Remember my friend Ashley Ekpo, who feeds her family great food every month for less than $100 per person? After our interview about how to save money on groceries, I was really excited to give her strategies a try! I discussed her suggestions with my family, and we set some goals to see how much we could save on groceries in May.
My first impulse was to go as cheap as possible. Rice and beans for dinner! Only water to drink! No dessert! I’m sure we would have saved a lot more that way, but drastic changes get old really fast. We all would have burned out a week into the challenge.
I quickly realized that if we were going to change our spending for a month and beyond, our approach had be more sustainable. I switched my focus to things like planning inexpensive meals and buying cheaper versions of things we already loved.
Those kinds of little changes made a big difference. We saved a whopping $400 on groceries last month! We actually fed our family for a whole month for $100 per person!
And the most amazing part is that, like Ashley’s family, we didn’t feel deprived. We still ate plenty of delicious food–we just didn’t spend nearly as much money on it.
Here are the strategies that made such a big difference for our grocery bill.
How to Save Money on Groceries
1) Shop at Aldi
I’d heard people sing Aldi’s praises in the past, but I never realized how much we could save there. In May, I got serious about comparing Aldi prices to what we spent at our usual grocery store. Some of the cost differences were minimal, but most were impressive.
I discovered that we could save about fifty cents on milk, a dollar or two on cereal, and more than two dollars on bagels. Those savings really added up, and most items we bought at Aldi were just as good as the brands we were used to.
Coincidentally, our closest Aldi is right next door to Walmart. One day, I decided to compare their prices for basics like milk, Greek yogurt, canned beans, and raisin bran. Aldi prices were always lower–sometimes by a few pennies, other times by a lot more.
If you decide to give Aldi a try, I have a couple tips for you.
- Bring a quarter. You’ll need to put it in a slot in your grocery cart to detach it from the other carts. Don’t worry–you’ll get your quarter back when put your cart away later.
- Bring your own bags. One way Aldi keeps costs down is by hiring minimal staff and not supplying grocery bags. Expect to bag your own items at a nearby counter after you’ve paid for them.
Don’t have an Aldi nearby? Compare the prices at other grocery stores in your area. Bring a notepad, or take pictures of prices with your phone so you can compare them at other stores. You may be surprised at the cost differences!
2) Plan Inexpensive Meals
I knew going into this challenge that if we wanted to save money, I would have to plan our meals wisely. That proved to be much easier than I expected.
At first, I worried I’d run out of thrifty dinner ideas in the first week. To my surprise, I easily came up with over two dozen budget-friendly meals to cook last month. We ate things like Brown Butter Gnocchi and Italian Orzo Chicken Soup, and we tried some new dishes like baked tacos from Budget Bytes.
Serving a variety of meals kept dinner interesting, and planning weekly menus allowed me to buy exactly what we needed.
3) Use Less Meat
My approach to meat is similar to Thomas Jefferson’s. He viewed meat “as a condiment for the vegetables,” and his granddaughter recalled that he used meat “as a seasoning.” I believe meat is good for us in moderation, and you only need a little bit to make most dishes more satisfying.
With that philosophy in mind, and since meat can be really expensive, I avoided meals where meat played a staring role. I focused instead on recipes where a little meat went a long way.
For example, I found that half a pound of sausage is more than enough to round out Instant Pot Potato Soup. Halving the amount of sausage trimmed two dollars off the cost of the meal, and no one noticed a difference.
I also used minimal meat in skillet meals and pasta dishes. There are so many flavors and textures going on in those recipes that I only need half a pound of chicken or beef to make the dish heartier (and satisfy my meat-loving husband).
4) Buy in Bulk (When It Makes Sense)
It’s no secret that buying in bulk tends to be cheaper in the long run. The trick is to only buy as much as you’ll actually use. I couldn’t resist Aldi’s super-cheap one-pound bags of Roma tomatoes, but I had to get pretty creative to use up the last two or three before they went bad.
Does the “buy in bulk” rule mean you should run out and get a Costco membership? Maybe. I compared prices at Costco and Aldi, and found they were pretty comparable, pound for pound. For now, I’m sticking with Aldi for a few reasons:
- I don’t have storage space for lots of Costco-sized boxes of food
- I don’t want to pay for the membership
- Aldi is closer to our home
- We’d rather pick out our own flavors of Greek yogurt 🙂
That said, do what works for you. If you already have a wholesale store membership, or if that store is closer to you than Aldi, it might be a better choice for you.
5) Use What You Have
Unused food can be a serious drain on your grocery budget. Even with careful planning, I still often find myself with some produce that’s about to spoil, or leftovers that no one wants to eat.
It would be easy to just throw them out, and sometimes that’s the only choice that makes sense. I don’t like to waste food (or money) though, so I try hard to use things instead of tossing them.
Aging vegetables still make great additions to a stir fry or salad. Lackluster leftovers can usually be improved when I eat them for lunch the next day. Got lots of fruit that’s almost past its prime? Make fruit salad!
You can also save money by checking your pantry for things you bought then forgot. Chances are, there are a few cans or boxes that are still good and just waiting to be eaten. Why buy new food when you haven’t used up your old food yet?
6) Be Creative!
Got something on your grocery wish list that doesn’t seem to fit your budget? There may be a way to include it, if you’re willing to think outside the box (or bottle).
Before we started our cheap grocery challenge, our family was spending a whopping $100 on juice each month! It was the expense we were most determined to cut. It was also the only thing we really missed when we quit buying it.
Have you ever heard a wine-loving foodie insist that a meal pairs better with red wine than white? That’s me with orange juice. Some dinners taste fine with milk or water. Others simply cry out for something more tangy and vibrant.
Laugh if you like, but I was a sad girl without my OJ.
I was determined to find a way to work orange juice into our cheap grocery challenge, but how?. Then one day it hit me: Aldi sells frozen cans of OJ concentrate for a third what we’d pay for a bottle of juice.
We tried mixing up one of those cheap little cans, and the result was really good! Problem solved! Now we buy two or three cans a week, and we can easily get our OJ fix when dinner calls for “something orange.”
What About Next Month?
Are we going to extend our Cheap Grocery Challenge into another month? You’d better believe it!
I want to expand our repertoire of inexpensive meals, and I want to see how our costs match up to last month. We’ve learned a few tricks, but we’re also starting the month with an emptier pantry (since we polished off some neglected snacks, cereals, etc.).
Tune in next month to find out how we do!
And if you have any money-saving tips, I’d love to hear about them in the comments. 🙂
