If you know me well you know that I love Crown Financial Ministries. This is due in large part to the approach taken in helping people with their finances. Crown’s main goal is to help people learn what God’s word has to say about handling His money and learning that financial freedom means being free to serve the Lord, not live your material dreams.
Good friends of ours introduced my husband and I to Crown when they talked with us about some budgeting software. We had never budgeted before and knew we needed something to help us get out of the “oh no we only have $30 to last us the next 5 days” cycle, other wise known as living paycheck to paycheck. As we read and prayed about our finances we were lead to create a spending plan, which became very helpful when it came time to go from 2 incomes to 1. We knew exactly where our money was being spent and knew very easily what could be cut out of the budget in order for me to stay home with our little boy. Go here if you would like to read more on the need for a spending plan, or about things here that can "bust" your budget.
In fact one of the easiest places to cut money is usually the grocery budget. When I say grocery I am talking strictly about food. Many of us don’t realize the actual cost of the food we are buying, and most of the time we don’t really pay attention to what is going into our cart. Then when check out time comes we wonder how we just spent so much money at the store. In this article it is my goal to give practical tips and advice concerning buying groceries on a budget.
The first thing I always recommend is to know what a good price is. That is really the foundation of this blog. Know what the maximum amount is you will pay for an item. If you shop long enough and pay attention you will come to find that you usually know what the price is of one particular item at a particular store. For example I have shopped at Aldi long enough to know that cans of kidney beans are usually .45 cents a can. I have also shopped at Dillon’s long enough to know that I have never seen kidney beans .45 cents a can there and so I know that my best price is always going to be at Aldi and I will not pay more than I have to for this one particular item. Same thing goes for all other food items, start to know what the price is of the item and try to figure out if it is less expensive somewhere else or if the off-brand will do. Many times you will find that the off brand is just as good.
The second thing I recommend is to cut out unnecessary snacks. Lets face it, we all love a Little Debbie snack cake every now and then, but our budget often doesn’t and neither do my thighs. We have found that by not buying over priced snack food we have been able to cut down significantly on our grocery bill. If we do have snack food in the house it is because I paid next to nothing for it. Same thing goes for breakfast foods. Consider making homemade pancakes/waffles and freezing them or eating cereal you get on sale in stead of over priced frozen breakfast, boxed muffins, and pop tarts that don’t give you a whole lot of nutrition anyway. Your husband or children may miss these things at first, but get creative enough with other snack alternatives and they won’t miss them at all.
Thirdly, we also cut way down in our grocery budget by not buying soda and juice. If there is soda or juice in our house it is because I paid very little for it. Soda and juice often add very little nutritional content to your diet (I am a pop junkie though) and it is better to eat fresh fruit for the nutrients than drink juice. So in our house we stick to milk and water to help cut costs.
Fourth, don’t be afraid of canned or frozen vegetables. I am aware of the grand debate concerning these items and whether or not you get the same amount of nutrients from these as you do fresh veggies. However, canned and frozen veggies are often an okay alternative. You could simply cut down from eating fresh veggies every night to eating them only half the time and eating canned and frozen the other half. There are often great sales on canned and frozen veggies that fit the bill a little better than fresh veggies. If you absolutely feel disgusted at the thought of eating anything canned or frozen, than just menu plan around what fresh veggies are on sale for the week or grow a garden. As for fruit, by a few types for the week and call it good. You don’t necessarily have to have 5 different types of fruit on hand at all times. Shop what is on sale and stick to that for the week. We often eat a lot of apples and grapes around here and in the winter we sometimes just stick with canned fruit, in water or light syrup of course!
As for meat, you can read my thoughts on that here.
And lastly I would recommend menu planning if you are trying to stick to a budget. Having a plan helps you shop with a purpose and come out buying very little impulse items. One of the things that helps me to menu plan is to have a list of our favorite (staple) meals handy that I can make for the week depending on what is on sale. We have about 30-40 total that I know my family will eat, and most weeks I can make these by shopping the sale items at the store. At least twice a month I try a new recipe to change things up a little a bit and most often the new recipe gets added to our staple list. My menu can often change with the seasons. For example in summer I am more likely to grill and in the winter we eat a lot of soups. I always make my menu based on what the sale items are for the week or what is in my pantry. If I find a good deal at the store on meat I will stock up and use it for the next week. I often have plenty ingredients on hand from great sales that have given me a chance to stock up. Or if I go to Aldi I always make sure to buy the items I need that I know I will not get cheaper anywhere else.
We made our grocery budget based on the bare necessities because that is the place we are in life. So it has been my goal to find good, yet inexpensive meals I can make on our small weekly budget. Below is a list of some web sites and resources I have used:
- The Aldi Queen Blog- I stumbled across this about a year ago and love this blog. It is dedicated to menu ideas that you can make purely by shopping at Aldi.
- Living on a Dime- I also stumbled across this and have found some of the recipes here to be good
- Crystal at Money saving mom does have a great super market savings course where you can find e-books about menu planning and some of her own frugal recipes!
- Miserly moms has a great site here for recipes
These are a few sites to get you started. I plan to write up some of my own recipes and post at a later date, but for now you can check out my menu for the week when I post my weekly menu plan on Mondays.
Above all else in this whole budget process you should pray and ask the Lord what he would desire for your grocery budget. He is always capable of giving us the wisdom we need. And of course if you are married talk with your spouse also and agree on the budget you set forth. Remember a budget is just a guideline and is subject to change from time to time. Please be sure to check out the weekly posts about Dillons and Hy-Vee. My goal in writing these to help you learn what the best price is and become a wise grocery shopper. Happy shopping!
