Ways to Spend Less on Groceries

The price of groceries has skyrocketed!  As we strive to work on our financial health by spending less, groceries come to mind.  Are there ways to save when we buy food?  I share a few tips and tricks I've learned to reduce the cost at check out.

Transcript

Hello, my name is Tiffany, and welcome to the podcast, Working on Amazing. This is a podcast where we talk about the work that it takes to rebuild an amazing life.

And I use that word rebuild, because we're specifically designed for women who feel like they're starting over in the middle of their life. And a few things could lead you to feel like you're starting over. You could have gone through a divorce.

You could have lost your significant other. Several things can lead you to this point where all your plans for the future have been totally scrapped, and it truly, really does feel like you're kind of starting over again.

If that's you, first, I am truly sorry. I've been there, and I know that doesn't feel good, but welcome. You are in the right place, and I am so glad that you are here today.

All right, let's get down to business. If you'll remember, in the very first episode, I said that I focused on five areas when I wanted to rebuild my life.

I focused on my spiritual health, my mental health, my physical health, my financial health, and I focused on growth and goals. So today's episode is going to fall under the financial health category.

And if you'll remember, when we talked a little bit just about the basics of finance, the overarching goal with money is you need to spend less than you make, right? Because then that gives you money to save or pay down debt.

That gives you a gap, right? That's how you don't live paycheck to paycheck. Spend less than you make.

And there are two ways to do that. You can either spend the less or make more or do a combination of both. So today we're going to focus on spend the less a little bit, okay?

And we're going to talk about your groceries because everybody buys groceries. The cost of groceries has skyrocketed, it feels like, over the last couple of years. I mean, truly, it is just insane.

It feels like when you go to the grocery store, how much things have gone up. And while there are several bills that you pay on a monthly basis that are fixed, you can't negotiate your rent or your mortgage or your water bill or your power bill.

Things like that are just going to be set. If you have a car payment, that's going to be set, right? However, groceries, even though we all buy them, are a squishy category, and you can maybe reduce that and spend less on that.

And since it's this thing that affects all of us, I mean, I've seen so many posts about people talking about how expensive groceries are, I thought we would just take a little time and talk about how to reduce your grocery bill.

It won't eliminate your grocery bill, but some of these tips may work for you and help you bring it down a little bit. Any relief would be helpful at this point, it feels like. Okay?

So tip number one, does it involve money? But you will see a positive reflection in your grocery bill, I believe. And the biggest tip I can give you, my best and biggest tip that I fully recommend, is you need to start meal planning.

Meal planning works for so many reasons.

First of all, if you plan out what you're going to eat, then when you're coming home from work and you're hungry and you're really tempted to go through the drive-thru, you already know, you already have the ingredients, it's been planned out.

Maybe you've even done a little prep work the night before because you knew that was your meal for today. So it helps eliminate that impulse drive-thru, go in and picking something up, which is going to add to your spending, up your spending.

This will help reduce those types of events because you know what you're going to eat. When you don't know what you're going to eat and you're already hungry, you're always going to spend more money on food.

Whether you end up doing something like door dash, you go through a drive-thru, anytime you buy prepared food, anytime it has to be sent to you, you're paying the premium for those services.

So just a simple act of meal planning is going to help eliminate some of that from your budget.

The other thing you can do when you meal plan, you can take the time to say, okay, if I make, let's say, spaghetti on Monday, then I know that for the next two days, I'll probably have leftovers.

So Tuesday and Wednesday, for work, that can be my lunch. You can start planning out, like, which leftovers are good for lunches at work. Because some meals don't lend themselves to leftovers as well as other meals do.

I love chili. When I make chili, I definitely plan that I'm going to have leftovers for lunch because I think chili is really good reheated. Everybody is different, but some meals really lend themselves to leftovers.

So when you meal plan, maybe earlier in the week, pick a meal that's going to have good leftovers that you can take for lunch. That's going to save you money also, right?

Because eating leftovers and eating everything you make obviously will save money. So then those lunches at work is a way to reduce your costs. The other thing as you're meal planning, you can start to really look for cheaper meals.

Start looking for meals that don't cost as much to make. So, you know, if I were going to serve you steak, that would be more expensive than if I had a taco night, right? That's just kind of basic.

So, if you're not really well-versed in what are cheaper meals, are cheaper cuts meat, are cheaper things to do, maybe take the time to go to Google or Pinterest and say, you know, what are some budget-friendly meals?

Lots of different things will pop up. Even if you're health-conscious and you're trying to stick towards a particular plan for your diet and health, they are in all categories. It's not hard.

And a lot of times, one of the things that you'll see done is they add rice or beans as a filler. That helps the meat stretch. You'll see shredded chicken because you end up eating less or using less meat if you shred it and space it out.

Grilled beef is a simple thing to do. And like if you do a burrito skillet meal, you could throw some rice in there and then you stretch that meal out. And once again, it's really lends itself to leftovers.

So as you meal plan, really take the time to think about what are cheaper meals, what meals can you make, and then take for lunch. If you go to work or even if you're at home, what can you eat during the day?

That is really going to help your budget, and it's a simple organizational step, but you will notice the impact month over month on how much less you're spending at the grocery store if you just take the time to plan it out. All right?

So that's tip number one. Tip number two really latches on to the first thing. So if you've planned out the meals you're going to do, then you can make a really easy grocery list from that, right?

You can say, well, I know I need ground beef, I need pasta. You write your list. And then tip two is so simple.

Stick to the list. I know that Caesar said that. And I know that there are people in your household that will go grocery shopping with you and they see things and they want to put it in the cart.

And I understand that. I have shopped with my children. I love them.

But if you really need to stick to a budget, you've got to stick to your list at the grocery store. So you either need to shop without the person who's putting extra things in the cart, or you've got to start saying no. Saying no was hard for me.

I've got to admit that it's not easy. I just didn't want to pick that battle always with my kids. So sometimes I had to start shopping alone.

Either one, but you really need to stick to that list. That list is going to help you. Impulse buys are so easy.

The things on the end caps, oh, look, it's on sale. Oh, look, this side or the other. If you stick to your list, don't let yourself, oh, I need to pick this up.

This looks so cute. No, just stick to your list. You've already decided what you need.

You've already determined what's important. Stick to that list. Another thing that I think is really helpful is you can put your list in an app, like your grocery store app.

Most stores allow this and do a pickup order. Now, sometimes there is a charge for a pickup order. A few stores still do it without a fee.

But even if it costs a small fee for you to put your list in that app and order it and go pick it up at a certain time, you may overall end up spending less money even with that fee included because you don't impulse buy. You know yourself best.

A lot of times, I know almost all of them offer a free, like your first time, pickup order. So if you've never done the pickup order, try it. You will be amazed at how much less you spend.

And it will really clue you in to how many impulse buys you have. I used to think I was pretty good about sticking to my list, but like I said, I would grocery shop with my children.

And when I did my first pickup order and I put everything into it, I was like, whoa, that was a lot less money, but there were no impulse buys. So that is one way to save money. Stick to your list.

I know that sounds intuitive, but it's really, really true. Tip three, buy the store brand. I know there are certain brands that we're super loyal to.

I am from the south, and in the south, people are so loyal to their mayonnaise brands. It's funny, I have to have dukes, I have to have Hellmann's, I have to have Blue Plate. Everybody's really loyal to their mayonnaise brand is kind of funny.

Okay, so you're loyal to a brand. Fine, buy that brand. But when you can buy store brand, do.

Over the course of a grocery order, if you bought all store brands instead of national brands, I estimate you could probably save about $25. That's a decent chunk off your grocery order.

I have heard it said, now I am no expert and don't know, that oftentimes the same product is manufactured in different labels are put on it at the plant. So national brand, store brand, but it's the same product.

I don't believe that's true with everything. And sometimes you might try the store brand and just be like, I don't like it. Okay, but at least you tried it.

At least you're putting forth an effort in trying it. So certain things to me on my list don't matter. I will buy the store brand.

I'll buy whatever's cheaper. You know, I scan the prices on the shelves and I find the cheapest one. If it's store brand, that's definitely what I go with.

There are a few items that I have to. My household has to have duke's mayonnaise. I admit, we're duke's mayonnaise kind of people.

The other thing I realized, I tried the store brand of pickles and I really didn't like them. So if I'm going to get hamburger dill chips for my hamburger and other things, I love pickles.

I really need to go with Mount Olive because that's what I like. So there are a couple of things. Yes, I do buy the name brand.

But where you can buy the store brand, see. Sometimes it's a dollar or 50 cents cheaper. That's the price of a coupon, and you don't even have to coupon, you just pick a different thing.

So really look at the prices on the shelf and see if it's something that doesn't matter. If it's something that's an ingredient that's going into a dish and it's not going to be the dish itself, a lot of times it doesn't matter.

If you're mixing it in something like a casserole or whatever, a lot of times it doesn't matter. Sometimes it does. I respect that.

But if you can buy the store brand, do. The other thing is when stuff is on sale, like you'll go to the meat department and every week, something will be on sale.

Maybe it'll be chicken breast or chicken thighs or ground beef or something, but they'll have a cut of meat that is reduced. When it is on sale, stock up, buy a little bit extra, and freeze it.

And that way, next week, when it's not on sale and you still use chicken breast, you have some in the freezer and can use them, and you bought it at the cheaper price. Sales in stores are very cyclical.

You'll start to notice a pattern if you really tune into it. And there are websites that break it down for you, obviously. But you'll notice once a month, maybe, chicken breast will be on sale, and it'll be in a repeating pattern.

And once you start really looking for that sale, you'll know that if I buy two weeks worth, then that will get me through this two weeks, and then it will be on sale again.

And you'll be able to start judging how much you need to buy to get you to the next sale, because it is very, very cyclical. And things will happen outside that, that will shift the sales pattern.

But most sales, especially for things like me, tend to be, there's a very, very strong pattern to them.

And once you know that, if you know chicken breast are going to go on sale every month, then you buy enough to last, you know, I'm going to use chicken breast twice a week for the next four weeks. That's enough for the freezer.

That way I haven't overcrowded my freezer. And when I run out, it will be on sale again, that kind of thing. And you may not know that right away, but you'll start to see that pattern.

I promise you, once you start tuning in to how stores run their sales, you will start to see a pattern. Okay. And that's another tip.

If you can't do anything else, if you have to run by the grocery store and you've had no prep time for anything, simplest thing of all, grab the sales fryer that's at the front of the store, like where you get your shopping cart and stuff like that.

Grab the sales flyer and just shop the sale. Shop what's on sale. Stores have things on sale in every department, so you should be able to hit all of the highlights, shop the sales, and when you can, like I said before, stock up a little bit.

Like, let's not hoard, let's not go crazy. We don't need an overflowing garage full of extra supplies, but just enough to get you through maybe to the next sale. Enough to get you through the month, right?

Especially if it's a really good sale. Then I like to stock up. So sometimes I buy two items, or I'll buy every now and then three.

It's good to stock up, but let's not hoard. There's a balance, right? But as you start getting and noticing these sales cycles, you'll understand and get a better feel of what will last you through to the next one.

Another tip is maybe we need to re-evaluate what we consider dinner. So I grew up in the South, and most of our meals was a meat in two or three sides. That was a meal for me.

So you would have a piece of chicken, two sides. You always had to have one that was green, and then maybe you'd have mashed potatoes, maybe you'd have bread, maybe you'd have to, you know, a rice and a squash. I don't know.

It was some variation of that. That was our meals at night. That can be expensive.

So maybe let's shift a little bit. Casseroles are a little bit cheaper to make. Breakfast for dinner is fun.

The kids generally really like that. And breakfast is almost always going to be cheaper to make than traditional dinner. Maybe make a frittata for dinner.

Let's start massaging this idea of what we think of our traditional dinner as and find ways that still meet our nutritional goals. We get fed, we have protein, what we need, but maybe it's not that traditional meal. Soup?

I love soup. Thank goodness we're heading into the fall shortly. I mean, I've got another little stretch to go, but when the fall comes, I love soup.

Soup is cheaper to make, and it's a hearty meal. It's a good option. So sometimes we just have to rearrange our thinking just a little bit.

What is a good meal? And what will fulfill my children? I want my children to be well fed, but maybe it doesn't look like what you always thought it looked like.

Sometimes we have to get a little creative when we're trying to save money. So think about it. Like I said, get on Google and Pinterest and Google some ideas.

There's some really creative people out there, and they know. So start looking and thinking maybe outside the box. Another option is shop your pantry.

So there's this idea that some people do, and they say, this week, money is really tight. I won't get paid till the end of the week, and I've got to go through this week before I get paid. I'm at the end of the month.

So what they do is they say, I'm going to not buy groceries this week. I'm going to look in my freezer. I'm going to look in my refrigerator in my pantry and just cook the things I have.

In America, we are very fortunate. We tend to keep a stocked pantry in freezer and refrigerator. You literally most likely could eat and be fine on the food you already have.

We just buy the things we want to buy. We shop every week. We just do that out of habit, and it's just the way we are.

But if you really had to, if you really wanted to spend less money, there is a good possibility that you could just eat what you already have and make meals out of what you already have in your pantry and freezer. So that's one way.

When people do these challenges, like I'm going to spend so much less this week, or I'm going on a no-spend challenge, that would be a way to do it. I don't recommend no-spend for groceries because we do need things, and fresh produce is important.

But sometimes you may say, I've got all the meat I need if I eat what's in the freezer, and I just have to buy a few items. That can significantly reduce your grocery budget. And I would estimate you could probably do that once a quarter.

Once every three months, over the course of three months, you end up buying extra stuff. You end up not eating that meal.

Something came up, plans changed, whatever, and you have extra stuff that you just forget about, and it gets tucked in the freezer or the pantry.

I bet once a quarter, you could probably make close to a week's worth of meals without really having to spend too much money.

I mean, maybe a little bit, like I said, a few pieces of produce, a few filler items, but you could have a drastically reduced grocery budget for that one week. All right. I said, buy in bulk and freeze it.

That's really good. I also think this is what I do sometimes. When you sit down to make something like if I'm going to make chicken pot pie or lasagna, both of these lend themselves well to that.

It kind of makes a lot, and we don't eat that much. My family size is reduced.

So I buy those little aluminum pans, see you get at the grocery store they're disposable, and I freeze it, and then I have an extra meal or two in the freezer, ready to go. So if I do my meal planning for next week, and I'm like, you know what?

I have that chicken pot pie in the freezer. So I write that down for one day of the week, and then the day before, I'll generally go ahead and pull it out of the freezer and stick it in the refrigerator so it'll fall out.

But if you're sitting down to make something like that, and you do have a smaller family, that is a good thing to do. Just go ahead and make the full amount and divide it into a smaller container and freeze it. Right?

I mean, that's super easy, super simple to do, and then you've got a meal waiting for you in the freezer. I really, really, really like that. Okay.

I saved the best for last, I should say. The other way you can save a lot of money on groceries, the most dramatic way I feel like is you can coupon. Now, back in the day, 10, 15 years ago, I was really into couponing.

I had receipts that were longer than I was tall. The news came out and did a story on me in couponing. I taught couponing classes, the whole nine yards.

I went a little crazy with it there for a minute. But I am here to tell you that you can save a lot of money with couponing. So I'm going to break it down for you.

It may or may not be right for you, okay? The way you save big money with couponing is, you match what's on sale at the store that week with the manufacturer's coupon. That's really pretty simple.

And even though it feels like there's a lot of work and research involved into figuring out, is there a coupon for this? What's on sale? Like matching that up.

That's actually the easy part. Because there are websites dedicated to taking the sales flyer and breaking it down and matching it up with current coupons. There are people who will do that for you.

So that part's really easy. So what I would suggest is pick your store. Start with one store first.

Now, there are going to be people out there, they're like, now you got to try CBS. Now you're going to try this. Start with one store.

What store do you grocery shop at? For me, I'm going to use, as an example, Kroger. Kroger is in a lot of areas.

It's a big chain. That's what I use. But you could do this for any store.

Just insert that name instead of Kroger. So the first thing I would tell you to do is make sure you're a member of their Loyalty or Rewards program. Most stores, I believe, have an app.

Download the app because then you can download digital coupons to your account. So like Kroger, you type in your phone number, and that's how it pulls up your account, like when you go to check out, right?

And if you have coupons saved to your account, it will add those coupons if you bought something that matches the coupons that you have in your account. Kroger has tons and tons and tons of coupons digital, okay? So step one, pick a store.

Step two, join their rewards program if you haven't already, and that includes downloading the app so you can have access to digital coupons, all right?

The next thing I want you to do is go to Google and just type in, Kroger sales and coupons this week, something like that, right? The first results that are going to come up are going to be from kroger.com.

They're the sponsored ads, of course, but then you'll see Kroger because it's going to show their sales flyer. You might want to play around and tweak how you type that exact wording in.

But if you scroll down, you'll start to see other websites, things like Hip to Save. There are different couponing websites. So scroll down until you find a website that isn't kroger.com or whatever grocery store you put in.

That is obviously a couponing website. So I did that. I scrolled down.

I went to hip2save.com because they had the Kroger ad for this week broken down for me, and the link was that website, but it was directly to Kroger's ad. Actually, it was last week.

So I scrolled through, and they have deals already set up for you, okay? They break it down so easily. So I'm going to give you an example of what was on sale last week that they suggested.

One of the things they suggested you do, but they break down the entire ad. It's the whole thing, so it's a lot. But here is an example of the way you save with coupons.

So this website said, Kroger has a sale this week on select beauty items. If you spend $15, you will automatically save $5. So that's the store sale.

You spend $15 on select beauty products, you save $5 when you check out. That's simple. So they suggested you buy two very specific and exact products.

They suggested you buy a body wash and a body polish. And they even gave the ounces, the size that you needed to get, because all that's going to be very specific when you coupon. So they said, buy this one and this one.

And then they gave links to coupons for both of those products. So if you buy both of those products, it would put you just over that $15 mark. It was like $15 and change between the two products, because you had to spend $15 to save the $5.

So those two products, retail price, were just over $15. So if you checked out with those two, it was going to cost you about $10. But they gave you links to coupons for both of those.

One product, the body wash, had a $4 off coupon, and the body polish had a $3 off coupon. So that's $7, right? So you save $5 from the store and $7 from the manufacturer on these two products.

So instead of paying $15 and change, you save the $5, you save the $7, now we're down to $3 and change for two products. That puts them, you know, $1.50 something a piece, okay? That is a significant savings.

Now, you may not need body polish this week, or body wash, or whatever, but that gives you an idea of the way they break it down. They say, this is what's on sale. This is a coupon, and they give you the link to those coupons.

You click it, it takes you to the site where either it tells you it's a digital download or where you can print it. So that is really helpful. The thing about couponing is it just takes extra work, extra planning.

And like I said, you've got to be really exact because those coupons will tell you the exact size that the product needs to be. This is only for sometimes a very specific size and type of product. So it takes some work in being very exact.

Sometimes things are on great sale, but you don't need them. Like you may not need body polish, and it's great that it's on sale, but that might be something you don't need. So I did go really crazy with coupons for a little while.

I backed away from it because I realized I was buying things I didn't need. I was purchasing things because they were such a good deal or sometimes even free. And I ended up giving it away if we didn't use it.

So I felt like I was trying to be whatever. But just go in and buy in things. And then there was a culture in couponing of people hoarding things.

And I just ended up not liking that. But if you buy what you need and what's good for your family, I think it's helpful. You almost always can find toothpaste for free.

Like that's one of those sayings that the store will always put a brand of toothpaste on sale. And the manufacturer almost always has different coupons out for toothpaste.

And so when toothpaste is on sale, if you get two tubes and put one in the pantry, I think that's okay. I just don't think you should buy 50 tubes of it. Does that make sense?

I mean, just moderation, people. But it's nice because then when you run out of toothpaste, instead of going and buying it at regular price, you have the free one that you stocked in your pantry. That's good.

And then the next sale cycle will come along, and you'll be able to do that again, and you'll keep toothpaste for free. That's one that might make you happy.

And there is a little bit of a rush when they start scanning your coupons, or you know you've got coupons and you realize you got the toothpaste for free. That's like, woohoo. I always kind of like that.

There are some really, really, really good deals with coupons. It's just one of those things that you got to have a little balance on. I, to this day, will, I always meal plan.

I always look at the sales, and I always at least have one coupon every time I go to the store. That, those are the things I always shop from a list. I meal plan.

I make my list. Always. I look at what's on sale, and I always still to this day use a few coupons.

I don't coupon like I used to. I don't go crazy with it, but I still to this day will at least look at the app and put some coupons in my cart for what I know is on my grocery list.

So those are some things that I do to save money when I go to the grocery store. What do you do? What tips and tricks could you share of how you save money on groceries?

Look me up. I'm on Facebook, Working on Amazing. Come and join me.

Talk. Let's get a conversation going. Join a group of other women who are going through the same thing you are, and let's share our ideas.

I bet you have some really cool things that I haven't even thought of yet. So I would love to hear from you. Come find me.

That would really make me happy. I appreciate you joining me today. Thank you for being here, and I look forward to talking to you next time.

Bye.