been trying to keep my grocery spending under 300 a month for two people and its honestly harder than i thought
what keeps happening is i go to the store with a list but then i see stuff on sale and think oh thats a good deal and next thing i know im 80 over budget. or i buy ingredients for some recipe i saw online and then half of it goes bad before i use it
things that actually helped me so far:
– shopping once a week instead of multiple trips. every extra trip adds like 20-30 bucks somehow
– buying the store brand for basically everything. tastes the same 90% of the time
– stopped buying pre-cut fruit and veggies. the markup is insane for something that takes 5 min to do yourself
– rice and beans are boring but they stretch so far its not even funny
the hardest part is produce honestly. i want to eat healthy but fresh stuff goes bad so fast. been thinking about frozen veggies more but idk it feels like giving up lol
what actually works for you guys? feel like everyone says meal prep but i wanna know the real tricks that save money week to week
trying to keep groceries under 300 a month for two people and its way harder than expected
byu/Guiltyman12 inFrugal
Posted by Guiltyman12
8 Comments
Plan your meals. Actually calculate through where your food cost is going, where you’re spending money, and then you can adjust accordingly
Frozen veggies are great and just as nutritious as fresh. They’re a great option
If I’m buying ingredients for a specific recipe, I make sure I have a plan for how the leftovers were to be used. I just made a huge bowl of spring roll salad that called for red cabbage and i knew that I wouldn’t use a whole head for that. So i searched for “red cabbage” recipes and found a stir fry recipe that sounded good and i already had most of the ingredients for.
I never buy fresh meat or produce without a specific plan for it. It almost always goes to waste.
Making a list and really sticking with it helps. Similar to the not jumping to the supermarket
I find online grocery like Walmart to save me money, if you really want to keep the price down pick up instead of delivery.
I save money and I am not throwing as much food away than when I go to the store in person.
I’m single and buying frozen veggies/fruit is cheaper because there’s less waste. Either that or buy fresh and chop, etc for freezer so it doesn’t go to waste. I find shopping at Walmart to be the best bang for my buck. Identify the cheapest store in your area. Going to one store will save you fuel, too.
You need to plan your meals for the week before you go shopping and start your planning with a pantry, fridge and freezer review. What good is buying bulk sale items if they don’t get used regularly. Alternatively, one day before grocery shopping can be left blank in your meal planning and you just eat everything perishable that you got on that day.
That 300$ has to be purely food right? I also include parchment paper, sandwich bags, cleaners, oils / seasonings and other misc stuff in my food budget.
Buy bulk and freeze your extra food. Or get airtight containers and keep flour , rice and other staples in the pantry for months. Can make breads or pastries from scratch , rice is always cheap just par with frozen veggies and a protein (dark meat chicken or rotisserie to save the most)