Food is one of the biggest expenses in my household. Before my daughter was born, our food bill was sometimes as low as $45 a week. I cooked a lot of food from scratch. But, now I don't have time. So, now our food bill is usually well over $100 a week. For a very small family, that seems like a lot of money to be spending on any one expense. I've tried to cut out the fast food and convenience foods like pizza, but it still seems I'm spending $30 or more every time I go into the grocery store and that's at least three times a week, sometimes more. It would be great to get back to basics, cut food expense and save money. Do you have any tips for cutting food expense, cooking cheap, cheap meal ideas, saving money at the grocery store? Thanks for your ideas.
The cheapest thing you can buy from the grocery store that tastes good is Romain Noodles. They are like $0.30 a pack and are great for lunch. They even sell them in a microwave package and all you have to do is add water. They are great for taking them to the work place.
Read this: http://cl.ly/3G1Y093X1Y3j0B41190S It's a pdf file containing tips and recipes for easy and cheap meals. I did not make it, the author is in the pdf file. The guide is made for college students, but perhaps you'll find some interesting ideas in it as well!
Thanks so much for those ideas. My daughter used to eat Ramen almost daily when she was a really little bitty kid. But, she got out of the habit this past year and keeps pressuring me to buy pizza. Of course, pizza is a $20 purchase. I would much prefer to spend less than a dollar for a lunch meal, rather than $20. Also, thanks to CreativeClub for posting the link to the free ebook. There were so many great tips for saving money on food. I'm planning to reread the book when I get a free moment.
You can get a frozen pizza for $5 at your grocery store. DiJorno's is good and so is Tombstone. If you can't, find a better grocery store. The easiest way to save on food costs is to buy generic. If you read the labels, its usually the exact same ingredients. Not always though so read the labels. Also, look at the price per unit, as sometimes stores try to trick you by making you think buying in bulk is cheaper. The example I notice every time is peanut butter. The smaller jars are actually cheaper per ounce than the larger jars. Fresh vegetables are cheaper than frozen. I don't bother with coupons, but I do check my grocery store's website for this week's sales and I take advantage of something I would normally buy. I might buy more, or I might by something else with my savings. Also you can save by serving smaller portions.
Thanks for those great ideas. Excellent tips, all of them. I like the idea of buying grocery store pizza, cause it's at least $3.00 cheaper than even a small pizza here locally from Papa Johns. I'm just getting lax on good money management and need to tighten things up. In the past, I've prepared homemade soup and that works for the grown up members of the house. Homemade soup is full of nutrition and a great way to use up all the left overs in the house. Might try that idea again, soon.
