I love being able to save money so that my family can purchase luxury items or vacations without accruing any debt. The easiest way to save money is on things you buy every single day. I have learned how to save the most money on our grocery bill. I have been able to lower my grocery bill by 75%, that includes feeding two adults, one toddler, and two dogs as well as cleaning products and toiletries.
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I could easily spend over $200 on our grocery bill every single week. That is normally how much the register says I owe before all of the sales, coupons, and extra ways that I save. I usually leave the store spending less than $50 every week.
I don’t spend hours a week clipping coupons or searching through various sales ads or going to countless stores getting the best deal. Time is just as valuable to me as money so I don’t want to waste any of it.
These are the five things I do every week to make sure I save as much as possible. It probably takes me a total of 1 hour a week and you can use these tips to lower your grocery bill by a significant amount.
Coupons
I am not an extreme couponer, I only buy what my family needs and will actually use. I get a subscription to the Sunday paper which is only $1 a week and I print out any coupons I may need. My favorite printable coupon sites are: Coupons.com and RedPlum.com
I don’t clip my coupons until I actually need them. My advice is to pick the grocery store that you frequent the most and look for blogs that do weekly coupon matchups for that store.
I shop Harris Teeter the most so I always check the weekly coupon match ups at The Harris Teeter Deals. Some good sites for other stores are Southern Savers and Krazy Coupon Lady.
I check out the coupon matchups the night before I go shopping. They tell you exactly what coupon to use and which insert you can find it in so it doesn’t take a lot of time to get all of your coupons together.
Make sure you also check to see if your store offers any online coupons that you can link to your store loyalty card. Harris Teeter does this so I could use a regular coupon and a coupon linked to my card on the same item to double my savings!
I also shop at Harris Teeter because they do double coupons every day. See if your local store offers this or some may offer it on certain days of the week. This really helps increase my savings even more!
I love stocking up on items that I use all the time. This way when I need something, I don’t have to run out and pay full price for it, I already have it on hand. It can be difficult to know what a good stock up price is so I put together a free printable for you.
You can download it or print it out, whatever is more convenient for you. Then you will know when to stock up and when it just isn’t that good of a deal. This is really what saves me the most money.
Shopping Apps
You know to use coupons whenever you can but make sure you also use shopping apps to save even more. My favorite apps are:
I use these every single week and they even offer discounts on fresh produce, milk, bread, and eggs. Things that you normally don’t have coupons for.
I did a full post on these money saving apps so that you can read more about each one and how to use them. They are very easy to use!
Meal Planning
I know that some people are overwhelmed by meal planning but it really doesn’t have to be that difficult. I simply look in my freezer and my pantry to see what we have on hand as well as seeing what is on sale that week.
I really like using Pinterest to get new meal plan ideas so we aren’t eating the same things over and over again.
Not only does this save me money because we aren’t eating out as much but it saves me time and stress because I’m not scrambling for something to cook every night.
I sit down one day a week and just write out the menu for that week. You can do this every 2 weeks or even once a month but once a week is what works for me.
If you would like help with your meal planning, I highly recommend $5 Meal Plan. They send you the recipes and shopping lists that you will need for that week. Most of the meals are under $2 per serving! You can even get a free 2 week trial to see if it will help you.
Shop in Season
One great way I save on produce is by shopping what is in season. I like stocking up on strawberries (we eat a lot of them) during the summer when they are at their lowest price, around $1.50/pint, and freezing them for us to eat later.
I don’t freeze everything, just what we eat the most of. If something is not in season, I will typically by it frozen. A frozen bag of fruit or vegetables is usually a lot cheaper than the fresh produce.
You still get all of the nutrients because they are frozen only hours, sometimes sooner, after they are picked.
Do It Yourself
It is usually more expensive per ounce to buy cheese that is already shredded or fruit that is already chopped.
One great way to save money is by buying a whole block of cheese and just grating or shredding it yourself. The same goes for buying a bag of shredded lettuce, just buy the whole head of lettuce and shred it yourself.
Doing things like this yourself, really adds up and it doesn’t take that long to do. You are paying for the convenience.
You can use all or some of these tips to lower your grocery bill. Don’t forget to sign up to get your free price point printable!
