One of the biggest household expenses along with mortgage or rent can be the weekly food bill. This bill can include groceries and eating out or you may have a separate entertainment budget.
Whatever your motivation for looking to reduce those expenses, I hope that you will find some useful ideas here.
First step to reducing food expense is to eat out less and prepare meals at home. Yes, that includes your lunch for work!
Consider some of the following tips to help you reduce your overall food expenses and work towards cutting your grocery bill by up to 50%.
Eat at home
Eating out is expensive. Most takeaway options can be recreated at home for a lot less. Make your own pizza; buy a ready-made one from the grocery store and heat at home. Learn how to make a curry, pasta dish or egg fried rice dish.
Yes, you don’t have to do the dishes or food preparation eating out but by staying home you will save. Restaurant costs include staff, bills and waste in their menus, so you are paying a lot more than just the cost of the ingredients.
In addition the temptation to order from the dessert menu and have a few wines or beers with your meal will only drive up the cost of that pizza you went in for. Remember you are supposed to be reducing food expense.
Plan and Organize
Organize your pantry, fridge and freezer so you know what you have already before you go shopping. Organizing your storage will help you use up items close to use by dates or those that have been in the freezer for too long.
Eat before you go to the grocery store. Even a snack will help so you are not tempted to buy junk food or things you don’t really need. Your waistline may thank you for it too.
Write a list and stick to it! Tip: add items to the list before your next shop as you use them up so you don’t forget anything you really need. Menu plan for at least a week and write a list of items you need for those meals, but don’t forget to include snacks. Try to avoid taking children shopping with you and avoid those spontaneous or bribery purchases!
Couple of point to add:
- Let’s view: tips to reduce family living costs
- Work on: building a family budget
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Keep those treat food expenses down. Buy dry staples such as nuts and flour in bulk. Look for a local wholesale group so you can buy at reduced prices from a stockist and share costs by dividing with other group members.
Coupons, Specials & Budget
Not all products have coupons you can cut out and save but most grocery stores have a specials area so check that out next time you go shopping and see how much you can save.
Caution: just because an item is on special does not mean you have to buy it (this applies to non food expenses too). Do you really need 20 tins of chicken soup? Do you have enough storage for the special items? Buying items you don’t really need will affect your budget.
You do have a grocery budget don’t you?
To work out a reasonable budget look at past expenditure for a month and see if there are areas you could save. Set a dollar value per week or per shop if you shop weekly or monthly, you will find what works best for you.
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