10 Ways To Save On Your Grocery Bill

Here are some tried and true ways to save on your monthly grocery bill: 

1.                   Everyday Cooking Oil – grab an empty Snapple bottle and fill it half way up with olive oil and then the remaining way with canola oil for a less expensive healthy alternative to full on olive oil.

2.                  Make Your Own – make as much as you can yourself for healthier and less expensive options.  Salad dressings, tarter sauce, bread crumbs, croutons, soup stock, cookies, breads and rolls, cakes and pies, etc.

3.                  Buy Produce In Season – you won’t catch me paying $2.98 a pound for a nectarine in winter.  Can fruit and freeze vegetables in the fall to enjoy year round.  Buy fresh produce as it comes in season.  Buy canned, dried or frozen fruits and vegetables when they are not in season to save money.

4.                  Go Meatless - serve at least one meatless meal per week.  Eggs, legumes, tofu, etc.

5.                  Legumes - use dried beans in place of canned for added savings.  Split peas, lentils, pinto, kidney, black or navy beans are loaded with fiber and protein.

6.                  Eat Soup – for $6.99 Olive Garden will feed you all the soup, salad and breadsticks you can eat.  For $6.99 you could probably make soup, a salad and some homemade breadsticks for your entire family and still have a little money left.

7.                 Homemade Bread – stop buying bread at the store make your own bread from scratch.  It is far better tasting and so much less expensive than store bought bread.  You can make different varieties to enjoy so you are never bored.

8.                  Buy In Bulk – more like buy in the bulk foods section.  Spices, nuts and dried fruits are so much less expensive than in the baking goods aisle.  If you aren’t sure you will like something you can purchase just a taste to try it first, which is always nice.  Not everything is a better value but I find that most things really are.

9.                  Buy Markdowns & Clearance Items – I buy a lot of my meat from the markdown bin and quite a bit of dairy too, particularly yogurt, sour cream and cottage cheese.  Add a coupon to it and save even more.  Freeze meats as soon as you get home unless you plan to use them right away.  Save your receipt just in case though.  It seldom happens that these items are already spoiled but it is better to be safe than sorry.

10.             Don’t Over Shop – One thing that is easy to do is buy more than what you can use before it spoils, especially with produce.  If this is a problem for you try scaling back a little bit on the amount of what you normally purchase.