• About
  • My Favorite Blogging Tools
  • Archives
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Terms & Policies

Family Balance Sheet

where family, life, and finances meet

  • Home
  • How to Budget
  • Finances
    • Our Debt Freedom Plan
    • Christmas Savings Club
    • Debt Free Stories
    • Marriage and Money
    • Medi-Share
  • Grocery Budget
    • Saving Money on Groceries
    • Freezer Cooking
    • 31 Days to Slash Your Grocery Spending
  • Recipes
    • Freezer Cooking
    • Recipes – Appetizers & Snacks
    • Recipes – Beverages
    • Recipes – Breakfast & Brunch
    • Recipes – Desserts
    • Recipes – Grilling
    • Recipes – Main Dish
    • Recipes – Sides & Soups
    • Recipes – Slow Cooker
    • Cooking ‘How-To’ Series
  • Family
    • Frugal Holiday Fun
    • Frugal Family Activities
    • Travel Destinations
    • Camping
    • Budget Travel
    • Giving
  • Frugal Living
    • How We Frugal-ed
    • Saving Money on Groceries
    • Saving Money in your Home
    • Saving Money during the Holidays
    • Gardening
  • 31 Days to Find $1000

Reduce Your Grocery Spending Without Sacrificing Quality | 31 Days to Find $1000

This post may contain affiliate links. That means if you sign-up for services or make a purchase after clicking on a link below, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Also, I am not a financial advisor. I'm a blogger who LOVES to share how I manage the finances for my household.

October 14, By Kristia 5 Comments

In the month of October, my challenge will be to find $1000.  Mondays thru Saturdays in October, I will have ideas to help you find $1000 too. On Sundays, we’ll meet here to catch our breath, and let everyone know how we’re finding our $1000.

Kitchen Economics 1

If there is one line item in everyone’s budget that can get out of control it is groceries.

It is so easy to walk into the grocery store with an idea of what you will spend, walk out with a bill that is double and get home to discover that you have nothing to eat. Groceries can get out of control fast, but all it takes for you to get your grocery spending in line with your budget is PLANNING.

Yes, there are coupons, but you don’t have to use them to reduce your grocery bill. I do not use a lot of coupons–mostly because I find so few for products that we use.  On average,  I redeem $5-$10 in coupons a week and most of them were issued by my grocery store (Giant of PA)  in their weekly sales flyer.

I’ve written A LOT over the years about ways to reduce grocery spending. I actively do all of the tips below and my grocery spending regularly fits into our budget and my family eats quality meals for a fraction of the price.

This month, I am challenging myself  to try to squeeze some extra money out of our grocery budget to put towards our goal of finding $1000. It takes planning! So read through the below tips and attack that grocery bill!

Reduce Your Grocery Spending WITHOUT Sacrificing Quality

Grocery Planning/Buying Tips

  • Know Your Buy Price
  • Organize your pantry and your spices
  • My grocery list/menu clip board
  • Plan your weekly menu
  • Make one night a week, “raid the fridge night“.
  • Buy/Use store brands
  • Utilize your freezer.
  • Compare unit price.
  • Have an emergency back up meal in freezer or pantry at all times.
  • Shop your freezer/pantry

Produce Tips

  • Revitalize Dried Out Baby Carrots
  • U-Pick local, seasonal fruit
  • How to Freeze herbs, How to Freeze Basil
  • Freeze your garden harvest – green beans, hot pepper
  • How to Save Money at the Apple Orchard
  • 20 Ways to Use Ripe Bananas

Meat Tips

  • Don’t shy away from meat markdowns
  • Batch Browning & Freezing Ground Meat and Sausage
  • Make your own chicken stock on the stove top OR in the crock pot
  • Create vegetable freezer bags for making chicken/turkey stock

Batch/Portion Control Tips

  • Freeze cookie dough.
  • Make brownies in a muffin tin rather than a pan.
  • Batch griddle extra pancakes and freeze for later.

Organic

  • Become a member of a CSA.
  • Use your grocery store’s private label organize brands.
  • Compare price per unit.
  • Stock up on organic meat that has been marked down.

Misc

  • Homemade buttermilk substitute.
  • Homemade Taco Seasoning
  • 10 Paper Products to Cross off your grocery list.
  • Stock up and save with pre-holiday grocery sales.
  • Stop wasting food.
  • Shop at bread outlets.
  • Make homemade bread crumbs from bread heels.
  • Reuse glass jars.
  • Homemade window cleaner for just pennies.
  • After-Holiday clearance sales aren’t just about gift wrap.
  • 20 Ways to Use Original Blue Dawn

How much do you spend on groceries every month? Is there wiggle room to reduce it? Let us know in the comments.

For more ideas, follow me on Pinterest. I have started a 31 Days to Find $1000 Pinterest board where I’ll be posting ideas all month long.

Filed Under: 31 Days to Find $1000

Get a Free Family Balance Sheet Excel Spreadsheet download

Comments

  1. Jen says

    October 14, at 6:00 pm

    Kristia, I didn’t realize you were in PA! I am from eastern PA, near Reading. Now we live just west of Baltimore. My mom still lives there and loves to shop at Giant! It’s a small world.

    Reply
    • Kristia says

      October 14, at 6:36 pm

      yep, I live in good old central PA!

      Reply
  2. LisaZ says

    October 14, at 8:02 pm

    Our family grocery budget for four people (two teens, two adults, plus a dog and cat) is about $600/month and it’s hard to stick to that! I used to buy a lot more organic and almost no snacks and we spent less. However, now my kids are teens and eat like adults and I find they need snacks around and I don’t always have time or want to bake them from scratch. I’ve taken to shopping almost exclusively at Target where I can use their Cartwheel app and my Red Card (which is now a debit card so no credit card problems any more!) to save another 5% each time. I love seeing that $10 come off my $200 grocery bill at checkout! I would love to go back to buying more organic, simpler foods only but I think I’ve given into this teen-aged thing. I am not sure where I can cut out some grocery spending, but I’ll see what I can do in these last couple weeks of October. Your posts are inspiring!
    LisaZ recently posted…31 Days of Radical Self Care Day 14: Practicing Self-Compassion When You Don’tMy Profile

    Reply
    • Kristia says

      October 15, at 3:22 pm

      Thanks for commenting, Lisa! It must be hard with growing teens to keep the grocery bill under control. I feel your pain–our girls are big eaters now and I can’t imagine what they’ll be like when they hit their teen years.

      Your comment reminded me that I want to get a Target debit card. We used to have their credit card. We stopped using our credit cards for those types of purchases, but I miss the 5% off and we shop there quite a bit.

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. 31 Days to Find One Thousand Dollars says:
    October 14, at 3:56 pm

    […] Day 14: Reduce Your Grocery Spending without Sacrificing Quality […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badgeShow more posts

WELCOME!

SEARCH

Get a Free Family Balance Sheet Excel Spreadsheet download

recipes

Recent Posts

  • 8 Action Steps for a Frugal February!
  • Our 2023 Financial Goals
  • 3 Smart Steps to Pay Cash for Christmas
  • 30 Free but Thoughtful Christmas Gift Ideas
  • 10 Ideas to Find Cash for Christmas
Follow Kristia Ludwick's board Best of FamilyBalanceSheet.org on Pinterest.

Amazon Associates Disclosure

Kristia Ludwick is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

COPYRIGHT

I love it when you share! Please keep in mind that all images and text on this site are property of Family Balance Sheet. Feel free to use one or two photos provided that a link back to my original post is included. Please do not remove any watermarks, crop, or edit any of my images without first obtaining written permission from me. Please do not replicate or copy any content from Family Balance Sheet without written permission from me. All free printables & spreadsheets offered are for personal use only. Pinning is always welcome and appreciated! Thank you!

Disclaimer

FamilyBalanceSheet.org is for informational and entertainment purposes only. I am not a financial professional. I’m a girl who loves to talk and read about personal finance and how it relates to hard working families. If you feel you need financial advice, please seek out a competent professional.

Disclosures

  • The content on FamilyBalanceSheet.org may contain affiliate and/or referral links that help support this site at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products and services that I believe in.
  • Terms of Use & Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 · Lifestyle Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in