Here are a few tips:
- Make a menu plan. Whether you do this monthly or weekly, do it. It will prevent you from buying things you don't need. This one has been difficult for me because I love to just make whatever I feel like making the night of. However, I can see the great benefits in it and this year I have vowed to be a better menu planner.
- Using recipes that are cheap. This is where things get a little creative. Have you seen the website $5 Dinners? It has a huge compilation of cheap dinners. Even though 5 bucks is pretty cheap for dinner, the cheaper I can get it the better. That means on some recipes I leave some ingredients out. This will be a personal decision on what works for you and your family. One huge money saving tip for me is to use half the meat than what the recipe calls for. This works for most recipes, especially ground beef recipes. And on the plus side, less meat is usually healthier for you!
- Write down all your "go to" recipes. This will make it easier as you sit down to make your monthly/weekly/biweekly menu. I even include the average cost of each meal. That way as I plan the meals (usually monthly for me) I can make sure I am averaging the cost of each meal. I usually try to have super cheap meals every other day (Potato soup, beans and rice, bean burritos, etc.). Sunday is the day I allow us to splurge a little and make the meals that are a bit over that $5 dollar mark (lasagna, roast, etc.).
- Coupons. I am not huge into couponing for the most part. I get how you can save a ton with it. But for me, I found that I was purchasing things I wouldn't normally purchase. Sure my family would consume it, but we really didn't need the things I was buying. Usually I can get the same product for cheaper buying the generic brand. However, ibotta is great (using this link will get you and me more). This is where you can save a lot. They are basically rebates for the things you purchase. But when you use this on top of sales, discounts and manufacture coupons, that is when you really save. I still try to make sure then things I buy will benefit not hinder my ultimate goal of saving money. (Tip: sign up with ibotta using your facebook login, this will help get your more benefits using "teamwork"). I usually scan this website before going grocery shopping: thekrazycouponlady.com
- Buy in bulk and buy ahead. Watch your monthly budget closely, but when you can afford it buy extra of the things you can use down the road for other recipes if they are on great sale. For example, over Christmas I bought a ham for $11 and then I cut it into cubes and separated them into freezer bags. This got me 9 bags of ham to use in 9 separate meals! I also boiled down the ham hock to make a broth that I later used to make ham corn chowder. It also gave me some ham pieces that I missed that I put into the chowder too. So that was 10 meals! This trick works even better with turkey because you can get more for your money. You can also use this trick with your dry and canned goods as well. We have case lot sales twice year in my area, I definitely take advantage.
- Utilize leftovers. Be sure to save your leftovers. They make for great lunches the next day. Sometimes things are great for freezing too. If I don't think I can get through eating the leftovers from the fridge I put them in a freezer container and freeze them.
