So I’m pretty sure we all have realized the growing cost of groceries and just living in general. Sometimes it may feel hard to keep your head above water in the economy today. I completely understand.
Around a year ago I was getting tired of seeing our grocery bill each week. It was almost always going over the budget we had set which didn’t make sense to me.
For the most part I cook everything from scratch. We rarely buy pre-made or packaged foods. I try to buy groceries as healthy as I can but not in excess. (We all are learning that balance in this season.)
So why was our grocery bill so high?
I decided to do some price matching at different stores, try out new shopping places, buckle down on my meal planning, and reevaluate my shopping habits. It started to work a little but not in a significance I was wanting to see.
Then I decided to start only shopping every two weeks. And this helped our grocery bill so much!
Shopping every two weeks made me be more disciplined with planning out meals, shopping my pantry and fridge, and matching up ingredients to last us those two weeks before I would go back to the store. Now I can even go three weeks sometimes without going to the grocery store.
If this seems impossible or even stressful for you, I understand. I was right there too at first.
But implementing this decision into our life has truly helped cut our grocery budget in half!
I’m going to share some practical tips and tricks below to help you start shopping every two weeks too. But I know you are probably wondering about numbers. Because I would too! And I think it would be helpful to share with you as you begin this journey.
A year ago I was mainly shopping at Kroger and sometimes Walmart for our groceries. And our weekly grocery bill was averaging from around $200 to $300 depending on if we needed household items, diapers, or anything else that didn’t include just food.
Now I shop at Aldi every two weeks with a quick run to Walmart or sometimes Kroger to grab a few things I can’t find at Aldi. And for those two weeks our grocery bill is the same as it used to be every week, $200 to $300. So that’s $100 to $200 every week for a family of four! And that always includes diapers and extra purchases besides groceries.
So these things do help save you money! And here’s how you can start saving money on your grocery bill too.
Meal planning is essential.
There is no way you can step into the grocery store with the intention of only shopping every two weeks without a well thought out plan.
I will sit down a day or two before my shopping day and plan out every meal for the next two weeks. That way I know what the plan is and I try not to stray from that.
Combine ingredients when you are planning.
When you sit down to make your meal plan try to use the same ingredients multiple times during the next few weeks. If you are making a whole roasted chicken on Monday, there will more than likely be leftovers. Shred the chicken and use it in chicken Alfredo the next night. And if there are more leftovers use those for chicken gravy on Wednesday.
The same goes for any other ingredient you buy. Instead of buying five different kinds of cheeses to use in recipes just by a few and make recipes with those. Or if you need spinach for one recipe plan another recipe a few days later to use the rest of the spinach.
Hopefully you get the idea!
Make the recipes that use fresh produce at the beginning of week one.
I don’t know about you but I use to always have produce go bad in my fridge. It was just hard for me to measure how long it would stay fresh. So now that I’m shopping every two weeks I want to make sure I don’t waste any of my groceries.
So make sure to use your fresh fruits and veggies first in your meal plan. Then you can save frozen broccoli and canned corn to use later in the two weeks.
Buy in bulk when possible.
This is great for things like flour, sugar, baking soda, rice, meats, and spices. Most of the time it costs cheaper overall and will cut down your bi-weekly grocery budget.
Plan mostly simple meals.
If you are making recipes with only a few ingredients it is going to save you money. Yes, it’s fun to experiment with new, detailed recipes, but it’s not going to be best to do this every evening for dinner.
I like to stick to simple recipes that use mostly what I already have stocked in my pantry, fridge, or freezer. And it saves me so much time in the kitchen too.
I actually put together a whole recipe book together last year that is filled with some of my favorite 30 minute dinner recipes that will save you time and money in the kitchen! You can grab it here and make meal planning easy!
Save and freeze what you can.
Always stay on top of what’s in your fridge. If you have some leftover chicken that has been sitting in there too long, shred it and freeze it. The same goes for old fruit or veggies. You can even freeze leftover rolls, cookies, soups, and more to use for future meals.
There are so many more tips and tricks I could share on how I shop every two weeks and save money on our grocery bill but those are the big ones.
If you want to know more and maybe have me go more in detail on what a shopping trip looks like for me, let me know! I would love to do more posts on this topic because I know it’s something that we could all use help on right now.
And if there is any tips or tricks you have on saving money on your grocery bill comment them below. We all need to help each other out on this homemaking journey!
Are you ready to make dinner time easier?
This cookbook is filled with 30 thirty minute dinner recipes with serving suggestions and tips to help you save time and money in the kitchen!
