How to Cut Your Grocery Bills by 50%

 

 

High-income American households spend 12.5 percent of their income on food alone; this translates to about $7,023 per annum. In addition, food from grocery costs accounts for over 57 percent of the spending on food – another reason why more and more people are making trips to credit repair companies in your state. Note, this is average spending, meaning that it is not a fixed cost that cannot be reduced.

Just like people cut transportation costs by driving cheaper, fuel-efficient cars; you can also reduce your average food spending. In fact, you can minimize your grocery bill from 50 percent to up to an amazing 90 percent and still eat healthy – while saving thousands of dollars annually. Below are some practical tips that have worked for many other families looking into cutting down on their grocery expenditure.

Plan Meals

Planning meals for an entire month might sound like a daunting task, if you are willing to cut the grocery bill in half, planning your meals is one method. Start out with planning your weekly meals and move up slowly from there. If you are used to heading to the grocery store without a list, you have to rethink your shopping strategy.

Write down your shopping list on a small napkin, in an app or even a big piece of paper. A pre-written list of your groceries acts as a mental cue to check regularly on the stock levels of your groceries. It also helps in reducing spontaneous shopping and encourages planned grocery shopping.

Forego Packed Items

Every time you buy packed items like pre-sliced produce, chips, steamed vegetables and fruit snacks, you pay a premium for the value added. Even if you are not a fan of kitchen chores, peeling your own potatoes at home can save you a lot – even if it is time consuming. In the end, it is worth the effort; and, if you have kids, put them to work.

Shop for Deals

You do not have to make use of coupons to save money at a grocery store. You should be on the lookout for deals and items that you can purchase that are overstocked or discontinued, thus they will be cheaper. Buying items on sale in bulk not only helps keep your pantry well stocked, you also get a great discount.

The deals are not only limited to bagged and canned goods. You can also find great meat deals, which you can buy in bulk and freeze at home. Instead of shopping what you eat for a week, you will only shop for produce that goes bad fast, sale items or perishables.

However, keep an eye out on the expiration dates and mark the products, so you are aware of what has to be eaten first. In addition, if you buy sale items on bulk and never use them, you would have been better off not purchasing them in the first place.

Reduce Meat in Your Diet

For starters, in order for a meal to have enough proteins, it does not need to include meat. Meat is just an expensive way of getting that protein fix. It is time you consider the alternatives.

For example, the average adult needs to consume about 75 grams of protein daily. A meal of beans and rice can give the complete protein amount required at no additional costs. Another tasty and economical way of adding proteins to your meals is through consuming eggs – and they have the highest quality protein.

Reduce Grocery Store Trips

If you are in the habit of driving down to the grocery store several times in a week, then you are spending more money than you should because of impulse purchases. You need to cut down your visits to as few as one. Once you reduce your trips, you buy more efficiently and focus on sale items that can save you a significant amount of money.