How to Save Money on Groceries: 6 Tips for Cutting Your Grocery Bill

1. Buy in bulk

We buy our meat in bulk. This year we purchased 350 pounds of ground beef. We only buy ground beef. We do not buy different cuts like roast and steaks. It's way cheaper to only buy ground beef because we can buy the ground beef by the pound.

The bigger quantity you're buying, the better the deal the farmer is going to give you. We also buy half of a pig every single year and we split the pig down the middle with my in-laws. We get lots of different cuts off our pig. We get bacon, breakfast sausage, ham hock ribs, and pork ribs.

I think packaging might be the biggest culprit when it comes to overspending on food. I compared prices for a big tub of yogurt versus a 6 pack of individual serving sizes. When you buy the tub, you’re not only getting more yogurt, but you’re also paying less.

I understand the convenience of individually packaged yogurts, but if you want to save money you have to sacrifice conveniences like this.

We started saving a lot of money when we stopped buying individual serving sizes. I used to buy those applesauce squeeze pouches for my kids. Every month I would buy two huge boxes of them. Now instead I started buying a big jar of applesauce.

This does require washing more dishes, but if you want to save money you have to figure out which conveniences you’re willing to let go of. A lot of money and waste goes into those convenience packaging.

2. Source your own food

We hunt and fish. That's how we get a lot of our own meat. My husband hunts so we can have venison, tenderloins, and all of those fancier cuts.

This year my husband started fishing for salmon and trout. We have lots of trout and some salmon in our freezers.

We also raise chickens. We have laying hens and some chickens too. One of our chickens hatched a bunch of chicks, so that's how we source some of our chickens. It's not for everybody. I understand that. But it works well for us.

We also planted a garden which has saved us a lot of money this year. Lots of the vegetables we eat came out of our own garden. We even managed to grow some fruit this year. Buying in bulk and sourcing some of our own foods makes a huge difference.

3. Price comparing

I’ve started price matching or just checking my prices before I even go into Aldi. I go into my Walmart app, and I put all of my groceries in my cart, even things that I would typically get from Aldi. I look at all of the prices and buy at whichever shop has a better deal.

4. Make more food from scratch

Find some things that you can make from scratch. You probably already have ingredients for things that you can make in-house. Whether it’s full-on meals or snacks for your kids' lunches, the more you can do yourself, the more you will save.

I've learned to make so many different things from scratch over the last three years. I’ve started making my own bread, pizza dough, and cookies.

You learn to adapt and pick and choose what you want to make in-house versus buying. Once you start, you’ll find yourself making more and more at home, and buying less and less from the grocery store. Making your own food is a great feeling.

I started making my own granola using plain oatmeal and adding some seasonings, spices, and honey. It's really tasty and my kids love it. We have yogurt and granola all of the time. It's a great cheap snack.

5. Make foods that don’t require too many ingredients

My kids love homemade bread with some homemade jam on top. We serve that very often. Things like bread and jams are cheap to make at home and they don’t require a lot of ingredients. Finding some low-ingredient meals will save you a lot of money on groceries.

I also recommend trying to find some budget meals that you can make from scratch. Things like pizza or spaghetti are great budget meal options. Maybe you can learn how to make your own pasta. Rice and beans are an easy, inexpensive meal.

6. Don’t pay for deliveries

I only shop at stores where you can do the pickup service for free. They put your grocery order together for you and you just go and pick them up. I do this every single month because it's free. I do not do online pickup orders from Aldi because you have to pay separately for that service.

How to save money on groceries

Food insecurity is not something that people should have to struggle with. I hope that you can implement some of these hacks in your life, especially heading into New Year.

Use these tricks to save some money for your family so you can live a little bit more comfortably.