of BBQ chicken pizza or Buffalo chicken pizza the next day. Leftover beef on Day 3 gives me beef barley soup on Day 4. My potluck day makes sure that all leftovers get used while they’re fresh, or gives us a chance to treat ourselves to a meal out, once in a while.
Flexible Shopping will Surprise and Delight You
If you’re buying the same things, at the same store, all the time; there are sure to be weekly opportunities for you to save money! All you need is to be flexible enough to try different products, and expand your range of markets (beyond, um, one).
First, be open to trying different products. Check your store’s weekly flier. The products that are displayed the most prominently on the flier tend to be very low-priced, often to the point where the store is actually selling them at cost or even at a loss. Don’t stop there, though – Go through the flier, looking for great prices on your favorites, too; as well as things you use, but in cheaper brands.
Be Ready to Make the Rounds
Second, be open to shopping around. Now that you’re trying some different products, check out some of the other supermarkets in your area, as well. Start by going through their fliers online. You may be pleasantly surprised.
Finally, if you see something at a fantastic price, stock up! Just be sure you have a game-plan in place for using, as well as storing, your bounty. According to the University of Nebraska,
many staples and canned foods have a relatively long shelf life. However, foods stored for longer than recommended times or beyond date on the package may change quality, color and flavor.”
University of Nebraska
Skip the Convenience Store – It’s not Worth it
Whatever you do, never grab an item at the convenience store – That convenience comes at a high price. Doing this repeatedly can add up to a significant amount of money.
It’s not unusual for grocery items to be priced double or even triple what you would pay, if you had waited and bought them on sale at the supermarket. That’s what makes them so “super!”
Always Shop with a List (no, we can’t simply trust ourselves)
Even if you’re only going into the store for a few things, always write them on a list, first. It helps to avoid costly impulse-buying.
It’s best to write your list at home, before you leave, or even the night before. Then, put it in your wallet, so you don’t forget it. If you want to leave it out, because you’re still adding to it, consider taking a picture of it, in case you do end up forgetting it at the last minute.
What to Do if You Forget your List
My husband has been known to call me and ask me to text him a photo of the list he left on the counter. If there is no one at home to help you out when you’ve forgotten your list, you’ll usually remember as soon as you pull in to the store’s parking lot. Take a moment to rewrite your list, even if all you have for paper is a napkin! You’ll be surprised at how much of it you remember, while you’re still on your own turf.
As odd as it may seem to bother writing a list for a handful of things, there are several good reasons to do so. First, it may be easy to remember the three things you need, while you’re at home; but once you get in the store, it’s easy to get distracted and forget, or accidentally buy something else. Second, a list is like a mini-contract that you make with yourself. You’re less likely to give in to that impulse buy, if your list is there to keep you focused.
Never Shop When You’re Hungry…or Tired!
If you walk into a market with an empty stomach, you’re likely to walk out with a lot more than you bargained for…or can afford!
When you’re hungry, you’ll suddenly find that everything looks good; so more groceries seem to find their way into your cart. Hunger has a way of not only making you buy more things, but also to buy them in greater quantity.
Don’t be Hungering for Attention
Another problem that can sneak up on you when you’re hungry is that it’s harder to stay focused. This may cause you to stay in the store for a longer time, and buy yet more things. Even worse, a hungry shopper may repeatedly forget to pick up things, and need to run back, just when he thought he was almost finished.
I often keep a few cracker packs in the car, in case I need to top off with a snack before entering the store….but food may not be enough to fend off “grehlen,” the hunger hormone. According to Kelly McGonigal Ph.D.,
a lack of sleep will also cause high grehlen levels.
Kelly McGonigal Ph.D.
