Reducing the Food Bill in Retirement

How to cut food costs as a retiree varies little from how to cut your food bill at any stage of life. There are practical steps that can be taken to lessen the impact of food costs on the budget. Some of them are easy, and some are hard and unpleasant for some people.

Develop the hobby of clipping coupons. I call this a hobby because to be effective, it requires more than just cutting them out of the ads. If they are not organized by type and date, you will never have the correct coupons at your disposal. You will will be always discarding many that you forgot to use before they expired.

In retirement, you should have the time to do this right. Clip coupons of products that you regularly use. If a different brand offers a better discount, buy it at least once to see if you like it. Be careful not to become so involved with coupons that you miss bargains that are better than your coupon discount. Watch for stores that offer double and triple value for coupons on certain days.

Buy things you use when they are on deep discount sales. If you buy several, you may not have to purchase them again until the next sale comes. Buy your meat in bulk or larger family packs that are less per pound. You can separate these into smaller packages at home before freezing.

Sometimes you can buy canned goods by the case at large price reductions. Establish a room in your house to use as a store. Stock it and move items as needed from here to your pantry. Keep an inventory. Carry it with you. When you shop, look for bargains of items that might run low over the next few weeks and buy them up.

In summer, if you have room, plant a garden. The first year will be a little more costly, but after you have your canning equipment, you can save significant money. If you only have a small yard, plant some tomatoes. A few plants will give you your supply for about 6 months. If you have space and time, plant some fruit trees about 5-10 years before retirement. This will produce with little maintenance for many years.

Reduce the number of trips that you make to shop for groceries. It will reduce your car expenses. You may even be able to work out a car pool for this. Going fewer times will also reduce impulse buying of things that you don't really need. Eat before you shop. This will limit the number of snack and unneeded items that you purchase. If you work from a list, it will also reduce your purchases and help keep you from missing things that you need.

Eat most of your meals at home. This will lower the cost per meal, and give you times when you eat for "free" on the left overs. You can also buy lesser goods like generic brands and hot dogs instead of hamburger. You can freeze bread when you buy extra. If your income is extremely low, swallow your pride and get food stamps.