How to Save Money on Groceries Without Following a Budget
So here’s the deal. I am always looking for ways to save while grocery shopping. Pretty much everyone I know that is budget conscious about groceries has a specified budget every week or month. I’ve tried that, and it’s just not for me, and it’s not for everyone! But you can still save money without it, and this is how I do it!
Find Space
First thing’s first, find some space in your house for storage of shelf stable goods, and another for frozen food. We went out & bought a small chest freezer, & use all of our laundry room cupboards for food storage. We live in a small home & don’t have a glamorous walk in pantry or even a garage to store things in, but we make it work! Our one small pantry space is these shelves that we use as smart as we can! It’s stocked with canned goods, snacks, & bulk items. I love these canisters for the items I buy in bulk. They’re slim & stackable, and not a zillion dollars like some can be. It took me forever to bite the bullet and buy them, but they are SO worth it and will help me & my sanity for years to come.
Stock Up
The basis of what I do is stock up on food when it’s on sale, especially meat products, and meal plan for a week or two at a time based off of what meat you have. That’s it. No couponing required, no calculating your bill as you shop in the store, no putting something back because it didn’t fit into your allotted budget, and no buying overpriced food!
First, when you’re at the store, always take a stroll by the meat section. Look for bright yellow stickers or sales on meat that your family eats. For us, that’s chicken breasts, legs, thighs, quarters, bacon, breakfast sausage, ground beef, tri tip, ribs, and pork roasts. But it’s different for everyone! Start paying attention to what certain cuts of meat cost normally, so you can tell when it’s a deal & when to skip it. Feel free to make a note on your phone so you can easily reference it. If you see a sale or something that’s less than usual, grab a few packs of it! Even if you won’t eat any of it this week, you can eat it next week or a month from now! When you get home, separate it into what your family will eat in a meal(for us that’s two chicken breasts, half rack of ribs, etc.). Then put it into labeled freezer bags or vacuum sealed bags & toss it in the freezer. Make sure to add the date & how much of whatever is in it.
To keep track of what’s in your freezer, get a small white board or start a list next to your freezer to keep inventory of what’s inside. The catch to this system working, is that you have to remember to mark off that you took a pound of bacon out, so next week when you go to get some out for breakfast, you know that you actually have it. But if you can get into that habit, it works great!
Another thing I watch at the store, is sales on dried or canned goods that are shelf stable for a long time. These are things that your family regularly eats & will rotate through. Things like all canned items, mayo, dried pasta, rice, flour, pancake mix, spices, etc. When I see these things on sale, I always grab a few! I watch the Costco ads and stock up on things like mayo, ranch, & spices. Costco isn’t always the best price on many things, but when things are on sale, they usually are. I just buy enough to last us a few months until that item is on sale again! Bring these things home & add them to your food storage.
Meal Planning
Now the fun part! I live 30 minutes from the nearest grocery store & I am pregnant, with a toddler, so I only do grocery shopping every other week. We’re a family of 3, so I can get away with that. But if you have a larger family, or a smaller car, every week is probably more manageable for you. I find that the less often I’m at the store, the less I spend on random things that we don’t actually need.
I meal plan for two weeks at a time. I sit down and look at my freezer inventory & see what meat I have. Then I plan meals around that! I usually have quite a few choices, so it doesn’t feel restricting to what I can choose. Since meat is usually the most expensive part of a meal, this makes it so you are saving money with every dinner you make! I also only meal plan for dinners. Breakfasts are usually pretty simple & I always have something I can make up, from german pancakes, to french toast, to crepes or breakfast burritos. I don’t plan them and just decide in the morning or the night before. And for lunches, I love leftovers, or a good sandwich or quesadilla, so I don’t plan these ahead of time unless I’m really craving something that my husband doesn’t like, so I make it for my lunch instead of a family dinner.
I write down my dinners on a cute note pad that’s magnetic and lives on my fridge like these ones! I also find cute ones at Marshalls/TJ Maxx regularly! As I add a dinner, I check my pantry/food storage for ingredients, then open my Notes app on my phone, and add what I don’t have to my grocery list. I have it broken down into grocery departments like Produce, Ethnic, Dairy, Condiments, Baking, etc, so it’s easy to go down it in the store and not be running back and forth. On iPhones, there’s an option to make a checklist that you can mark things off as you go. This is super helpful in the store, so you can see what you still need to grab.
Grocery Shopping
I do my grocery shopping and get what’s on my list, as well as anything we use that’s on sale. Sometimes I’m buying a ton of meat & canned goods, and other weeks I’m not buying any. This is why a set budget doesn’t work well for me. My grocery bills are all over the place, but overall, I’m saving money & I feel good about it.
Use Apps
This part is optional, but adds up! There are some awesome apps for saving money that don’t take you more than a few minutes to use!
My personal favorite is iBotta! You choose a store on the app, and scroll though all sorts of items you can earn cash back on. I love that it’s not a point based system, and is actual money you can directly deposit into your bank account. You select the items that you want the cash back on before you go to the store, then you scan your receipt into the app and it gives you your cash back! As of right now, I have earned almost $400 and recently cashed some of it out to buy myself a new, cute diaper bag! Use this money to treat yourself to a new pair of shoes, for Christmas presents, or add to your kids’ savings account. Whatever you want! It’s free money, so take advantage and use it on things you are going to buy anyway!
Two other apps I suggest looking into are:
Fetch - Get points on every single receipt you scan! (use referral code D6JX9 for 2,000 free points when you scan your first receipt). This one is super simple and doesn’t require anything besides scanning your receipt.
Box Tops for Education - This one isn’t to benefit you, but I promise it’s super easy & helps your kids & community! Remember back in the day when we would cut off the Box Tops from packages, save them up in a ziplock bag, and then bring them to our teacher at some point in the year to help earn money for our school? Well, it’s WAY easier now! Download the app & sign up, then select the school & grade level that you’d like to support. Just like the rewards apps, you just scan your receipt & it adds up the Box Tops from what you purchase. It automatically gets sent to the school of your choice!
I know that was kind of a lot, but once you get into the routine, it makes your life simpler & your wallet happier! It does take a bit of time to build up that stock of food storage at home, but start small and just grab a few things here & there & it will add up quickly! Please let me know if this was helpful to you or if you have any questions about how I do something! I’d love to hear your feedback!
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