How to Save on Your Grocery Budget

Food is a must in everyone's budget, and grocery spending can easily get out of control. These steps and tips will help you get your grocery budget under control and help you get the most for your money.

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The first step in reigning in your spending at the grocery store is to use what you have already. Take an inventory of your cabinets, pantry, fridge, and freezer. Once you have done a complete inventory, you can simply keep it up to date. This will help in two ways. First, checking your cupboards will allow you to plan to use up what you all ready have rather than buying more. Secondly, it will keep you from buying repeats of items already stocked. Honestly, how many times have you bought a can of vegetables to find you already have several or start dinner to find you are out of a staple? While stocking up on sale items can be wise, be reasonable. Most people have no need to have a year's supply of mayonnaise on hand.

Make a Meal Plan

Sit down with your inventory, current sales flier for your local grocer (often available free online), pen, paper, and maybe some cookbooks. First, look at your inventory and see what meals you can make just from this. Jot these meals down on your paper. You'll probably be surprised what you can do with what is on hand at the end of a week. Next, look through the sale flier and make note of good deals on foods you use. Come up with additional meals based on sales and your inventory. At this point you should have most if not all your meals planned for the week. Make sure to fill in any holes you have in your meal plan. Frugal recipes will stretch your dollar. Remember to plan for snacks and possible leftovers. Use your cookbook if you need ideas.

Stick to Your List

Write a list based on your meal plan. Remember to take into account the items in your inventory. Organize your list based on how your grocery store is set up. Group like things together such as canned vegetables, fresh produce, meats etc. This will make your shopping trip easier. Most importantly, if it is not on your list, just say no.

Set a Budget

Setting a limit to your spending is key. Trying to stay under your budget is great, but just saying your going to spend as little as possible gives little success, as it is easy for little things to add up. A budget will give you a clear goal to keep your spending in check.