4 Easy Money Saving Tips to Reduce Your Grocery Bill & Stop Food Waste

The first thing to do is when you are only putting the box into the fridge, take a post-it or a piece of paper, write the date and tape it to the top.

This way, you will never have to wonder when you made it or eat something bad and get sick. Labeling it just takes 10 seconds, and it makes a world of a difference.

Secondly, every three days I go through the fridge and see what leftovers have not been eaten. If I find something that no one wants, I put it in a freezer bag and freeze it.

Even if it only makes for one serving, it means that on a busy day I will be able to have a home cooked lunch instead of going to a fast food place and wasting money on something that is both bad for me and not that tasty. A leftover you are sick of after having it two nights in a row is a brand new meal a month down the line.

If you have a vacuum sealer, use that, but if not, just squeeze out the air and label it with the name of the dish and the date. Make sure that you lay it flat in the freezer – that way once your leftovers are completely frozen, you will be able to stack them vertically like books and save so much space in your freezer.

Another great tip is dedicating one shelf in your fridge only to leftovers. Pick a shelf on the smaller side, and let all your family members know that this is where you get leftovers. This way, you will be far less likely to forget that it exists and let it go bad.

This also makes the previous strategy so much easier: it only takes a minute to go through all the leftovers and decide what to freeze, instead of searching the entire fridge for containers.

2. Ingredients

For fresh vegetables and fruit in your fridge, or anything in your pantry like onions, potatoes, apples, inventory is super important.

Since these ingredients do not last that long, we should always be aware of what we have and decide on our meals accordingly.

For example, if I have any potatoes that are about to go bad, I know that that night or the next night I am going to make something that has potatoes in it.

If there are apples that are going to go bad, I know I am going to give my daughter some apples as a snack.

If there are veggies, such as celery, onions, peppers, or anything like that that is about to go bad, I chop them the same size that I would put them in a regular recipe, and follow the same exact procedure: freezer bag, label, freeze flat, stack like books.

Last year I accidentally bought too many jalapenos, so I chopped them up, de-seeded them and I put them in a vacuum sealed bag. Since then, any time I am making guacamole or just want to give any meal I am making a little bit of a kick, I just unzip it, use a bit and put the rest in the freezer.

If you are too lazy to chop, use a food processor or any other kind of gadget that helps chop things. It is so easy, it saves a ton of money, and nothing goes bad. Moreover, you are already a step ahead with the recipe you will be using this product for.

3. Get organized

Being organized can save you so much money. There are plenty of ways of keeping a grocery list, and my family has developed a system that works for us. We have an Alexa in the kitchen, so anytime that we see that we are out of something, we just ask Alexa to add it to the shopping list.

This saves us so much trouble of having to remember what we need once we get to making the list and having to remind each other. This way, when I am doing my shopping, I just open the shopping list on my phone and there it is! This clear system will help you avoid guessing and overspending.

But, if you do not have an Alexa, simply get a notepad with a magnet strip in the back, stick that onto the side of the refrigerator and make sure to take a note whenever you finish something or find out you do not have it.

Let your family know that putting the snack or ingredient they want down is the only way to ensure it gets bought.

Another simple option is taking notes on your phone as you go through your week and you start running low on things.

4. Clear-out recipes

My last tip for saving money is to have recipes that you can use to clear out your fridge. One of my favorites is my zucchini fritters.

Another great option is any kind of soup, based on what vegetables you have. This way you can use up all the ingredients, make a healthy and nutritious meal for your family, cut back on food waste, and all that without having to freeze anything.

Money saving tips

I hope that this has been helpful for you and you will incorporate these ideas into your life, as they truly do make grocery shopping more cost effective and less daunting.

What are your strategies for saving money on groceries? Leave your best tips in the comment section!

Next, learn 10 Easy Tips on How to Save Money on Groceries.