Tips for Cutting Your Food Budget

Cutting back on your grocery bill is one of the easiest ways to save money in your budget. But most people don't know where to begin. Here are a few simple steps that can help you save money.

First, find out exactly what you typically spend on groceries, and look for things that seem exceptionally high. In my family, we eat a lot of Tex-Mex food, and use a lot of cheese. But shredded cheese is quite expensive. By switching to a bigger variety of foods, we're able to cut down on that one item, which saved us nearly $5. Also, we figured out the exact cost of making a sandwich, and adding an apple and carrot. Then we compared it to what the school was charging for a lunch. We saved nearly $3 a day on school lunches, simply by making our own. That adds up to $15 a week, or $60 a month. And there's no need to worry about them hating what they got, because they decide the type of lunch meat, the veggie, and the fruit. With a plastic container, they can even bring leftovers from the night before.

Next, find out if any place in town offers double or triple coupons. Even if it's only valid on a certain day, it may be worth it to shop there and switch your shopping day and store. Be forewarned that sometimes the store makes up for those double and triple coupons by having higher prices in the first place, so check to see if their prices are reasonable.

It won't help to clip coupons if you don't bring them. So as soon as you get them, clip the ones you might use, and then put them in your car's glovebox. That way, even if you forget them, you'll only have to run out to the car to retrieve them, rather than going all the way home.

It also pays to comparison shop at the grocery stores in town. Go to all the different chains on different weeks, and get the same items. For example, get eggs, milk, ground beef, and cereal, but get the exact same ones at each store. You can do the rest of your shopping on another trip, but comparison shop the same items so that's all that's on that receipt. At the end of several weeks, compare those receipts and see if one store is consistently cheaper on most items. If so, it's clear that could be the best place for you to shop.

Buying generics is a great way to save. A lot of people complain that they don't like the taste, or they want the name brand for certain things. And I can understand that. There isn't much similarity between real Oreos and generic sandwich cookies. But limit it to certain items. Some grocery stores such as Super Target have really begun to specialize in interesting generics, such as a goat milk and spinach pizza at Super Target. Instead of paying $10 for the name brand specialty pizzas and having a limited selection, you can get interesting specialty generic pizzas, and many different varieties at that.

Finally, consider basing the meals on what's on sale that week. Maybe there's a great deal on sausage and celery. It could be a great time to play with making jambalaya. By changing your meal to fit what's on sale, you can not only experiment with different types of cuisine, but save money in the process.

By knowing where your budget stands, where you can realistically cut back, and using smart shopping practices, you can slash your food bill. Some people are truly experts, and manage to get entire carts of groceries for only a few dollars, but these are more realistic steps that can help everyone save a lot of money on their food bill.