How to Save Money on Groceries

It seems like things are only getting more and more expensive, and as homemakers we can really feel the pressure to cut costs wherever we can. In this post I am sharing my best tips for how to save money on groceries without sacrificing your family’s health.

With the rising costs of groceries, it can be hard to know where to even begin when it comes to stretching the budget.

There are so many flashy ways that promise savings like couponing, rebate apps and store loyalty cards. But there are some tried and true ways that don’t depend on doing any of those things that can really help you save money.

In this post we are learning how to save money on groceries by going back to the basics and simplifying our grocery shopping habits by learning what really works, how to run our kitchens efficiently and doing it joyfully along the way!

First things first…

Grocery budgets can be a touchy subject for many reasons. As homemakers we all want to do what is best for our families, and in the age of information we live in it’s not hard to know what best is (until what is best changes in a few weeks, that is).

There’s a lot of fear-mongering these days about what is a healthy diet and what isn’t. As a mama and wife who wants to do her best to feed her family wholesome, nutritious foods I can agree that a healthy diet is important, but we must guard our hearts against propping up idols when it comes to the food we are feeding them.

Many (if not all) of the homemakers I know personally don’t have endless money to spend on the highest quality foods out there. There’s so much talk about purchasing meat straight from the farm, avoiding conventional produce, buying raw milk and so on… yet many of us don’t have budgets that are able to support those choices.

This was a difficult one for me. When the economy was better many years ago, we were able to do a lot of these things. But, as the cost of things has continued to rise we had to reevaluate. I had to let go of purchasing meat in bulk, raw milk from a herd share and many other things.. and it really stressed me out knowing I wasn’t giving my family the best.

But the Lord convicted me over that pretty quickly, and reminded me that He is the one who holds the future, not me. I can’t guarantee our health by eating all the “right” foods any more than I can guarantee sickness by eating the “wrong” ones.

Not only that, but the toll on our bodies from constant stress and worry is far worse than any “bad” food we could ever consume. And the truth is, worry is a sin.

Our Lord tells us over and over in scripture about how we should not worry, but trust in Him instead.

“do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
‭‭Philippians‬ ‭4‬:‭6‬-‭7‬ ‭

“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6‬:‭34‬

“So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?””
‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭13‬:‭6‬ ‭

How to Save Money on Groceries

From the way we shop to the items we buy, there are a lot of ways to decrease our grocery budget. Let’s talk about them!

How to Save Money on Grocery Shopping

In-Store or Pick Up

When deciding how best to stretch your grocery budget you might decide you are someone who prefers to shop in-store, or maybe you prefer to do a grocery pick up or delivery.

Benefits to shopping in-store mean you can catch sales or discounted items that you wouldn’t have been able to snag using pick up. While using a service like grocery pick up or delivery that keeps you from going inside the store saves you from impulse purchases and gives you a better idea of your total since you can see it before you check out on the app.

If you are someone who doesn’t struggle with impulse buys and likes to take advantage of markdown sales, by all means! But if you are reading this, chances are your budget could use all the help it can get. I recommend doing some sort of pick up method or delivery (be careful with this as apps like Instacart have super high fees and mark up the items) in order to see what you are spending before you hit checkout and avoid unnecessary purchases.

If you are choosing to shop in the store, you can save a lot of money by sticking to the outer aisles. This is because most of the whole food items will be found around the perimeter in sections like produce, meat, frozen and dairy.

Shopping the outer aisles

Majority of the inner aisles are filled with heavily processed foods that won’t stretch your grocery budget and aren’t the best for our health either. Things like chips, candy, soda, pre-made breads and all of the other shelf-stable items are high cost and low in how much they actually fill us up.

Shopping at multiple different stores

I know as busy mamas this probably isn’t what we would consider helpful when it comes to grocery shopping, but the truth is you can save a lot by knowing which stores offer the best prices on different things.

We have a local grocery store that isn’t considered budget friendly by any means. Many of the items are much more expensive than the stores I buy the bulk of our groceries from. But every week I check their store ad for the current sales on produce and meat. They also offer rewards for spending a certain amount in different categories.

I can count on them to put boneless skinless chicken breasts on sale for $1.99 per pound and cuts like Boston Butt for $0.99 per pound about once a month and I always make sure to stock up when they do. I’ve gotten many other great meat and produce there, but usually stick to just those items to keep from blowing the budget on the other items that I can get cheaper elsewhere.

Buying in bulk

Another option to consider when it comes to how to save money on groceries is buying certain items in bulk. Dry pantry goods like rice, oats, beans, sugar, flour and so on store for a long time, and you can often get a cheaper price when buying a large amount at once.

My favorite place to shop for high quality bulk items is Azure Standard. I buy many of my pantry staples there and love supporting their family run business.

Another option for bulk buying are stores like Costco and Sam’s Club. Sam’s Club is owned by Walmart so they also offer pick up and delivery options, keeping you from those impulse buys while getting all of your bulk savings!

How to budget for your shopping trip

There are some different strategies you can take to help you stick to your grocery budget. Here are a few suggestions…

• Stick to store pick up options so you can monitor your total as you add items
• Carry cash only when shopping in store
• Have a separate bank account for your grocery budget
• Give yourself a time limit when shopping in store to keep yourself from wandering the aisles

To meal plan or not to meal plan?

There are two camps most people fall into when it comes to how they go about getting meals on the table. Some people like to plan their meals out ahead of time, shop for the ingredients and then stick to that list of meals for the week. Others (like myself) prefer to buy the same staple ingredients every time and reverse engineer meals based on what they have on hand.

I recommend trying both and seeing which method helps you to waste as little as possible and decreases the overwhelm of preparing meals for your family.

Cheapest place to buy groceries

As we talked about in the section above, not all stores are created equally. Some are a good place to get most of your items, some offer really great savings on some things but are then overpriced on others. It just takes some observing of pricing and paying close attention to see where the best place to spend your money is.

Discount Grocery Stores

Some stores sell discount grocery items that are still in date but that the big box stores are trying to liquidate before taking a loss. These discount stores are able to sell their items for a fraction of the cost and offer really great savings for the shopper.

I don’t have one of these local to me, but a friend of mine does and she is always telling me about the amazing deals she is able to find. You can check out this map to see if there are any discount grocery stores near you.

Shopping at Aldi

If you have an Aldi near you, you know they are a fantastic resource for buying groceries on a budget. They also offer many organic and whole food options for a fraction of the price of other stores.

How to save money on groceries and eat healthy

The best way to eat healthy on a budget is to stick to buying whole foods and ingredients. Every time we buy something processed whether it be precooked rice, boxed macaroni and cheese or even store-bought bread, we are paying a fee for someone else’s work to make our lives easier.

Not only that, but all of the processing that goes into making these items easier for us usually means they aren’t as high quality when it comes to our health. Sticking to basic ingredients like meat, vegetables and simple carbs can really save a lot of money.

How to save money on organic groceries

While I love feeding my family the best quality I can, I don’t purchase all organic groceries for my family. For one, an all organic diet is highly expensive and two, many of the items marked as organic are also heavily processed.

Just because something is marked as organic doesn’t mean it’s the best option for your healthy or your budget. We need to use wisdom when it comes to determining what is actually the best for our families and what is simply marketing.

Dirty Dozen & Clean Fifteen

If you are wanting to get the healthiest food on a tight budget, you can know which produce is worth buying organic by referring to the dirty dozen list. These are fruits and vegetables you would want to buy organic if you had a limited budget. You can also refer to the clean fifteen list to see which produce items are safe to buy without the organic label.

Saving money on meat

Watching local store ads to see what stores are putting meat on sale and knowing a good price when you see it can help you take advantage of the marked down prices and stay stocked up on budget friendly protein options.

Another option for saving money on high quality meat is buying it in bulk straight from the farmer. You can purchase a whole or half cow or pig at a time and get a discount buy purchasing the large amount at once.

Using the groceries you bought

We can implement all the tips and buy all the staple groceries, but if we don’t know how to use them and they go to waste then we are right back to square one.

Learning how to cook from scratch using basic ingredients is the foundation for how to save money on groceries. Making simple things in your own home not only saves you money, but gives you the skills you need to give your family high quality food.

Here on the blog I have lots of staple recipes that are simple, cost effective and taste delicious.

• Simple bone broth recipe
• Perfect Rice
• Instant Pot Homemade Yogurt
• Homemade Cold Brew
• Simple Homemade Mayo
• Strawberry Lemon Scones
• Homemade Protein Granola
• Sourdough Discard Dinner Rolls Recipe
• Easy Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken
• Homemade Cobbler
• Flaky and Tender Old-Fashioned Biscuits

I hope you enjoyed this blog post all about how to save money on groceries.