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Everyone nowadays is looking for ways to save money. We have already listed
great ideas on how to save money online and
simple ideas to save money. This section of
Financial Health will offer you a variety of ideas for saving money at the
grocery store. One of the keys to saving money is to realize the difference
between our wants and our needs. Buying off brands and using coupons is a good
start but just the tip of the iceberg. Not all these ideas may work for everyone
but by following just a few of the ideas you can start saving money today.
- Start a garden. Even if you live in an apartment you
can start a small garden and grow herbs, fruits and vegetables. Many plants
can be grown right on your windowsill. Not only will you have fresh herbs
and vegetables you can save a bundle at the produce department. Learn to
freeze or can and you enjoy your produce year round. Be sure and read our
section on growing a vegetable garden.
- Cut back on the convenience foods – fast foods, microwave meals,
and so on. Instead of eating fast food or just nuking some
prepackaged food when you get home, try making some simple and healthy
replacements that you can take with you. An hour’s worth of preparation one
weekend can give you a ton of cheap and handy meals that will end up saving
you a lot of cash and not eat into your time when you’re busy.
- Make a quadruple batch of a casserole. Casseroles are
nice, easy dishes to prepare, but on busy nights, it’s often still easier to
just order some take-out or eat out or just plop a prepackaged meal in the
oven. Instead, the next time you make a casserole, make four
batches of it and put the other three in the freezer. Then, the next time
you need a quick meal for the family, grab one of those batches and just
heat it up – easy as can be. Even better, doing this allows you to buy the
ingredients in bulk, making each casserole cheaper than it would be
ordinarily – and far, far cheaper than eating out or trying a prepackaged
meal.
- Plan your meals around your grocery store’s flyer.
Instead of just planning your meals based on a cookbook or whatever you can
dream up, plan all your meals around what’s on sale in your grocery store’s
flyer. Look at the biggest sales, then plan meals based on those ingredients
and what you have on hand, and you’ll find yourself with a much smaller food
bill than you’re used to.
- Make a list and stick to it.
Most of the impulse buys we make we really don't need. Make a list at home
and try to keep to a budget on the list. Only buy items on the list and when
it is time to check out, pay with cash. It will force you to stay on budget!
- Do a price comparison – and find a cheaper grocery store.
Most of us get in a routine of shopping at the same grocery store, even
though quite often it’s not the one that offers the best deals on our most
common purchases.
- Don’t fear leftovers – instead, jazz them up. Many
people dread eating leftovers – they’re just inferior rehashes of regular
meals, not exactly enjoyable to the discerning palate. However, there’s
nothing cheaper than eating leftovers and with a few great techniques for
making leftovers tasty, you can often end up with something surprising
and quite delicious on the other end. My favorite technique? Chaining
– using the leftovers as a basis for an all-new dish.
- Invest in a deep freezer. A deep freezer, after the
initial investment, is a great bargain. You can use it to store all sorts of
bulk foods, which enables you to pay less per pound of it at the market.
Even better, you can store lots of meals prepared in advance, enabling you
to just go home and pop something homemade (and cheap) in the oven.
- Eat less meat. For the nutritional value, meat is very
expensive, especially as compared to vegetables and fruits. Simply change
around your regular meal proportions to include more fruits and vegetables
and less meats – eat a smaller steak and a bigger helping of green beans,
for example. Not only is this a healthier way to eat (saving on health
costs), it’s also less expensive.
- Buy staples in bulk. We buy items we use a lot of in
bulk, particularly items that don’t perish – trash bags, laundry detergent,
diapers, and so on are purchased in the largest amounts possible. This cuts
down on their cost per usage by quite a bit and, over the long haul, begins
to add up to some serious money. Even better, we don’t have to shop for
these items very often, saving time and a fraction of the cost of a trip to
the grocery store.
Grocery coupons can be a great way to save money. We have
devoted an entire article on how to use and double up on coupons to save
hundreds and possible even thousands of dollars a year. Our
Coupon Guru article with give you all the tricks of the trade to save using
coupons.
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