I managed to cut my food budget in half since last month: from $397.23 to $198.88, for a savings total of $198.35! So, how did I do this? Did I starve myself?
No, not at all. It’s all about planning and being responsible. One of my big problems has always been spending a lot of money on fast food, restaurants and pizza delivery. I have really cut back big on these items in the past few months and the overall food budget certainly reflects this.
The real cutbacks for me happened at the grocery store. First, you should never go shopping while you are hungry. You will end up buying way too much food!
Second, think of who you are shopping for. If you are single like me, keep that in mind when you are thinking of meals to make. It is a total waste to cook a big dinner if only one person is going to be eating it. Sure, you can save the leftovers and eat them later, but some things just aren’t that edible the second day.
Go cheap! It’s alright to buy generic brand items. Stuff like milk, bread and cereal are all great generic purchases. Some items, like cheese and frozen pizzas (these are the only two examples I can think of right now), I simply refuse to buy the generic brands, as they taste significantly different than their name brand counterparts.
This month, I also bought a lot of cheaper products, like Ramen noodles and rice. Zatarain makes some really good rice products which cost about $1-2 each and can easily fill you up. Ramen noodles are great snacks and at $.07 per serving, it’s almost like eating for free!
Also, shop around for products that are on sale or you can buy in bulk. I picked up a package of Tyson chicken nuggets for about $9. There are easily 60-70 nuggets in the package, so if you eat 10 at a time as a meal (like I do), each meal works out to about $1.30, not bad at all!
Another key step for me this month was cutting out soft drinks. If I have them, I will drink anywhere from 2-4 per day. This isn’t really good for your health and before you know it, you have spent a lot of money to keep them stocked in the fridge. I purchased some Gatorade this month (ten 32 oz. bottles for $10) and tea bags and sugar. I have been drinking sweet tea the past week or so. It is very cheap, easy to make and isn’t as bad for you as soft drinks.
Once you have done your shopping, you will now need to do some planning at home. This was always something I didn’t do before, simply because I never thought about it. You should always try to eat the perishable food first (bread, milk, salad stuff, etc.). I can’t tell you how much milk I have had to pour out because it expired and went sour. This is a total waste and you might as well be throwing your money away.
This month, I “ate in order”. I ate all of the bread, milk and salad stuff first, before it expired, so I would get my money’s worth out of it.
With proper planning, you should be able to cut back on your food budget considerably. It is nearing the end of the month now, and as anticipated, I am starting to run low on food (I still have plenty to make it until the end of the month). BTW, when I say “food budget”, I mean food, household stuff (shampoo, cleaning supplies, etc).
How much do you spend on “food” each month?
But then again I have an advantage because I don’t eat chicken or red meat and I am comfortable eating totally meatless or fishless meals three times a week.
Well I do but I can’t think of the last time I actually went grocery shopping since I moved into my new place and I’ve been here for like 6 months! lol