Outside of housing and transportation, Americans spend more on food than anything else. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average household spends $5,703 annually on food in the home (not including takeout and dining out). That figure is more than $1,000 higher than three years ago.
While food is an essential expense — you have to eat to survive, after all — you can lower your grocery costs while still enjoying great-tasting and nutritious meals. Here are 22 ideas for saving on food purchases to get you started.
How to Save Money on Groceries
Ready to start trimming your grocery costs? Read on.
1. Have a Plan
Before you craft your grocery list, it’s wise to plan what meals and snacks you want to prepare for the week or weeks ahead. If you write it all down and then create your shopping list, you’re less likely to forget key items for certain recipes. You’ll know exactly what you need when you enter the store and will be less inclined to wander the aisles and pick up impulse purchases.
2. Scan Your Fridge
While you’re making your meal plan, check your pantry and refrigerator for items you already have on hand. Not only can you avoid buying duplicates, but you may find some hidden veggies in the fridge you’d forgotten about. You can put them to good use before they spoil.
3. Go Semi-Vegetarian
Meat tends to be one of the most expensive ingredients in many meals. But there are plenty of tasty recipes out there that use other sources of protein, such as beans, eggs, and tofu. Also, don’t count out using tasty veggies or grains as the star of a dish.
Planning just one or two meatless meals each week can automatically cut your food spending — and also help you eat a little healthier. You might start by searching online for “Meatless Mondays” recipes and seeing what inspires you.
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4. Stick to a Grocery Budget
If you don’t include your groceries when making your budget, you may want to consider doing so. It can help you track exactly how much you’re spending and where you can cut back (like those cookies or snacks you may not always need but are in the habit of buying). Or you might realize that the fancy coffee beans you usually buy cost way more than the excellent French roast ones at your supermarket. By looking at the numbers, you’ll gain valuable insights.
5. Use Only Cash
Do you “get inspired” when you’re at the supermarket and find yourself snagging a container of pricey cashews here and some fancy cheese there, even though they aren’t on your list? It can be easier to overbuy when you use a credit card for your purchases. By paying with cash or your debit card, you can often do a better job of sticking to your grocery list.
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6. Outsmart the Supermarket Selling Tactics
Grocery stores use a number of marketing tricks to get shoppers to spend more. These include stocking the most expensive items on the shelves right at your eye level, using end caps to grab your attention, and placing staples like milk, eggs, and bread at the back of the store so you’re forced to pass through several aisles of delicious food to get to them.
You can avoid falling for these marketing ploys by carrying a list (and sticking to it), and also by keeping your eyes on the upper and lower shelves, as this is where you’ll tend to find the more affordable brands.
7. Go Generic
Brand name products in the supermarket can often cost considerably more than store brands. Yet many store brands offer essentially the same quality as their brand name counterparts, and in some cases are produced at the same facilities (just packaged with a different label). One recent report found that you can save up to 40% by buying store brand. In other words, you could almost cut some grocery expenses in half.
While not all store brands are built the same, it’s worth trying a few if you’re grocery shopping on a budget. If you find that you can’t tell the difference, you may be able to enjoy some solid savings.
8. Use Store Loyalty Apps
If you shop at a large grocery store chain or mass retailer, you can often get special promotions and additional savings by downloading the store’s app.
Target, Walmart, Wegmans, Whole Foods, and other major stores have apps and programs that offer exclusive coupons to frequent shoppers. Often, taking advantage of these deals is as simple as letting the cashier scan a barcode on your phone as you’re checking out.
9. Prune Your Produce
Before you put fruits and veggies in the plastic bag and head to the register, you may want to take a moment to remove any stalks, leaves, or stems that aren’t edible. Since you’re paying by weight, anything that you remove to lower the weight lowers the price.
10. Shop In Season
Fruits and vegetables tend to be cheaper, and also taste better when they are in season locally. While you may be able to purchase fresh strawberries year-round, they’ll likely be more expensive (and less sweet) in the winter when they’re being harvested and shipped from somewhere far away.
You can check out this seasonality chart to find out when foods are in their prime where you live, and then adjust your menu planning accordingly.
11. Avoid Pre-Cut Products
If you just love that bag of grated cheese, you may want to consider comparing it to the price of the non-grated block. There’s a big difference in price, and grating cheese is really not a daunting task. The same goes for precut fruits and vegetables. Sure, they’re handy for snacking, but extra money in your savings account could be nicer. The same goes for salad kits and similar items that wind up costing you for the convenience.
12. Eat Before You Shop
Yes, this may be a common tip, but it’s a good one. Going grocery shopping while hungry can increase your chance of impulse buying. Expensive snacks can look especially enticing.
Shopping after you’ve already had a meal is a great way to keep any hunger pains from adding items to your shopping cart.
13. Keep an Eye on Unit Price
Comparing price and value can be tough when items don’t come in the same size. When in doubt, you can always turn to unit prices, which are often listed on the shelf tag. Unit price gives you an apples-to-apples comparison, such as ounces to ounces or liters to liters.
For example, the cheapest bottle of olive oil on the shelf might not be the best value. If you bought a larger one, it might cost a few bucks more, but its overall cost per ounce is lower, saving you more in the long run.
14. Use Rewards Credit Cards
Some credit cards offer extra cash back for groceries and even eating out. If you use one of these cards for your purchase, you could end up saving a pretty nice amount of money each month — sometimes as much as 5% depending on which card you carry.
Recommended: Examining the Price of Eating at Home vs Eating Out
15. Shop at Discount Grocery Stores
Some stores are simply more economically priced than others. According to one recent study, shoppers say these stores offer the best grocery deals for your buck: Food 4 Less (a subsidiary of Kroger), BJs, WinCo Foods, Giant Eagle, Grocery Outlet, Market Basket, Wegmans, Aldi, Costco, and Sam’s Club. There are a lot of Trader Joe’s fans out there as well.
Meal planning entails thinking ahead and creating a menu for the week, then using your menu to create a shopping list. You don’t have to plan every meal to the letter, but picking a few simple recipes you can whip up for dinner can save you from having to get take-out after a long workday.
Recommended: How Much Should I Spend on Food a Month?
16. Join a Wholesale Club
You might have noticed that a few of the stores mentioned in the tip above are wholesale clubs or warehouse clubs. These chains typically charge an annual membership fee. In return, you’re likely to find large, institutional size grocery items at discounted prices.
If it feels like too big a quantity for your household alone to get through before the food goes bad, you might partner with a friend. You can split the costs and share the bounty that you buy.
17. Buy in Bulk
Another way to shave down your grocery bill is to consider buying in bulk. Often, these retailers have a green angle and promote reusable packaging (such as bring your own container policies or using glass and metal vessels) to buy everything from nuts to cereal to pasta to olive oil from jumbo bins. The savings on packaging can be passed along, making these purchases more affordable. You may hear these stores referred to as refilleries; search this directory of refilleries for one near you.
Recommended: Does Buying in Bulk Save Money?
18. Reduce Food Waste
The average U.S. household wastes 38% of the food it buys, according to Feed America. That’s a huge number, totaling $92 billion pounds of food per year. It’s also expensive: Those figures mean almost four out of 10 of your hard-earned grocery dollars is basically being thrown away.
Focus on using what you buy so you don’t have to run to the grocery store and replace what’s spoiled. For example, you can increase the lifespan of lettuce by wrapping it in a paper towel to absorb moisture while it sits in your fridge.
19. Take Advantage of Rebate Apps
When you’re searching for easy ways to save money, it’s worth checking out all the many grocery rebate apps that are now available.
Apps like Ibotta, Receipt Hog, and Checkout 51, will often give you cash back for things you’d purchase anyway. While rebates don’t give you a discount upfront (like a traditional coupon), you should see savings in the long run.
Some apps send checks once you reach a certain cash back amount, such as $20.
20. Start a Kitchen Garden
Fresh herbs at the grocery store can be expensive, and often, recipes call for only a few sprigs or leaves, leaving the rest of a purchase to go to waste.
To avoid having to buy fresh herbs at the store, you may want to consider setting up a windowsill garden containing the herbs you reach for most often, such as parsley, mint, thyme, or basil.
Start-up costs are minimal, and these plants tend to be easy to grow — no green thumb required.
21. Hit the Farmer’s Market Later in the Day
If you love shopping at the local farmer’s market but don’t enjoy the dent it makes in your wallet, you may want to consider showing up near closing time.
At the end of the day, farmers often don’t want to pack up their food and take it home with them. If you walk around and make a reasonable offer on a box of produce they have left, you might score a great deal on fresh (and delicious) fruits and veggies.
22. Watch for Seasonal Deals
After major holidays like Halloween, Christmas and Easter, you can often get good deals on holiday-related items like candy. (And February 15th can be a great day to get a yummy heart-shaped box of chocolates at a deep discount.) If you don’t care about themed wrappers, you can save a nice chunk of change.
23. Shop Online
Buying dry goods and other non-perishables online instead of at the grocery store can end up saving you a lot of money, especially if you buy in bulk sizes and get those items delivered on a regular schedule. For example, Amazon offers up to a 15% discount for consumers who schedule auto-shipments for their products. However, do be cautious about using home-delivery food services, which can be pricey once the fees for delivery are added.
What’s the Average Cost of Groceries per Month?
The average cost of groceries per month will vary depending on several factors, such as the size of the household, the age of its members, location, and dietary habits. Someone who loves fish (wild-caught, not farmed, thank you) a few times a week and lives in San Francisco or Boston will likely be spending more than a person who lives in the Midwest and is a vegetarian who eats a lot of rice and beans.
That said, here are some figures on the cost of groceries per month:
• Per person, the average cost of groceries in America in 2023 is $415.53 a month per person, according to Numbeo data.
• Wondering about the highest and lowest costs? Move.org found that those living in Honolulu, Hawaii, pay the most for food every month (a steep $638.57), while residents of Cheyenne, Wyoming, have the lowest tab at $335.97.
The Takeaway
Wondering how to save money on groceries? With a little planning and a few fresh habits, you may be able to slash your food bills without sacrificing quality, taste, or nutrition. The cash you free up can then be put toward savings or another financial goal.
You may find that setting up a monthly food budget — and targeting spending amounts per week — can also help you spend less on food. Using a money management app can help you stick to your food budget.
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FAQ
How can I make my grocery bill cheaper?
There are many ways to lower your grocery costs, such as planning meals in advance and sticking to your list; buying (and eating) less meat; shopping at discount supermarkets and wholesale clubs; and learning how to compare prices per ounce vs. the price tag.
How can I cut my grocery bill in half?
Cutting your grocery bill in half could be possible with dedication and planning. One quick way to start saving is to buy store brands (sometimes called generic brands); this can save as much as 40% vs. brand names.
What are some discount grocery stores?
Some discount grocery stores include BJs, Costco, Food 4 Less, Aldi, and WinCo Foods.
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