10 Essential Tips How To Cut Your Grocery Bill In Half

By implementing these 10 essential grocery tips, you can cut you grocery bill in half and save money on food. 

Food is expensive and grocery prices just keep going up. According to the Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey, the average American household spends more than $1,000 per month on groceries.

But there are things you can do to help your grocery budget. Just by changing the way you grocery shop and implementing the tips below, it is possible to learn how to cut your grocery bill in half.

GROCERY TIP: If you want more simple tips and ideas that will help you know how to grocery shop on a budget, create a grocery budget, learn how to stay on a grocery budget, and reduce grocery spending, then be sure to read everything you need to know about How to Grocery Shop on a Budget.

1. Meal Plan

Meal planning is one of the most important things you can do in order to learn how to cut your grocery bill in half. You will save a lot of money on food just by planning out what to eat each week.

By meal planning, you’ll know exactly what you need to purchase at the grocery store, which will help save you money by not going to the grocery store multiple times per week.

It also helps so you don’t walk up and down every aisle of the grocery store wondering what food items you should purchase and adding extra items to your cart that you don’t need. Randomly adding items to your cart will use up your grocery budget quickly.

Plus, meal planning will save you time by making it convenient to know what you’ll be making each night for dinner, which will save you money so you don’t purchase fast food at the nearest restaurant.

If you want to learn more about meal planning, here are 6 Tips How to Successfully Meal Plan. It shows you how I plan my family meals, gives you ideas of how to create a menu plan, and how to prepare meals ahead of time. I also share dinner ideas that my family enjoys eating.

If you want new meal ideas to add to your meal plan, check out these 20 Easy Weeknight Dinners for the Family. It’s always nice to make easy dinners that the family will eat.

2. Use What You Already Have

As you meal plan and before you go shopping, look in your fridge, freezer, and pantry to see what items you already have that need to be used up. Challenge yourself to get creative and meal plan with the ingredients you already have in the kitchen and build your meal plan around that.

This will save you money because you won’t need to purchase an item if you already have it in the kitchen and also food won’t go to waste and get thrown out.

If you have food you don’t know how to use in a meal, then use a site such as Allrecipes.com to help you. Type in the ingredients you have and it will bring up new recipe ideas with those ingredients. This is a great way to not let food go to waste.

3. Plan Meals Based On What’s On Sale

As you meal plan, you’ll also want to look at the grocery store sales flyers to see what foods are on sale that week. Incorporate these sale items into your meal plan. You save money and learn how to cut your grocery bill in half by not paying full price for food and instead purchasing the items on sale.

When looking at the sales flyers, the front and back page deals are called “loss-leaders,” which means the store actually loses money on the products. The stores are trying to get you into the store to shop because they know people will purchase more products once they set foot in a store.

And when an item reaches its lowest price, don’t just buy one item. Purchase three, five or ten of them as your grocery budget will allow to keep you stocked until the next sale.

But remember that just because something is listed in the sales flyer doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a great deal. It’s important to learn the price points of what’s a good deal and what’s not a good deal so you save money.

Also, don’t buy more than you need if you aren’t able to use it up before it goes bad. If you purchase something in bulk and don’t end up eating it, then you’ll throw it away, which is a waste of food and money.

4. Stick To Your Shopping List

You’ll end up spending more money on groceries if you don’t take a shopping list with you to the grocery store and stick to it. Without a shopping list, you will go up and down aisles grabbing extra items to put in your shopping cart that you probably don’t need.

If you don’t need it and it’s not on your list, then say “no” and walk away.

Even if the item is on sale, if it’s not on your shopping list and you don’t need it, then don’t put it in your cart. You’ll actually spend more money rather than saving money. Just stick to your shopping list and what you need for your meals that week.

5. Grocery Shop Less

Don’t go into the grocery store more than once a week. Studies show that the more often people walk into stores, the more money they spend.

Even though you might only need an item or two at the grocery store, you’ll most likely walk out out of the store with more items than that and have spent a lot more money than you intended. All those extra purchases add up fast and affect your grocery budget.

I grocery shop once every two weeks, and this has made a huge difference in the amount of money I spend on groceries. Give this method a try by only going to the grocery store once every two weeks, and you’ll be able to save a significant amount of money.

6. Use Grocery Store Apps

If the grocery store you shop at has a grocery app with eCoupons, then download it and use it. If you are already going to purchase an item, you can save more money if there is an eCoupon you can use with it. 

There are also other grocery coupon apps that will save you money for purchasing groceries such dairy, produce, household items and more. A few grocery apps are Ibotta, Fetch Rewards, and Checkout51.

7. Choose Generic Brands

Purchasing generic brands will save you money because they usually cost less than name brands.

For some products, the generic brands are exactly the same as the name brands but just packaged differently. And a lot of times the generic brand quality and taste is just as good as the name brand.

It might be only a few dollars here or there that you save at the grocery store by purchasing generic brands, but over time all of it adds up to save you money.

8. Eat Less Meat

Purchasing meat is usually the most expensive part of the grocery budget. Since it is expensive, don’t always make meat the main dish of the meal. Consider choosing meals where you only incorporate a small amount of meat, or cut out meat a few times a week and choose meals that are meatless.

And you don’t always need to use as much meat as a recipe suggests. Most of the time you can use less meat in a meal and it turns out great. For instance, if a soup recipe calls for one pound of ground hamburger, add a half pound of meat and a can of beans instead. It still tastes good.

If you really want to know how to cut your grocery bill in half and are on a tight budget, have a meatless week, or only eat meat once a week, and incorporate other protein foods into your meals. You don’t have to do this forever, but if you get creative with not using meat in your meals, you’ll save a lot of money.

Another tip is to purchase meat in bulk when it’s on sale and freeze the rest for later. Read about how I save 20-50% in meat with the Food & Meat Co-op.

9. Buy Produce In Season

When looking at the weekly sales flyers, if you see produce on sale, then it’s in season. This is the time to buy those fruits and vegetables and incorporate them into your meal plan and to eat as snacks.

If you purchase produce when it’s off season, you’ll end up spending more money.

10. Make Extra Meals and Freeze For Later

If you are already making a meal for your family, save yourself time and money by doubling the batch and freezing one meal for later.

It’s convenient to pull a meal out of the freezer on busy days when you don’t have much time to cook dinner. And if you already know what to make for dinner, then you are less likely to order food for take out or to pick up fast food through the drive through.

If you want freezer meal recipes, here are 7 Make Ahead Freezer Meals recipe ideas.

This video on how to freezer casseroles and slow cooker meals will give tips to those of you who haven’t made freezer meals before.

If you aren’t sure what you can and can’t freeze, then read this post 70 Foods You Can Freezer or That Don’t Freeze Well.

By approaching grocery shopping differently and using these tips, you’ll be able to cut your grocery bill in half.

PEOPLE ALSO ASK:

How do you cut back on your spending?

It’s important to understand the difference between a “want” and a “need” and to know where your money is being spent.

A “need” is something you need in order to live, such as food, housing, utilities, and transportation. A “want” is something you would like but don’t necessarily need, such as eating out, buying extra clothing, entertainment and activities, and furnishings for the house, etc.

It may be difficult to not purchase the items you want, but by not purchasing something, it will teach you self-control.

Try to stay away from impulse buying. If you see something you want to purchase, write it down and wait a few weeks as you think about the purchase and how it will affect your budget.

Also, try to stay away from browsing online shopping sites or walking into stores when you don’t need to. If you are not constantly looking at things to purchase, this can help you cut back on your spending.

For more tips about cutting back on spending, read the post How to Create a Budget.

Can you cut your grocery bill in half?

If you feel that your grocery bill is out of control every month and you’re spending more than $1,000 a month in groceries, then yes, it’s possible to cut your grocery bill in half just by implementing the tips above. By making changes to how you shop for groceries, you will start to reduce the amount of money you spend on groceries.

How do I save money on my grocery bill?

The way you save money on your grocery bill is to implement the tips above from this post. Also, be sure to read everything you need to know about How to Grocery Shop on a Budget. It has lots of of money-saving grocery tips!

How can I reduce my grocery bill without a coupon?

You can significantly reduce your grocery bill without using coupons. All of the tips I share in this post will really help you to cut down on your grocery bill and don’t have anything to do with couponing.

While coupons can help to save a little money, unless you pair it with a sale at the grocery store, you aren’t necessarily saving money. In some cases, you end up spending more money using a coupon because you are purchasing a product that you weren’t initially going to buy, and most of the time, the generic brand is still cheaper to buy without a coupon than buying a name brand product with a coupon.