5 tips to save money grocery shopping when money is tight

save money grocery shopping

In 2023, food prices increased by 5.8 percent. Food-at-home prices increased by 5.0 percent, while food-away-from-home prices increased by 7.1 percent —USDA

Phew, supposedly inflation is “cooling” but people are still struggling to make ends meet. It leaves you wondering how to stretch a dollar. I have ___ tips for you today to save money grocery shopping and create meals that our Depression-era grandparents would be proud of!

My shelves are full of vintage cookbooks, specifically from the WWII era. There is much to be learned from those lean times. Homemakers knew how to eke out the most from pocketbooks and meal planning was an important place to start.

Tawra and Jill from Living On A Dime did an interesting YouTube video covering an old family journal that detailed a careful inventory of costs. They discovered that modern culture has a skewed version of inflation at all! Check it out here, a great fresh perspective!

I’m a pro at pinching pennies, and want to help you with these rising prices😀 Starting, with how to save money towards our grocery budget.

No spend month

Have you heard about no spend months? It is a popular trend where people are using up what they have, and making do with what they have. Very much like the old saying, Use It Up, Wear It Out, Make it Do, or Do Without from the Great Depression. Check out Frugal Money Saver to see great tips on planning your own no spend month/week/year.

Let’s get the painful, but clear, first step out of the way before we ever consider saving money at the grocery store. (Don’t shoot the messenger, I am speaking from a constant battle!)

I asked my parents about how they used to stretch a modest one-income salary to raise a family in the 70’s & 80’s. Their number one rule? No one spent what they didn’t have.

The paycheck came, the mortgage and bills were paid, and the rest had to last. If times were tight, then you made do. A far cry from the late 80’s culture I moved into…buy it all now on credit! (a post for another day, sigh)

How many times have we wasted money on the less important things, even charging things like a fast food meal to credit? I am guilty myself, but working to create boundaries to curb that stupidity. Can you relate?

Don’t spend what you don’t have. Establish what you WILL spend money on for the coming week/month. Consider spending cash only. It hurts to pull actual dollars out of a wallet, a lot more than chatting with a cashier and swiping a card…unaware even of the total. Again, guilty…but a work in progress.

5 tips to save money grocery shopping

Food prices make our dollars feel like they don’t stretch as far, but one tip will help them go further! Reverse meal planning means we start with what we already have.

Grab a notepad and see FIRST what needs to be used before it expires. How many times do the leftovers get pushed to the back, or we forget to cook something before it goes bad? This is an integral first step, to stop throwing money away.
Study the grocery ads for loss leaders. Are you familiar with the term “loss leaders”? Check out the far right edge of the grocery circulars. The prices JUST on the right are waaayyyy low. The hope is that people will finish their shopping there, so they entice us with stellar deals. But YOU don’t have to. Stick to the loss leaders. Know your prices for anything else in the ads. They’re often NOT the best deal. This is when you can get stocked up, and even start a rotating pantry (read more here)

Take note of seasonal items. At different times of year take notice of seasonal items. Recently I got a ham, a 5-pound bag of clementines, a bag of baby carrots, and a box of crackers. The total was $12.76! That’s a 59% savings! The ham (loss leader) was $.99 a pound. Much lower than the rest of the year. If you have the space, freeze one. You can dice them slice them and do whatever you want to make a lot more meals. Plus, save the carcass and simmer it with some basic veggies, like onion, carrots, and celery. Throw in a bay leaf, and you’ll have some very rich ( free) stock
Freeze things for a rainy day. You’d be amazed what you can freeze! Butter, cheese, meats, produce. If you can buy it frozen (think dinners) you can probably freeze it. Don’t let things go to the trash…that seems to cost twice. Once for the original purchase, once for the replacement
Keep an inventory. What is cheaper than shopping at a store with inflation prices? Shopping your OWN store, by using the things purchased on sale, in the rotating pantry and freezer. This has saved me SO much money over the last 15 years. When I get distracted and don’t do it? Ugh, the money drains from the budget soooo fast.

Need free printable pantry and freezer inventory sheets, as well as meal planning sheets? I got you! Click here and get started. These will help you use your stuff up and know what you have!

Spend less on groceries by reverse meal planning

Let’s look at two practical menu plans that will stretch those budgets a little further this month. I’ll show you examples using a SALE ham or a chicken. Don’t consider leftovers as meh. It is preplanning for your week, whoo hoo! Less work in the kitchen.

REVERSE meal planning keeps things simple. Instead of browsing cookbooks and then planning meals for the week, use what you have (or plan to get on sale with loss leaders) and create meals around those things. Let the savings already in place dictate the weekly meal plan.

Proverbs 31:27 “She takes good care of her family and is never lazy.” (CEV)

These are only suggestions. PLEASE use what you can find for a good price and modify it. These are simply old-fashioned meals that our grandma might have made. A larger meal can be turned into something new by choosing one large main item, then letting nothing go to waste:

Ham dinner with the fixings
Diced ham and scalloped potatoes
Ham salad
Ham (simmer the bones) and bean soup OR
Corn chowder with ham (bones)
Any kind of casserole using the last of the diced ham to stretch it out…here is a 1942 vintage recipe to try out

Using a whole chicken:

Chicken dinner with the fixings
Chopped chicken and creamy rice
Chicken noodle soup
Chicken enchiladas
Chicken salad
Chicken and dumplings
Simmer bones all day for stock (freezes wonderfully and flat in freezer bags)

Old-fashioned frugal living to save money on groceries

Reframing how we view our circumstances can help when things are challenging. If you are struggling with inflation, job loss, one income family budgeting in hard times? I get it.

Philippians 4:12-13 “I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” (ESV)

With practice and determination, we can save money on our groceries, and still eat nourishing food. These old-fashioned frugal living tips? Hopefully, they give you ideas to implement right away.

My goal this year is to learn from all the people who live on $100 per person per month, and challenge myself to see where there is still room to grow!

Living simply and making the most of what we DO have? That allows us to be thankful for the small things…creating a rich life of what matters, even when the world seems uncertain.