Some days, I find it funny where my blog posts come from. I had a friend ask me how much I spend on groceries for a family that is similar in size to my own family. Then she asked me how I do it. When I got done typing up how I did it, I realized I had just written as much as I did when I write for this blog! Crazy!

This is how I save a significant amount of money on my groceries. I could be missing a few things I do. If I do miss something, I will let you all know! I will let you all know now, that I spend about $350 a month for groceries.

Whenever I can get near an Aldi’s (or a similar type grocery store),  I shop there. I can spend $66 easily there and have a cart full. It would equal about $90-$100 at Hy-Vee. The no-frills grocery stores are a little more work for the consumer, but they are really worth. As always though, watch the ingredients of the stuff you are buying. No need for the junk preservatives.

 I also shop the loss leaders which are the front pages of the grocery ads such as Hy-Vee and Fareway. When they have really good deals, I buy a lot and I keep it in my pantry for a time I might use it. An example would be during the holidays, I bought flour for 99 cents for a 5 lb. package. I think the limit was 2 per shopping trip. I did that twice and put all four in a 5 gallon bucket with a tight lid. Flour stays good and I saved a lot of money. You can also store the flour in your freezer, just be sure to have it in a freezer bag or wrapped well with foil.

I buy my meat from a meat locker. I will buy a half beef and/or a half pig. You save a lot of money this way and avoid the inflation from the grocery store. They will also package the meat the way you want it. I also use ground turkey from the frozen section of the grocery store instead of ground beef for a lot of dishes. That will save me $1.50-$2.00 a pound on ground beef. I buy boneless, skinless chicken breasts when they are $1.49-$1.79 a pound. I will buy 20-30 pounds at a time, take it home, and package it myself using good-quality (Hefty, Ziplock) freezer bags or the Food Saver. This will save you $1.00-$1.50 a pound. I will also buy chicken thighs when they are 88 cents a pound. A package of 8 will feed my family very well.

We also eat some meatless meals like spaghetti and manicotti to save on meat costs. Meat is one of the most expensive grocery costs a person has. You can substitute beans instead of meat also just as a filling meal with even less cost. Black beans, for example, are excellent in tacos.

All of our baked goods are made by us: bread, granola, granola bars, cookies, brownies, etc. We eat a fair amount of pasta, soups, and casseroles. We also garden and I can some of our food to keep our costs down too. I make all my own jellies and jams. I eat a lot of leftovers for work instead of eating out or eating the frozen meals from the store.

Probably the most important thing I do to save is watch the sales, I use some coupons (not a whole lot for groceries), use cheaper grocery stores like Aldi’s, and keep a well stocked pantry. The pantry will not happen overnight, but over time. Something that might also help you is to keep a price book with the costs of different items from different stores. Then you can see who is cheapest for that item and decide what you are willing to spend.

I do shop at our local food cooperative too. I have found that I can get a lot of quality ingredients for the same cost as the store. I also buy a lot of my bulk ingredients there because they can also be cheaper.

Hope this helps! Have a great day! Thanks for reading!

Sharing is caring!