Living Frugally: Save Money in the Kitchen and at the Grocery Store

The easiest place to start to save money in most households is the food budget. Unlike mortgage payments and other big, fixed expenses, food costs are variable so you have more control over what you spend. Depending on your lifestyle and personal preferences, there are a lot of ways you can save on your food budget, from planting a garden to coupon clipping.

The tips below will give you some ideas, but have fun and experiment to come up with your own ways to save. You'll be rewarded with instant gratification because you'll be able to count your savings after your very first trip to the grocery store.

Start by looking at your current grocery expenses. Go through your checkbook, credit card receipts, or debit card receipts for the past few months to see how much you normally spend at the grocery store. Next, set a short-term goal of decreasing this amount by ten percent, something that should be easy to do. Continue to trim by ten percent each month until you no longer feel comfortable cutting back.

Save in the Kitchen

Before you go to the grocery store look at what - and where - your family eats each day. If you eat out several times a week, you could save money by eating at home more often. If you and your children eat lunch out every day, you could save fifty or a hundred dollars a week by taking sack lunches instead.

Do you use a lot of prepackaged and convenience meals? Cooking from scratch saves money. Homemade foods taste better and tend to have less fat, salt, and preservatives than prepackaged foods. And cooking from scratch isn't as difficult as it looks. Look for a good cookbook of easy meals and begin experimenting in the kitchen. Make it a family project, with mom and dad and the children all pitching in to put together a meal.

If you don't have time during the week to cook, devote one day each weekend to preparing meals to put in the freezer. Not only will you save time during the week, you won't be tempted to grab some fast food, since you only have to pull a package from the freezer to have a home cooked meal.

How to Stretch Meals

Consider how you can make each meal go further. If you serve more vegetables on the side, will the main dish stretch to two meals? Can you use leftovers from dinner to pack in lunches?

A large cut of meat such as a ham, a roast, or a chicken, can furnish ingredients for several meals. Turn leftovers into pot pies, tacos, burritos, stir fries, and casseroles for fresh new meals. When you sit down to decide menus for the week or month, remember these "planned overs."

Try a vegetarian dish one day a week or more. Vegetarian meals are healthy and generally very inexpensive. Even die-hard meat lovers usually like bean burritos, vegetable lasagna, or a hearty vegetable soup.

Grow Your Own Food - and Plan Ahead

Considering growing some of your food in a garden or in planters on a deck or patio. Even a pot of fresh herbs can add variety and freshness to meals.

Plan menus for one or two weeks - or even a month's worth of meals. Include some family favorites and add new dishes. Writing down menus helps avoid wasting food, gives you the security of knowing what's for dinner each day, and helps you plan your grocery shopping to take advantage of sales.

By following these simple tips and incorporating ideas until you find what works best for you, you'll be able to save more money on food and have more financial freedom in other areas of your life.