Are you finding that inflation is eating up your grocery budget? Here are six ways to save money on groceries even with rising prices.
In 2024, there is no doubt we are all spending more money at the grocery store! In the past year, we had let our grocery spending get out of control.
Since we are trying to pay our debt off as fast as we can, I decided cutting our grocery budget would be the easiest thing since this is an area of our budget we can control.
Here is a list of 6 ways to save money on groceries this year.
1. Track Our Grocery Spending
This is something we definitely didn’t do last year, but a task that we have done each week this year. We set our grocery budget each month and each week, we will review what we spent in groceries and see what we have for the rest of the month. This has hands down been the key to us staying within our grocery budget this year.
This is similar to any other area of overspending in your budget. You truly do not know where your money is going if you’re not tracking it. So, if you’re not already tracking your grocery spending, I would highly recommend you give it a try!
2. Shop Our Pantry First
I grocery shop once per week, so on the weekends I will take inventory of what we have in the refrigerator, freezer and pantry. I write the items down on paper and then will see what I have that I can make meals out of. This 100% saves us money each week and it also helps us cut down on food waste.
3. Meal Planning
I know, everyone always says something about meal planning, and you might be tired of hearing it by now, but it is such a money saver! If I have not made a meal plan for the week, I will 9 times out of 10 end up at the grocery store that day and spend more money, or we will eat out that night.
Keep meal planning simple! We stick to meals we know our family will eat, which means we eat spaghetti and tacos several times per month. That is easy and cheap. I keep a list of all of our favorites and rotate those out each month. I also keep a Pinterest board of meals I want to try. I will try out a few new meals per month and if there is any that we liked, I will add it to our dinner rotation.
4. Have At Least One Meal Be Leftovers
I like to have one meal per week be leftovers. I will make foods that make a lot of leftovers at the beginning of the week, so we will have lunch and then we will typically save leftover night for Friday night. This works for us because I am trying to clean our fridge out to get ready for the next week.
If we don’t have leftovers, then we will do a “freezer meal.” I like to keep simple foods in our freezer that we can pop in the oven or air fryer if we need something quick and easy. Sometimes we will throw a frozen pizza in the oven or have chicken strips and French fries in the air fryer. I always make sure I have easy meals in our freezer because this keeps us from eating out.
5. Buy Generic
I used to be one of those people that would snarl their nose at this comment, but I have started buying exclusively generic this year. It is wild to me how much cheaper the generic brands are compared to the store brands. We mostly shop at Walmart because that is what is closest to us, but you can buy so many items that are Walmart brand now than you could a few years ago. Most items are very comparable to the name brand, and we have saved so much money on groceries by doing this.
6. Grocery Pickup
I might have saved the best tip for last. I started doing Walmart pickup in 2020 and it has been a game changer! We keep a running grocery list in the Walmart app, and we know what our total is at all times. This has been one of the biggest reasons we stick to our grocery budget. Not to mention, we are saving money because we are not physically going inside the store and picking up extra stuff we don’t need. This is 100% me and I refuse to go inside the grocery store because I know I will put something in my buggy that I don’t need! Haha
I know there are many other ways to save money on groceries, but these are just a few of the ways our family stays within our grocery budget each month. What are some ways you are saving money on groceries? I would love to read them in the comments!