Food is expensive. The average family spends over 10% of their household income buying groceries–over $6,000 a year–and the price of food keeps going up. When you are just trying to feed your family healthfully, that is pretty scary.
I run free 5
day clean eating groups monthly and in almost every group I will have at least
one person drop out because they don’t feel they can afford the groceries for
the week.
Food really is expensive and sadly REAL food is even more expensive than the processed junk the food industry wants you to consume which is why it’s so much cheaper! That said, as more and more people are beginning to realize, coupons can be a great way to save money on food. If you’ve ever watched Extreme Couponing, you probably already know that sometimes those savings can be quite dramatic. The problem is that those dramatic savings often come from seasoned coupon users who have spent countless hours clipping & sorting coupons and searching for the very best deals.
Food really is expensive and sadly REAL food is even more expensive than the processed junk the food industry wants you to consume which is why it’s so much cheaper! That said, as more and more people are beginning to realize, coupons can be a great way to save money on food. If you’ve ever watched Extreme Couponing, you probably already know that sometimes those savings can be quite dramatic. The problem is that those dramatic savings often come from seasoned coupon users who have spent countless hours clipping & sorting coupons and searching for the very best deals.
Ummmm…. Who has
time for that?
You might also
know that most coupons are targeted towards grocery items that to be honest
aren’t in the category of healthy or real food at all. Sure you will get the odd coupon for eggs or
cheese and almond milk. But a coupon for fresh
milk, or fresh produce is almost impossible to find.
So what if you
are trying to eat real food on a budget?
Like
anything in life, you have to find the right balance. That balance won’t be
exactly the same for everyone, but here are 5 tips that can help you cut costs
on your grocery budget:
Tip #1: It’s not all about the coupons
Shop the
sales. This does NOT mean that you should buy food just because it is on sale,
but instead be on the lookout for sale prices on the food your family normally
buys, whether it be all whole foods, organic, or gluten free. Almost everything
goes on sale eventually.
Don’t assume you know which store has the best deals until you’ve actually
checked–you may be surprised at what you find. I used to shop at Superstore for quite a bit
of our groceries and have since switched to doing the bulk of our shopping at
the Root Cellar (a local farmers market style grocer) and picking up a few
items from grocery stores which I know have the best product at the best price
in my local area.
For
example: White Cheddar cheese is actually
cheaper at the grocery store in our city which typically has higher prices on
many of their items so I go there once every few weeks and stock up. The whole wheat tortilla wraps that I like
and include ingredients I’m satisfied with can only be found at a specific
store so when I go to that store for that I take note of sales beforehand and
purchase anything there that I know we usually buy if it happens to be on sale
and cheaper than other locations.
Sometimes
the most random of places might have the best sale where you least expect
it. I happened to be in the health food
store in my community and scored a rock bottom price on the Organic no salt
(real food) Tortilla chips that usually sell for over $2 more on sale in other
stores!
This doesn’t mean you have to constantly shop around
each week before you decide where to purchase your groceries, because really
who has the time for that and who wants to spend all that time driving around
from store to store either. BUT if you
make an effort to take note of the typical cost of the staples your family
typically purchases whether you write it in a note book or in the notes app on
your phone, you will know when you see a good deal. It’s all about awareness. And stocking up when you see that good deal!
Tip #2: Stockpile
In order to
only ever buy an item at its lowest price, you must buy enough of it while
it is on sale to last until it goes on sale again. This is key. Most items
go on sale every 6-8 weeks, which means you need to buy enough to last your
family that long. If you buy only a weeks worth, you will be forced to pay more
the next time you need it because you didn’t buy enough.
Let me make it
more clear with an example. Say your family eats 1 block of white cheddar every
week. The regular price for a big block is $10.99, but when you go to the store
this week, you see it is on sale for only $6.99 a block–more than 45% off the
regular price!
Instead of buying only 1 block like you normally would for your weekly shopping trip, you buy 6-8 blocks–enough to last your family for the next 6-8 weeks at half the price you would normally pay! And yes unopened cheese will last that long in your fridge.
Instead of buying only 1 block like you normally would for your weekly shopping trip, you buy 6-8 blocks–enough to last your family for the next 6-8 weeks at half the price you would normally pay! And yes unopened cheese will last that long in your fridge.
At first it may
seem counter intuitive to be buying more than you normally would instead
of less. However, because you are shopping the sales each week, you will be
buying a larger quantity of a smaller variety of items, which means your
overall grocery bill will still go down. The goal is to build up your own
mini-grocery store in your pantry which you can then use to plan your family’s
meals.
My husband
calls the shelf in our storage room “The Store” because we always have a supply
of cereal, toilet paper, paper towel, formula, dish soap, etc. that I have
purchased in a large quantity when it has been on sale. Then if we run out of something upstairs we
just go check The Store!
Your house doesn't have to look like this to Stockpile |
Remember that a
well-varied stockpile does NOT have to take up a whole room of your house, and
you do NOT need to accumulate a whole year’s worth of food. Sale cycles
generally run about 6-8 weeks, which means your stockpile should contain about
6-8 weeks worth of a nice variety of food. It also means that it will take
about 6-8 weeks before you’ve built up a nice varied stockpile and will start
to see the most dramatic savings in your grocery bill.
Furthermore, stockpiling
does not mean your family has to only eat a diet of processed food. There are
plenty of healthy options for stockpiling, including beans, rice, whole grain
pastas, whole grain cereals, frozen vegetables, cheese & other dairy
products, canned tomatoes, & more.
Tip #3: Eat less meat
Going
vegetarian just a couple times a week could save you as much as $1,000 a year.
Meat costs usually account for a significant portion of people’s grocery bills,
so cutting out even a little will make a big difference over time.
And remember
when you do purchase your Chicken, beef, pork etc. follow Tip #2 and stock up
when it is on sale. Just about every
year our family has gone in together on the purchase of a half cow from a local
farm that we know well. They deal with a
local butcher and the set price per pound is so much lower than anything even
the cheapest cuts of beef at my local butcher and that price is for roasts,
steak, ground beef you name it. And it’s
grass fed and locally raised.
Often we think
that quality comes with a price and it often does but usually when you contact
the source rather than go through the stores you get a cheaper price for better
quality.
Tip #4: Change the way you meal plan
If you normally
wing it when it comes to meal planning, running to the store several times a
week for last-minute dinner items, this step won’t be as painful as you might
think. Instead of running to the store for your dinner supplies you’ll be able
to run to your stockpile–a ready-made grocery store right in your own home. You
may even find that maintaining a nice, varied stockpile by shopping the sales
once a week saves you a whole lot of time, in addition to saving you from the
expensive impulse and last-minute buys.
For those of
you who normally plan your meals then make your shopping list based on that
plan, this adjustment may be a little harder. However, you can still make it
work if you get into the habit of planning your meals around what’s on sale and
around what items you already have on hand in your stockpile. By minimizing the
number of non-sale items you need to buy each week you will find that you can
plan your meals in advance and still cut your grocery bill in half.
Tip #5: Learn to match coupons to store sales
It is not by
accident that using coupons is the last item on this list and not the first.
Coupons can and do save you a ton of money on your grocery bill, but only if
you follow these other steps first. When and if you make these changes in
the way you shop–getting into the habit of shopping for only what’s on sale,
buying enough to last your family 6-8 weeks, eating less meat, and planning
your meals around your stockpile and what’s on sale–you will see a dramatic
drop in your grocery bill, even without clipping a single coupon.
When you begin
to match coupons to the things that are already on sale you will see savings
that are even more dramatic–50 to 60% off your grocery bill or more! Doing this
consistently, week after week, you can literally cut your grocery bill in half.
Where to find
coupons
Where I have
found good coupons for items I actually use is varied but here is a small list
of where you can find them:
·
Kraft Canada
recipe magazine
·
Newspaper
inserts
·
Online
·
In store
Quite often you
will see coupons for items hanging off the store shelves. IF this is an item you regularly purchase I
suggest grabbing a few. As long as they don’t expire before you know you will
use them.
For example:
Fraser is on Organic Infant Soy formula which is regularly $23.95 per can. There
was an in store coupon right there on the shelf for $3 off the price. Unfortunately you can only use one per
purchase so depending on how dedicated you are you can either go through the till a
few times to get the $3 off each can you want to purchase or just get what you
need and use one coupon for all and get a smaller discount on your total
purchase.
Depends on how much you want to save!
Depends on how much you want to save!
BUT what I did
was I actually grabbed about 10 of these coupons because I didn’t know if they would
be there next time I needed formula and they didn’t expire until April 2015. But right now they have their formula on sale
for $19.85 and you can use the coupon for $3 off which is a savings of $7. So that’s a pretty significant savings.
BUT even better
than that… a few months ago they were clearing out older stock of this formula
for 50% off the price…. Well it happened to be on sale already for the 19.95
and then with the 50% off it came down to about $10 AND I had a coupon. So I was buying formula for $7 a can when the
regular price is $24! WOW!!!
Needless to say
I really stocked up at that time!
So you can see
in this example how I truly combined all the tips to save myself some major
money on an item that we regularly purchase to save ourselves money week to
week and month to month. And the time purchasing 10 cans of formula cost me $70
but it lasted us 7 weeks. In comparison
to this week when the 50% off deal was gone and we simply got the sale price
and coupon. For 4 cans of formula we
paid 76.80 and that will last us only 4 weeks.
So you can see how I saved myself about $64 (3 weeks’ worth at the
current deal) by stockpiling when the going was good!
One of the most
common complaints I hear about coupons is that they are all for unhealthy
processed food. While this is to some degree true, there ARE coupons available
for healthier food options too. There are almost always coupons available for
things like yogurt, cheese, soy or almond milk, frozen vegetables, oatmeal,
coffee & tea, gluten-free foods, cereal, and basic pantry staples such as
pasta, canned tomatoes, and rice. There are also plenty of coupons available
for non-food items such as shampoo, toilet paper, paper towels, cleaning
supplies, and over-the-counter medicine. All these things will help you reduce
your grocery bill and overall spending so it’s worth having a glance through
them to see if there are any you can in fact put to use.
Be sure to
comment below with your tips and experiences!
I love to hear how you too have saved big on your purchases! Also make sure you Share this with your
friends we could all use help saving money right!
*Inspiration and portions of this blog post taken from Living Well Spending Less.
*Inspiration and portions of this blog post taken from Living Well Spending Less.
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