Groceries are the one item in our budgets that seem to be ever-changing. Groceries are also the one item families typically tend to spend the most money on. With inflation going up, it is hard to stick to a certain dollar amount when it comes to this line item; yet, as always, I’m here to help you and share what has worked for my family of six on sticking to a grocery budget.
What are you spending?
Before you can set up a dollar amount that works well with your family, you need to see how much you actually spend on groceries monthly. For me, this looked like opening our bank account app and writing down the dollar amount of any grocery transaction I saw for one entire month. I am a little embarrassed to say, yet the first time I ever did this (and keep in mind this was before I really got into tracking our spending and making a budget), I calculated we had spent more than $900 in one month on groceries. I could not believe that number. Immediately, I thought about all the different things I could have done with a few hundred extra dollars if I had just spent less.
Create a Dollar Amount
There is no right or wrong value here. This is simply whatever works best for your family so you can have good healthy grocery options in your home while still achieving your financial goals. This might also take some time to gauge how much is reasonable for your family. For our family of six, while we were still paying off our debt, this number looked like $100 a week on groceries. I know what you’re thinking: how in the world did you pay just $100 in groceries a week for such a large family? Luckily, I will share how I saved our family from spending that extra $500 a month!
Plan Your Meals
Spending $900/ month on groceries was easy. There was no planning involved. I would head to the grocery store when I could not come up with anything to make for dinner while I was hungry. Then, whatever I felt like putting in the cart, I would. This was the problem. Just like with your monthly budget where you plan where your money goes, you do the same grocery shopping. This involved planning our weekly meals in advance.
For me, this was sitting down one day a week to take inventory of our freezer and fridge and planning to eat from home before we purchased more food. Often, I would find frozen chicken breasts, hamburgers, or a roast in our freezer that probably would have stayed there if I had not planned to take it out to thaw and use it. It’s so much easier to cook something already defrosted and ready to go, isn’t it? If you first use up that meat in your freezer first before getting more, you will spend less on that month’s worth of groceries!
Read Grocery Store Ads!
Today, you don’t even need to pick up a physical ad. A majority of grocery stores post their ads to their app or on their social media sites—which is great for us busy moms! A great budget-friendly tip is to plan what you will eat for meals any week around what your local grocery store has on sale. If one week they have a great deal on the hamburger, chicken, or other meats of your liking, you will probably be able to grab extra for the following week and still be within your weekly budget for groceries. And, as an added bonus, you will be ahead the next week!
Utilize Grocery Pickup and Shopping Lists
I am certain grocery pickup was invented by a busy mom—there is nothing like saving time than utilizing grocery pickup. You spend less on average and can be in and out of the grocery store parking lot in less than 10 minutes. Utilize this to your advantage while planning your meals for the week! If you are already sitting down meal-planning, hop on your grocery store app and make your pickup order at the same time. If grocery pickup isn’t available to you, just make sure you make your list beforehand and stick to it!
Buy Generic
Generic brands are always cheaper, and most of the time you can’t even tell the difference. However, I will attest my kids can always tell the difference between Jif® and store-brand peanut butter, so our household does not buy generic peanut butter. Even so, you can count on almost every other product in my fridge and pantry being generic. Know which brands you are and are not willing to sacrifice, and purchase everything else generic. A huge money-saving tip: buy generic brand spices! It’s all the same ingredients, just a smaller price tag.
Skip Single-Sized Snacks
This was a hard one for me. With four kids, I am always looking for ways to save my time, and when we were serious about paying off our debt, saving our money took precedence over time. Let me tell you, you will save so much money on snacks if you just buy in bulk or out of the box and prepackage them yourself in Ziploc® bags for your kids. Yes, it does take more of your time. Yet, if you are looking for ways to shrink your grocery budget, save this idea for the next time you go to the grocery store.
Go Paperless
I was spending at least $15 a month on paper towels before I started cracking down on our grocery budget. I decided that instead of purchasing more paper towels, I would go to the dollar store, grab a bunch of small washcloths, and use those for all my cleaning purposes. Yes, I will have to do an extra load of laundry here and there, but it was worth it to our family to have more room in our grocery budget. This is also a great way to “go green.” This rule does not apply to toilet paper, however—make sure you keep room in the budget for TP!
Remember, KerberRose is here to help encourage you in all areas of your life. We want you to reach your financial goals while still enjoying all life has to offer. Saving money in your grocery budget takes a lot of time and planning, and not everything I share here will work for every family. I encourage you to find what works for your family and have fun with it! I am a huge foodie: I love to cook for my family, and I love trying to find recipes that I know won’t break the bank and are still delicious and kid-approved. I share many of these recipes with friends, family, and clients I work with. If you feel stuck coming up with a meal plan to save on groceries, reach out and we can co-create the perfect meal plan for you that won’t break the bank!
About Alex
Alex is one of our financial wellness advocates on our Wealth Management team. She is a mom of four, and her passion is sharing her own personal finance journey from living paycheck to paycheck and drowning in debt to finding financial peace. Alex's unique experience has given her the ability to help families take control of their own personal finances - all while still enjoying what life has to offer.
Contact: alex.miller@kerberrose.com