9 Easy Tips on How to Save Money on Groceries

1. Stretch the meat you use in meals

Meat is one thing that many families do not want to cut back on.

One thing that I suggest is to use a filler to stretch your meat. This includes rice, beans, zucchini, squash, potatoes, oats, and breadcrumbs. These are all great fillers for your meat.

For example, if you use one pound of hamburger meat for your spaghetti sauce when you're making spaghetti, instead, use half a pound of hamburger meat, get a zucchini, chop it up, and cook it with the meat.

The great thing about zucchinis and squashes. They're like potatoes, so whatever they're cooked in, they'll absorb that flavor, which will help stretch your meat.

Another example is if you use one pound of hamburger meat to make tacos, cut that in half. Use half a pound of hamburger meat. Add half a cup or a cup of minute rice. Then, add a drained can of black beans and cook it together. Put that taco seasoning in there. The rice will absorb that taco flavor.

2. Make meat your sidekick and not your showstopper

At least do this until prices start coming down. Have your two sides and your meat with the portions of each the same size. You don't have to have a massive portion of meat.

3. Have a meatless meal one to two days a week

At least one or two days a week, try to incorporate a meatless meal. There are other ways to get your protein so you won't miss out on protein. Spending less on those meatless meals will leave you more room to spend on meat during the week.

One of our favorites is Lazy Ravioli Lasagne. We don't even miss the meat. We get the cheese ravioli, and I get extra protein by adding cottage cheese or ricotta, and we layer it like a lasagna.

We're saving about six bucks not having to buy the hamburger meat. So it does save money. Another one that we love to do is burrito bows, and instead of meat, we do black beans.

4. Go to a grocery store that has a butcher

My local supermarket almost always has a good sale of meat. They also have a certain day of the week when they mark many of their meats half-price.

I love going to my local store and checking out all their meat sales and half-priced reduced meats before shopping elsewhere. I plan the rest of my shopping trip around the meats that I got.

Also, with in-store butchers, you can ask them to give you an exact amount of meat that stays within your budget. I was at the supermarket a couple of weeks ago. They only had large packs of chicken with a lot of chicken breast, which was out of my budget.

I went to the butcher and asked for a pack of chicken that had two or three chicken breasts, and I told him the weight that I wanted. He wrapped me up a big pack of chicken precisely in the price range I wanted.

All of these tips I'm giving you can also work together. So if you do that, if you go to the in-store butcher and you need half a pound of hamburger meat, can you package up half a pound?

They'll give you half a pound, and you could use a filler with that half a pound to stretch it. See if these work together, and it will save you money.

5. Shop more than one grocery store

One store will not have the best price on every item. I and many other people live close to a set of stores, so it pays me to stop at each one when I grocery shop because it saves so much money.

When I go to Aldi, I take my phone with me, and I use my Walmart app to compare prices to ensure I'm getting a good deal at Aldi.

7. Start a food pantry in your home

You can get a tote, fill it up, and put it in your closet or a corner of your room. There are multiple reasons why I say it's genius to start a food pantry in your home. Number one reason, in case of emergency, in case you're sick, you're in a financial hardship, you lose your job, or you don't want to go to the store.

Number two, you can save money. You can buy items when they are on sale, and you'll have them put up in your home for when you need them, and when you need an item, you won't have to go to the store and pay a non-sale price for that item.

Make it a point to go once a week and stock up on items for your emergency pantry. It builds up so fast. Go to the store with $5, and you're going to pick shelf-stable items or freezer-friendly items.

You can even get household goods like soaps or dishwashing liquids things like that, and you spend $5 a week on this and put it aside in your pantry area.

8. Look at weekly sales ads

Only buy produce that is on sale or in season. Buying on-sale produce can help your grocery budget so much. In our home right now, all the fruit we have is grapes because Aldi had them on sale for $1.69 a pound.

We have oranges because I got a sack for $3. I have bananas because they were on sale for 44 cents a pound the other day. So, I only buy my produce that is on sale and in season.

Don't sleep on those frozen veggies. For instance, if you need colored bell peppers. If those things are not in season, they're like $3 each sometimes.

If you go to the freezer section, for some reason, they're cheaper, and you can get a bag of them together for about $2.

So don't forget to buy frozen veggies, especially during weekly sales. It can help your budget when things aren't in season.

9. Simple is budget-friendly

You do not have to have the fanciest meals every single day. It's okay just to be simple. It's like a simple PB&J with some carrot sticks on the side. Perfect. Simple tastes good, and it can help your wallet.

How to save money on groceries

These are my nine tips for how to save money on groceries. What tips do you have for grocery savings? Share in the comments below.

Next, check out my 6 Delicious and Easy Chicken Freezer Meals to Save Money.