How are you saving money on food?

[Anonymous]

DCUM probably isn’t the best place to ask this, but what are people doing to save on groceries? I’ve already given up organic.

[Anonymous]

Shopping sales only and making meals from the sales.

One meatless meal per week, at least.

Eat the cheaper vegetables which are in season.

I'm "old poor" so make things like salmon cakes, meatloaf, and meatballs to extend meat with either quick cooking oats or breadcrumbs.

[Anonymous]

I do same as PP, but also recommend:

- Watch for sales on shelf stable or freezer products you eat often and stock up when they're cheaper. I only buy chicken in the big family packs on sale and freeze for future weeks.

- Make sure you're buying the cheapest brand. I love greek yogurt but it's pricey so I get at Costco or rotate brands to buy whatever is cheapest that week.

- Look out for substitutes. Can you eat a cheaper brand of condiment, cereal or cheese or whatever and not notice a difference?

- Meal plan so the fridge is empty come grocery day and you reduce
food waste.

[Anonymous]

Buy rice in bulk, either learn to cook it or invest in a rice cooker. If you have time, cook beans from scratch. Don't overdo it on fresh fruit (they go bad quickly), they are often filled with sugar and are not as healthy as vegetables (not saying stop eating fruit, just eat a bit less).

[Anonymous]

In 2024, I went vegan for a whole year for health reasons and my weekly (or bi-weekly) groceries were $50-$75 max. It was incredible.

If you or your family can't give up meat entirely, try the bulk delivery subscriptions. They come out to be so much cheaper per lb., but you do need ample freezer space.

[Anonymous]

We buy certain things at Trader Joe's than where we usually shop (Safeway). At Trader's we get things like:
*pasta
*jarred pasta sauce
*tomato paste
*frozen fruits + vegetables

At Safeway, we review the ad in advance, click on all of the deals on the app + "cycle buy" the things on sale for a particular week. We eat very little meat.

At CVS, we review the adds online + wait to get paper products, shampoos detergent, etc. with 2 for 1 deals or 40% off coupons.

We live in DC so we don't go to Cosco, Aldis, Wal-Mart or anywhere like that.

Husband and I both grew up kind of poor, so we know how to save and are both kind of cheap. We are multi millionaires but still live like we're poor ourselves other than frequent travel + private school for our kid.

[Anonymous]

I meal plan and make sure the fridge is cleaned out before going grocery shopping. No more impulse buys or getting exotic ingredients that will only be used once. But honestly our biggest savings has come from cutting out restaurants.

[Anonymous]

Meal plan well so that there aren't a lot of leftovers that get wasted. Use leftovers wisely. Cutting back on food trash saves so much money.

Buy ground meat and mix it 50/50 with beans or lentils. Chili (mixed ground beef or turkey with kidney beans), tacos (mixed ground beef or turkey with pinto beans), meatloaf (mixed ground beef or turkey with brown lentils), etc.

Use frozen vegetables whenever possible, they're a lot cheaper than fresh (especially since they don't go bad so there's generally a lot less waste), and just as nutritious.

When spring comes around, grow your own herbs. It's really not hard, and SO much cheaper than buying bundles of fresh herbs.

[Anonymous]

We are UMC, Asian immigrants and are still eating the way we always ate. However, for cultural and health reasons - our food bills continues to be very manageable.

1) Eating less at restaurants.
2) Shopping at Costco, WF, Wegmans and the Indian and Asian stores.
3) Cooking from scratch for most things
4) Buying meat in bulk.
5) Meals with lots of beans, lentils, and whole grains like - Amaranth, quinoa, millets.
6) Zero junk food - no packaged snacks like chips, cookies, soda
7) No booze. No juice.
8) Learning to cook veggies that are "exotic" to us from other cultures.
9) Lots of veggies incorporated in food - salads (all from scratch, never buy kits), soups, stirfried to eat alone and added into fried rice.
10) Setting our own yogurt at home. Very inexpensive. Making our own ghee and paneer.
11) Making our own bread, tortillas, rotis
12) Sprouting seeds and beans to use like veggies.
13) Making cold pressed green juice every day to supplement our nutrition.
14) Buying organic eggs, dairy, meat, fruits.
15) Not buying too many bakery items, chocolates, cheese etc. All of these are treats.

[Anonymous]

I am not great, could be better. My biggest food saving is reducing the amount we go out to eat. In the past year or so I've gotten better about freezing leftovers etc. When you're making your grocery shopping list, try to shop your pantry / freezer first - meal plan recipes using ingredients you already have there if you can. I do make somewhat cheaper things like using ground meats and breakfast for dinner regularly. I am not sure this is saving money [yet], but my new year's resolution is to do one meatless day a week.

This was a good blog post:

Worried About Grocery Spending? Stop Trying to Be Creative, Just Be Consistent
https://www.ynab.com/blog/grocery-spending

[Anonymous]

--Aldi
--meal planning so you can buy in bulk rather than buying small packages that cost more per oz
--only buy in season produce
--eat leftovers (I am shocked by how many people refuse to eat leftovers)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We buy certain things at Trader Joe's than where we usually shop (Safeway). At Trader's we get things like:
*pasta
*jarred pasta sauce
*tomato paste
*frozen fruits + vegetables

At Safeway, we review the ad in advance, click on all of the deals on the app + "cycle buy" the things on sale for a particular week. We eat very little meat.

At CVS, we review the adds online + wait to get paper products, shampoos detergent, etc. with 2 for 1 deals or 40% off coupons.

We live in DC so we don't go to Cosco, Aldis, Wal-Mart or anywhere like that.

Husband and I both grew up kind of poor, so we know how to save and are both kind of cheap. We are multi millionaires but still live like we're poor ourselves other than frequent travel + private school for our kid.

That part is so not needed. You don't have to be defensive about how you spend YOUR money.

[Anonymous]

I am also shocked by people who refuse to eat leftovers. I take my lunch to work and often it’s a hodge podge of bits of leftovers on a bed of greens or over rice. I save SO much money that way and I truly do enjoy it (aka I’m not suffering)

My coworkers doordashing $100/week for 5 lunches look at me like I’m the crazy one.

[Anonymous]

I second the Safeway sales tips. I use the app religiously and get the most out of the rewards points. They also have a sale section in the meat and if you hit it right, you can get a sale and then an extra 50% off from a manager’s special.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I second the Safeway sales tips. I use the app religiously and get the most out of the rewards points. They also have a sale section in the meat and if you hit it right, you can get a sale and then an extra 50% off from a manager’s special.

As cheap as I am, I don't do that one. I don't buy old meat (manager's special is usually on meat items at my Safeway).