4 Essential Grocery Budget Hacks You Need to Try

1. Look back at your spending

First of all, I think just like with any category, before you can set realistic goals for yourself, you need to know what you were spending prior. So instead of jumping back and trying to look at every single category this month, we are just focusing on groceries.

Go back to all of your spending for the last 30 days. See what your spending was so that you have a good idea of what a realistic goal should be for you. I know for myself that lately, I have been spending about $200 per week on groceries for my kids and myself.

I am a single mom, so I do not have another adult to feed in the house, but my boys can eat a lot. My groceries also include disposables, trash bags, and other things like that.

Now that I have gone through my bank statements, I know that I am trying to do better than $200 a week. Now I can set a goal for the next month. I think I am going to make my goal about $140 per week.

Do not compare your budget to mine, but rather compare your budget to what it was previously and see how you might be able to cut that down realistically.

2. Writing down recipes

The next step for me is to create a realistic recipe book for myself. If you already have a recipe book for yourself, if you already know what kind of recipes you like to cook, you are ahead of the game.

I have some set recipes that I like, but I am not that great in the kitchen and I tend to be a person that just buys a bunch of things and then mixes it together with meals that I am comfortable with. In my opinion, this habit is counterproductive and prevents me from spending more consciously.

Therefore, to save money on groceries, I will be creating a recipe book that will tell me exactly what kind of ingredients I need, exactly what I need to keep on stock, exactly what I need to keep an eye out for at the grocery store.

3. Inventory log

After I know my recipes and what kind of ingredients I should be stockpiling and keeping on hand, the next step is to create an inventory log. I will start writing down things I already have in the house and things that I would like to be keeping in stock.

I know that I use a lot of breakfast sausage, and a lot of eggs, and we cook a lot of recipes that have ground beef in them. If you write all these items down, whenever you see them on sale, you will be ready because you will know what you need.

4. Shopping around for sales

This is something that I just have not done. I have always shopped at Walmart because I assumed it had better prices. Instead of looking around and getting each category where it is cheapest, I have just grabbed everything from one store. Now I am going to fight this habit.

I am going to fill my Walmart cart online because that is where I have always shopped. What I am going to do next, though, is look at the sales at a couple of different stores per week, and I am going to write down prices both for Walmart and for the other stores.

One store, for example, might have better prices on meats, and another might have better prices on vegetables and fruit.

I think this is going to be the biggest game changer for me because I have already been looking at a couple of sales papers, and I am realizing that I am way overpaying for meat at Walmart.

In addition, a grocery store right next to me has fruits for a third of the price that I have been paying for Walmart. So this step is very experimental for me, and I am going to see if the time is worth it. I do not think it is going to be too time-consuming with the internet, but I will have to see.

Grocery budget hacks

These are all the grocery shopping hacks that I want to implement in order to cut my grocery spending this month. If you want to join me on my journey, I will be very happy to see your comments about how these steps have changed your budget.

Moreover, if you have any other grocery hacks that can help people save money on food, you are also very welcome to leave a comment.