Plan Meals around Sales and Coupons

You don’t have to spend 40 hours a week studying sales flyers and coupons like the extreme couponers do to save money.  When you get your local grocery store flyer, take a look at what is on sale that week and plan your meals around sales.  After your list is completed, look to see if you have any coupons for items you’re already buying – but don’t make the mistake of buying something just because you have a coupon.

Buy in Bulk if it Makes Sense

If an item you use frequently goes on sale, it may make sense to buy several at the discounted price so you can avoid buying it at the regular, non-sale price.  Don’t buy extra of any item that you don’t have room to store or that will go bad before you can use it.

Stop Impulse Shopping

Grocery stores know exactly where to put items people are most likely to buy on impulse.  One way to decrease the amount of money you spend in the grocery store is to make a list before you go, based on what is on sale and what you have coupons for, and then only buy the items you have on your list.  You might be surprised to discover how many items end up in your shopping cart that are a complete impulse buy – and are not needed.

Buy Bagged Produce

When you buy a bag of carrots, the price is based on a pound of carrots.  If you were to weigh the bag, often you will find that there is more than a pound of carrots in the pre-packaged produce bags so you end up getting more for your money than you do when you buy loose produce that you bag and weigh at checkout.

Get More on a Tighter Grocery Budget was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

If you are in need of some extra cash and are not sure where you will find it, consider changing your family’s eating habits for one month.  If you typically spend $500 a month on groceries and could manage with a $150 a month grocery bill – you’re looking at $350 extra dollars to fix the car, buy a new front door for your home, or whatever else you  need it for.  You may have to eat slightly less than what you are used to, and agree to eat breakfast for dinner once in awhile- but if you’re up for a challenge, try the following menu for a month’s worth of eating in order to find an extra few hundred dollars:

• 2 Boxes of Spaghetti  ($2) = 16 Servings
• 2 Cans Del Monte Spaghetti Sauce ($2) and 2 small cans of diced tomatos or tomato sauce ($1)  to increase the servings to 16 servings per can of spaghetti sauce
• 1 pound lunch meat ($6) =  6 sandwiches
• 2 Loafs of bread ($3)
• Family pack of ground beef ($13)  = 3 different meals, meat loaf, hamburger and gravy, taco sald
• 1 Box of Bisquick, 40 oz ($3)
• 1 Cut up Whole Chicken ($4) = 5 servings
• 1 Family pack of boneless chicken ($13) = 8-10 servings
• 2 Bag Salads, Dole or other brand, complete with salad dressing ($5) = 7 servings
• Small jar of mayonaisse or mustard ($2) = 30 servings
• Raisin Bran, 15 oz box, ($3) = 7 Servings
• Yogurt – (can often get 10 for $5) = 10 servings
• 2 Gallons of Milk   ($4.80)
• 2 Cans green beans ($1.40) = 7 servings
• 2 Cans corn ($1.40) = 7 servings
• Taco seasoning packet ($1)
• bag of storebrand tortillas ($1.50)
• Fresh tomatoes ($3)
• Pancake Syrup, store brand, big bottle ($3) = 12 – 16 servings
• 18 Eggs ($3)
• Can of Gravy ($1.25)
• Bag of apples ($4)
• Bag of potatoes ($3)
• Bag of oranges ($4)
• Store brand Peanut butter, 28 oz ($2.50) = 25 servings
• Store brand jelly, 32 oz ($2.50) = 45 servings
• Store brand butter, small container ($2)
• Beverages (bottled water if you can’t drink your tap water, soda, iced tea mix, coffee, etc $10)
• 1 pound of american cheese slices ($4)
• 8 Rolls store brand paper towels ($10)
• 8 Rolls store brand toilet paper ($10)
• Dish detergent ($2.50)
• Bag of Shredded Mozzarella Cheese ($3)
• 3 cans of Tuna fish ($3)
• household cleaning supplies you have to have ($7.15)

The above grocery list is exactly $150.  You can obviously make changes to make it work better for your family, but here are some ideas of meals you can make with the above groceries.  This should help you see how you can make it stretch out for a month’s worth of eating:

• 6 Turkey and Cheese Sandwiches, with an apple
• 6 Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, with an orange
• 4 Grilled Cheese Sandwiches with or without tomato, with an apple
• 6-8 Tuna Fish sandwiches
• 4 Spaghetti dinners with side salads
• 4 Spaghetti dinner (no salads)
• 4 servings Meatloaf with mashed potatoes, corn and green beans.
• 4 servings ground hamburger and gravy over mashed potatoes and corn.
• 4 servings taco salad (hamburger with taco seasoning over tortilla chips, lettuce and tomatoes)
• 7 bowls of Raisin Bran
• 56 pancakes with syrup
• 4 Servings french toast with syrup
• 4-5 Servings of Oven baked chicken with bisquick recipe, baked potato, green beans
• 8 servings of chicken parmesean
• 2 Servings of boneless chicken
• 6 servings of scrambled eggs or cheese omelettes
• 10 servings of yogurt (great for breakfasts and/or snacks)

It may not be what you’re used to, and it’s not something anyone would want to do month after month – but it is a way to reduce your expenses for a month or two while still eating fairly healthy.

The prices in this article are estimated based on Price Chopper prices in Glenmont, NY, and sometimes reflect sale prices or shopping with coupons.  You can probably get lower prices on a lot of the items listed here by shopping carefully and finding more coupons or sales!

A Month of Groceries for a Family of Four – Under $150 was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Most people assume that in order to reduce your living expenses you pretty much have to give up going out to eat or grabbing dinner on the way home.   I’m not going to argue the point that you can make just about any meal at home that you can buy and for less money; but I will say that you can keep to your food budget and still enjoy the convenience of getting your meals to go.

Pizza- most families enjoy pizza!  If you usually get your pizza at one of the big franchises, like Pizza Hut or Dominoes, chances are you’re paying much more than you need to for a good pizza.  Instead of ordering from these establishments, why don’t you try your local pizzeria or deli-type convenience market?  Often, these places offer larger pizzas for less money.  Two local pizzeria’s in my town offer 12 cut pizzas, with two or three toppings even, for under $15.  For our family of four, a 12 cut pizza is enough for a dinner meal for everyone and then six more slices remain for the kids to eat for lunch or dinner for the next day or two (ok, and sometimes breakfast, too). For $3.75 per person, we end up getting 2-4 meals out of one 12 cut pizza.  Many supermarket’s also make and sell their own pizza.  The Price Chopper in my area offers fresh baked pizza for $5- and it’s a little bigger than the medium Pizza Hut pizza’s.  Check your local grocery stores to see if they offer pizza- or buy a rising crust pizza from the grocery store and pop it in the oven.

Burgers- the typical fast food burger isn’t as cheap as it used to be.  If you take your family to McDonald’s or Burger King these days, you probably will easily spend over $20 (unless everyone is cooperative and will order from the $1 menu!)  If you are looking to grab hamburger’s as take-out, why not try a diner or the local pizzeria?  I’m sure not all pizzeria’s offer additional meals, but many have pastas and burgers on the menu as well, and the burgers you get from diners and pizzeria’s are much closer to what you would make at home than what you’d pick up at McDonald’s or Burger King.  You usually get fries or onion rings with it, and the typical price is about $6 for a big ol’ burger and fries.  If you have younger children, chances are you can get away with buying one Burger to split for two kids- because they’re that big! 

Pasta & Dinners-  Sometimes you want “real” food, as opposed to what you get on the fast food menu, but don’t have the time to prepare it.  Diners, pizzerias and many restaurants offer their regular menu for take-out orders.  You just call ahead and place your orders.  While the price will depend on what you order, you can expect to pay around $9 to $15 per meal, but keep this in mind:  the portions are much larger than what you will eat in one sitting (for most people).  That $9 dinner can become at least two meals, which means you’re only paying $4.50 a meal.  That’s budget friendly, and you still get the convenience and taste of ordering dinner rather than trying to find the time to make your own.

Chinese Food-  Here’s another take-out option that goes a long way.  We’ve discovered that we get more meals out of buying the individual containers of various foods over buying the “combination plates” that come with an egg roll and rice.  We pick out three or four different items from the menu and get a pint of each, costing us under $20, and everyone takes a spoonful of each- like our own mini-buffet!  There is usually enough leftovers for one or two lunches the next day, as well.

Subs- Our local grocery store makes it’s own bread.  They have this Perisian loaf of bread that is to die for- soft on the inside with just a touch of crispiness to the outside!  You can have subs made on this bread, that are about 18 inches long, and for under $6.  Think about when you stop at Subway… you get a 12 inch sub for about $6, and they don’t even put much meat on it for that!  When you get subs and sandwiches from deli’s and supermarkets, they actually measure the meat that goes on them and you will always get more than you get from a franchise sub shop.  Our entire family can split one of these subs they are so large and filing.  We just cut it into 4 pieces and dig in.  Don’t rule out your local grocery store when thinking about where to pick up a convenient, low cost meal.

By the way… have you  noticed the containers that take-out food come in lately?  Plastic, reuseable containers.  They’re washable!  Stick them in the top shelf of your dishwasher or wash by hand, and re-use them. You can stop buying those disposable plastic containers, and avoid the high prices of Tupperware.  Just another bonus of take out food!

Just because you’re watching your budget and trying to cut back expenses doesn’t mean you have to eliminate eating out or getting take-out all together.  The trick is to cut back the amount of groceries you are buying at the supermarket if you’re planning to get take out once or twice during the week.  Plan for your leftovers as part of your meal allowances, and you’ll stay well within your grocery/food budget.

Be Lazy and Frugal: Get Take Out Food Without Breaking the Bank was created by and is property of American Consumer News.