Before I continue further, I need to confess that I am an amazing cook (yes, I’m one of those lucky few who possess the skills to know exactly how to cook everything in their head but never put it in action). This piece is done through research, observing what my wife does and asking her questions.
I must be the luckiest person on the face of this planet. I have an incredible wife, who not only cooks for the family but showed me that we can actually be financially and physically healthy by just eating at home! Let me share with you some of the benefits.
Never Overspend
Unlike common practice, we never buy the largest container for sale just because the unit price is lower. We found that buying in bulk usually just means we consume more (ex. If we had a bigger container of salt, each spoon full would be just a bit “fuller”).
Ever since that realization, we started buying smaller packages. Not only did this save us a few bucks, we also noticed that we started slimming down. It must be less ice-cream and Coke at night!
Decide Our Menu Based Upon Items On Sale
Well, I make it sound like I decide the menu but it’s actually my wife that does the thinking since she is the expert (I do make requests from time to time but I rarely have any ideas).
More often than not, we go to the grocery store without even knowing what we will buy. It’s not that we don’t like planning, but we would often decide what we will eat based on what’s on sale. Beyond the obvious financial benefit, we actually like the surprises this brings us.
Eating Out or Bringing Home Take Out
Now that we eat at home most of the time, we eat out less often. I work at home and Emma even prepares a lunch box for me from the night before! It’s not always the money that I save, but the hassle and time that I could spend elsewhere that I really cherish!
Save Some Gas
I heard that there are some grocery stores that allow you to shop online! I haven’t tried it but I just don’t know if I like that idea. In theory, you could save some gas but they charge you for delivery (some stores have promotional offers to waive the delivery fee). I can see this working for those that buy the same type of groceries but this convenience might be “too easy” which makes us buy even more!
What we do to save gas is that we will almost never go make a trip just to the grocery store. We buy groceries on our way home from doing something else, or Emma would go there on her way home from work. We just add it as another activity of the day, instead of making a ton of separate trips.
Coupons are Everywhere
Through the mail and the Internet, coupons are all over the place and is practically available for everything! Nowadays, I almost never buy something without first trying to search for a coupon. I actually find it quite fun to read the mailings and see what’s on sale. Sure it’s advertisements, but since groceries don’t really entice me to buy that much (unlike golf clubs for example), I find that looking at advertisements from grocery stores are okay!
There’s Got to Be More
So I shared some ways that our family benefits with our “groceries” habits, now it’s your turn! What do you do to save money on food and what are your thoughts on what we do? Of special interest is actually the online grocery experience since I wouldn’t mind trying it out one day. Let us know!
Promote or Save This Article
If you like this article, please consider bookmarking or helping us promote it!
Print Post | Email Post | Del.icio.us | Stumble it! | Reddit |
Related Posts
- Money Management
- Best of Personal Finance Blog by MoneyNing – November 2008
- The Importance of Knowing You Are Spending Intelligently
- I Could Use Someone Else’s Credit Card to Buy My Groceries
- Personal Finance Garbage
Subscribe! (and Get a Mini-Course with Free Registration)
Follow me on twitter! In addition, subscribe to grab free amazing content or take advantage of the newsletter to have content delivered to you. For starters, a 7-part mini course to help you spend less and be happy will be delivered to you when you subscribe!(Don't worry about spam, because we hate it as much as you do!)
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Good sharing! I always buy a big bag because it’s on sale. I just realized that I might waste most of the money from letting it sit in my kitchen for over weeks and throw them away eventually! It sounds like you are the luckiest guy to find such a “cost-effective” wife! : )
Emily: I am lucky but not just because my wife is “cost-effective”! I happen to love her very much because she is who she is!
Coupons are you friend
I love taking advantage of coupons when they’re plastered all over forums. Makes things free or very cheap!
-Mike
I do buy in bulk, and just for a single person household. But I think I must have that ‘hoarder’ mentality…I do not want to have to buy more of it, so I dole it out very slowly. So buying in bulk does NOT cause me to go thru more of it.
I cook extra, always from scratch, and dole the leftovers out into single serving meals. Most of those go into the freezer at work for future lunches, and some into the home freezer for quick meals instead of eating out.
My cupboards are always well stocked, so there is never any running to the store for something – even tho the store is within walking distance.
I quit drinking soda pop, and now I don’t need to go to the store twice a week for pop. I find I can easily go a month without going to the store
Grow a garden! This little bitty garden of mine is now approaching 400 lbs of produce this year! Get a dehydrator, a freezer, or learn to can!
Experiment with winter gardening – I’ve been just amazed at what is still growing here even tho we’ve had several freezes! Fresh greens, peas, root crops! Even lettuce and radishes!
Coupons, shopping the sales, stocking up during sales, cooking more at home — that’s what we have been focusing on. I want to start a garden next year to cut down on vegetable costs and to have some vegetables with some flavour.
Edible Landscaping…forgot to mention that one. I’m slowly taking out the lawn and replacing it with edible landscaping. My grocery store just outside my door!
We don’t buy much in bulk either, mostly for the same reason. I use The Grocery Game, which has small fee but is worth the money because of how nicely laid out their lists are, and also weekly fliers from some of our smaller grocery chains in the area. We eat what’s on sale, especially when it comes to fresh produce, and we eat at home. Going out to sit down restaurants just isn’t worth it, usually – the food isn’t that much tastier, it’s almost always less healthy, and there’s the tip to be included in our cost as well.
Another way to save money on groceries is to eat less.
Considering the challenges we have in this country with obesity, a little cutting back in overall calories probably wouldn’t hurt.
Hi.
I always do shopping lists and try to stick to them. I do price comparison and buy less expensive brands.
Buying in bulk may have the effect of spending more but with control it can save me some money, besides, I never buy fresh products in bulk, only things like detergents, oil, pasta, etc.
I try to buy concentrate products, dilute them in water in smaller bottles and hide the big bottles, so I forget I have more product, and this works, no more the psychological effect of spending more because you see more.
I also focus on cooking home from scratch but we love eating out too. I´m trying to balance things, instead of reducing drastically one of our greatest pleasures.
Most times, at dinner I cook soups and meals that are good in the next day for lunch.
I wish I could grow a veg garden, that would save me alot but I live in a flat. That´s what I brag about in My Countryhome blog, lol.
Meal planning is my next step but I will plan weekly, not daily.
A good weekend.
Like the previous commenter said, keeping and sticking to a grocery shopping list is an excellent way to curb spending at the grocery store.
My girlfriend and I faithfully stick to an “index card system” whereby we write down anything we deplete in the kitchen and ONLY buy those items the next time we have to run to the store. Well, those items plus her $5 Starbucks coffee, but we’re working on that one…
One who is talented in the kitchen can definitely whip up something good within a budget. A good idea would be to use those budget meal recipes and then substitute some of the ingredients with stuff that are on sale. We have tried this and it really saved us some fast cash, although it will require someone who has a experience in the culinary arts to make this work, not to mention someone who has a bit of time to plan all of these for the whole week.