Last Updated on January 23, 2024 by Gagan Dias
How to save money on groceries
Buy one of them 10LB bags of chicken leg quarters for around $7 depending on where you live and shop. Make broth, and soup and use it for chicken salad, tacos, enchiladas, chicken and dumplings, just anything that calls for chicken. I also save the bones (yes even if I used them to make broth once already you still can do this with the same bones again) and make bone broth to add to dishes or to just drink on a cold winter’s day.
Tips on how I save money grocery shopping and build a stockpile.
- Look through my pantry, back stock, freezers, and fridge and note any holes.
- Look through the flyers for those items and any necessary items we need that week. If a hole isn’t immediately necessary I add it to my “sales to look out for” when I look at next week’s list. Sales generally run on a 2-3 week rotation on most items.
- I meal plan based on what I have and what’s in the flyer.
- I look for coupons or rebates and price matches.
- I use the store’s point card to collect points that I use towards free groceries.
- Use my store credit card to pay to collect even more points towards free groceries and pay it off when I get home from my grocery account.
Many times I just boil up the whole bag and freeze most of the broth and chicken to just pull out for later meals. I get many meals from just one bag. It does take some time to prep but you can just let it cook while watching TV or cooking your other dinner and then de-boning after it’s cooled only takes a few minutes once you get the hang of it.
Things that make the job easier are a pressure cooker and or crockpot or stock pot but any large pot can work and you can always roast it in the oven. I cook my bone broth in the crockpot overnight for abt 12 hours.
Plan your menu, make a list, and order online and pick up outside to stop impulse buying. Also, eat from your pantry and freezer. You’ll be surprised how much you already have available.
Ordering online and doing delivery or market pick-up stops a lot of impulse buying. Give all coupons a good look or special offers. My market offers discount coupons for doing pick-ups and deliveries and not going inside the markets which are cost-effective for them. There is no extra markup for pick-ups, unlike Instacart deliveries.
Shop the outer aisles and loss leader end caps FIRST. don’t deviate from your list-which was made by shopping your pantry to see what you have that you can start a meal with and what needs to be bought to finish it. don’t deny yourself treats but don’t buy garbage ones. Buy ingredients and make your own. Not always cheaper in the short haul but you get ingredients for way more than 1 box of cookies.
During some hard times, I replied to hamburger meat, and chicken for different recipes. Beans and cornbread, potatoes, Salmon patties with gravy. Homemade beef stew. Cooked greens with deviled eggs. And shop ads! Grow a garden if you have a way of having one.
Don’t store-hop looking for the lowest price cause you’ll just burn up any savings in gas. Shop Walmart and you’ll know you saved.
Check out the stuff in the Quick Sale bins, Usually, nothing wrong with the veggies or meat that is reduced I either freeze it after prep ready to cook, or I cook a dish and freeze it ready for oven No waste, and cannot get any less fresh, also convenient.
I used to always cook far too much, so have reduced portions for us adults who were, dare I say, overeating, especially roasts and evening meals, wrapping veg in vege bin for longer freshness, cooking uneaten fresh fruit, and using for breakfast.
Cook from scratch unless a mix or premade is really cheaper.
Compare prices if you can before shopping so you have a plan of getting things where they are cheapest.
Stock fridge and pantry. Buy on sale to stock and meal plan from what you have. This can be started small if you don’t do it. A little Rubbing alcohol mixed with water makes a disinfectant.
Be careful with DIY laundry soap. It voids warranties and can cause issues with some machines and septic systems.
Try new products that seem to be a better deal for whatever reason, can be just as good. Pretty hard out there at present, not enough price competition amongst things like dishwasher tabs, hygiene cleansers, etc All overpriced.
The biggest savings is catching the sales. Most grocery stores have websites that post weekly sales on meat and produce among other things. You can be bookmarked and a reminder is set up in my planner on the dates to check it. We recently looked up ways to not buy things like paper towels, napkins, food baggies, etc. We have a sewing machine and I’m in the process of making reusable products. When We to the grocery store, We just want to buy groceries, period.
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