Are you looking to save some extra cash each month? Who isn’t? Fortunately, one of the easiest and cheapest ways to save money is to start by looking at your grocery bill. In the United States, the average family of 4 spends nearly $1000 per month on groceries. Fortunately there is a easy solution to this problem and all it takes is about 15-30 minutes a week.
When looking for ideas to help cut our grocery bill, I found a new website Spend Smart Eat Smart. It was created by a dietitian at Iowa State University.
At this website, you can find ideas and tools to:
PLAN YOUR SHOP:
Shopping at the Store
Preparing Meals
There is even a blog where people can write in and discuss there food buying ideas and cooking tips.
I especially think PLAN AHEAD portion of the website is valuable for saving money. Studies have shown that when you make a shopping and meal plan for your family and grocery shop according to that plan, trips to the grocery store will cost a significant amount less. In fact, families on average report saving %10-15 on groceries when they go to the store with a list on paper for buying food for planned meals. With your plan in hand, you are more likely to resist one of the most expensive habits of grocery shoppers, impulse buying.
It’s simple, plan ahead and save. For 30 minutes a week you can save $100 a month, or $1200 a year. Now that’s a tasty deal!
For more information, either visit the website or watch this video to lean more: http://www.kcci.com/video/18817115/index.html
All I need to do is stop eating out 5 times a week. Bet that’d save me some money
Comment by Bob Jones — July 26, 2009 @ 4:33 AM
that’s one way to do it
Ever since I started discovering good wholesome ingredients and took a chance and started to learn how to cook, I feel like I can make meals better than what they serve at many restaurants, of course, maybe that just speak to the type of restaurant I go to
Comment by D — July 27, 2009 @ 12:58 PM
$1000/month for a family of four that’s $250/week. That is more than 2x what I spend to feed a family of 4. On a bad week I spend $100, generally I spend between $60-80/week to feed us. I shop at the local market, buy local produce, milk and meat. I even buy organic and earth friendly products. I don’t buy junk food, I don’t buy prepared foods, or convenience foods, I don’t even buy canned soup, because you can make soup for pennies on the dollar. We do eat vegetarian once a week, and I need to do a better job menu planning as we do often find we need just one more ingredient (those are the bad weeks where I spend $100 on food). We also almost never go out to eat. I can’t stand to pay $20 for a plate of food, its too much for me.
Comment by Tree — November 4, 2009 @ 10:36 AM
It’s also a fantastic concept to search out out if you ever can use coupons in blend with shop discount cards or on items which might be currently marked down.
Comment by Bijenkorf — March 9, 2011 @ 11:27 AM