Seven Hints for Grocery Shopping on a Budget

Nate went grocery shopping with me at Aldi's a few months ago, when we started working on our food budget. I told him to pick out a few snacks. He came back dangling Benton's Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, like a dead animal between his fingers.

"These are NOT Oreos," he said. I just looked at him. "Your dad would be so sad if he knew these were going in our cupboard... but proud too, I guess."

To back track, most of you know that I'm kind of a budget Nazi. Until a couple months ago, we would do really well on our budget... except on food. And no, not because we eat a lot. We would spend HUNDREDS of dollars on food... groceries, going out, gas station snacks, etc. And just so you know, you probably do too. Especially if you're not tracking that spending. When Nate and I made a decision to give more of our income to the church, we knew we had to cut, cut, cut... and the one area that was really left to do that was food. I'm still in the process of refining it to an art, but I wanted to share some tips with everyone that I've learned along the way!

1. Don't waste your time with grocery coupons.
I know this seems weird, but don't bother with coupons, especially if you're short on time. Tip #2 will save you significantly more money than cutting coupons. There are a few exceptions for this one. For example, if you are die hard about getting a specific brand of product, then cut coupons for it. But overall, unless you are an extreme coupon-er with lots of time and an eye on coupon doubling deals, etc. just buy generic stuff. Like Benton's chocolate Sandwich cookies.

2. Meal plan and prepare... Stay realistic!
Sometimes I convince myself that I am going to make a really great meal that take a lot of time and energy. And I'm ALWAYS lying to myself. So if I buy things for this one, amazing meal, it's money down the drain. I'm not Martha Stewart. I suck at cooking, and I don't enjoy it at all. BUT. I'm kind of a crockpot wizard. The word "crockpot" makes real cooks/bakers/chefs cringe, but it makes my life wonderfully easy and cheap. I wake up about 20 mins. earlier, and prepare something to throw in the crockpot on low for 8 hours. Most of these meals you literally throw a bunch of crap in a pot, and that's it. My husband thinks that I've developed a modicum of cooking skill... Nope, just turned on my crockpot! But, to make sure I have the crockpot crap in my pantry, I meal plan. Usually on Sundays I'll find a week or two worth of recipes online, and then make a grocery list from that. Depending on how much I have left over and how well I plan, two weeks of groceries have cost me anywhere from $50 to $80. I copy all the links of the recipes into a calendar and then hop on my laptop every morning that week to see what I need to make and how. It's a glorious thing.

3. Pick your favorites.
So you don't become resentful of your budget shopping, pick a few favorites that you won't skimp on. I buy pretty much everything generic. However, I like name-brand toilet paper and I'm a sucker for Biore facewash. If I can have those two things, I'll put up with Benton's chocolate sandwich cookies. Maybe you like a certain name brand cereal or type of shampoo. Pick your favorites, then buy everything else generic.

4. Have back-ups.
Nate and I still like to go out to dinner, but I hate when it's only because I look through our pantry and declare that we have nothing to eat. So I always buy a few staples, like canned soup, bread, cheese, meat, condiments, and mac n' cheese. Even the best laid meal planning plans can fall through, so I keep back-ups on hand, so we're not running to McDonald's twice a week.

5. Take coupons as your date.
I know I said that grocery coupons aren't worth it... but restaurant coupons definitely are. Sign up for EVERYONE's email list. Cut coupons out of the newspaper or those coupon mailers. If you don't want/need anything for a holiday or birthday, ask for restaurant gift cards. Nate's pretty much trained to ask, "What do we have coupons/gift cards for?" when I ask him where he wants to eat. Also, if you're going out on a weekend, hit the place up before the lights dim and the prices double.

6. Try meatless.
Meat is always the most expensive thing on my grocery list. I try to add a meal or two a week that doesn't have meat. Soups, pastas, etc. will always be less if they are vegetarian.

7. Be resourceful.
I almost always substitute something in my recipes. Why? Because I don't want to pay an arm and a leg for ginger root when I need a teaspoon of it, nor do I want to find a month's worth of recipes that use ginger root. There's lots of websites that say what you can/cannot substitute in recipes. I try to keep staples around that seem to be in a lot of my crockpot recipes... canned corn, canned mushrooms, condensed soups, bread crumbs, vinegar, sour cream, cream cheese, etc. If the recipe calls for something wild, I see if one of these staples might be able to take it's place. If not, and the item is pricey, I skip that recipe.

Hope these hints were helpful! Let me know if you have any tips of your own on this!