This is a very easy thing to do. Just shop for less than you would normally!
The USDA "Thrifty" plan for a single 20 year old male in the US as of 2016 was 185 dollars a month. To the average person just starting on their frugal living journey, that might seem pretty low. It certainly was for me, I used to spend almost 500 dollars on food for me every month. I have since seen the error of my ways.
I personally spent 178 dollars this month for me and my husband, and that included dish soap, razors, snack food, laundry (3.00$ a load here in my Apt complex), and the like, as well as groceries, such as Chicken, Pasta, Pasta Sauce, Oil, Bread, Peanut Butter, Beans, Vegetables, and the like.
How do I do it? Well, here are a few tips:
The USDA "Thrifty" plan for a single 20 year old male in the US as of 2016 was 185 dollars a month. To the average person just starting on their frugal living journey, that might seem pretty low. It certainly was for me, I used to spend almost 500 dollars on food for me every month. I have since seen the error of my ways.
I personally spent 178 dollars this month for me and my husband, and that included dish soap, razors, snack food, laundry (3.00$ a load here in my Apt complex), and the like, as well as groceries, such as Chicken, Pasta, Pasta Sauce, Oil, Bread, Peanut Butter, Beans, Vegetables, and the like.
How do I do it? Well, here are a few tips:
Check The discounted section, But Be Careful
Stores like Kroger, Food4Less, Strack and Van Til, Walmart, even Dollar General has a Clearance Section. This is the section where they sell discontinued or marked down foods for cheaper. But in stores like Dollar General, much of the time the Mark Down price is just not worth it to buy the product. The same with Strack and Van Til, in where the markdown price of their products can still be worth almost TWICE that of a similar or equal product that you would buy in a store like Food4Less.
So compare the price of the markdown with the price of a similar item at a cheaper store, but I today did buy Spaghetti Sauce marked down at Strack and Van Til for 70 cents for a big can. So you will occasionally get lucky.
There is also the issue of seeing something that is discounted, so you buy it simply because it is discounted. If you don't need the product, and might not even use it, using money on it, even if it is discounted, is still costing you money. You want to save money, not spend it on frivolous stuff.
So compare the price of the markdown with the price of a similar item at a cheaper store, but I today did buy Spaghetti Sauce marked down at Strack and Van Til for 70 cents for a big can. So you will occasionally get lucky.
There is also the issue of seeing something that is discounted, so you buy it simply because it is discounted. If you don't need the product, and might not even use it, using money on it, even if it is discounted, is still costing you money. You want to save money, not spend it on frivolous stuff.
Shop The Deals
Always check the ads, check what the unadvertised price is, and try to buy everything, or at least most things, for 40% off or more. I personally don't buy EVERYTHING for 40% off, and I don't always shop the ads, for every item, but I have been able to get a LOT of stuff for VERY cheap, for instance:
The first image is 19 dollars worth of stuff, which is usually about a 35+ dollar value. The corn I got 66% off because it is the 4th of July, so I spent 4.00 on 32 cobs. And the 6 containers of KoolAid in the last picture I got for 50 cents each after I mixed a store sale, a sales event, and 3 coupons.
One time they had a savings event where I could get 6 full sized boxes of pasta for 3$, I bought 16 boxes of pasta and we are STILL going through them all. I still buy a box every now and then when a coupon is available, like the 45 cents off Barilla Pasta that was out a little while ago, while Barilla was on sale for 1$, making it 55 cent pasta.
Another one is when they had a HUGE savings deal on chicken thighs and legs, making them 77 cents a pound. I stocked up on them as well. Another peice of advice is to ONLY combine the use of a coupon with an awesome sale. Don't use a coupon just because you have a coupon, you will get a better deal on store brand products than you would with name brand, and just a coupon.
One time they had a savings event where I could get 6 full sized boxes of pasta for 3$, I bought 16 boxes of pasta and we are STILL going through them all. I still buy a box every now and then when a coupon is available, like the 45 cents off Barilla Pasta that was out a little while ago, while Barilla was on sale for 1$, making it 55 cent pasta.
Another one is when they had a HUGE savings deal on chicken thighs and legs, making them 77 cents a pound. I stocked up on them as well. Another peice of advice is to ONLY combine the use of a coupon with an awesome sale. Don't use a coupon just because you have a coupon, you will get a better deal on store brand products than you would with name brand, and just a coupon.
don't shop brands!
Unless there is an awesome deal with a brand, like what I mentioned earlier, there is really no need for Brand Loyalty. I find that Generic or Store brand products have the same quality, for much cheaper. There are some things that I am forced to buy branded, like Veggie Burgers, which I often get either Boca or Morningstar, only because the places I shop at don't have Generic versions of these products.
But if possible, buy the Generic verisons, such as Kroger Brand, Clover Valley, Great Value, or Psst!.
But if possible, buy the Generic verisons, such as Kroger Brand, Clover Valley, Great Value, or Psst!.
Eat Healthy, Stop Buying Junk
Many people when they hear me say "eat healthy" automatically assume I am talking about Romaine Lettuce, and Chia Seeds, Fresh Produce, and Organic, but no. You can eat really healthy foods for very little, and this is because per weight, and per nutritional content, healthy food is much cheaper.
Now you don't need fresh produce to be healthy, let's nip that in the bud right now. You can east really healthy on either frozen vegetables, or even canned vegetables. This idea that canned vegetables are somehow devoid of nutrients is nonsense. For the cost of a single bag of potato chips, assuming you buy the cheaper store brands, so 1$, you can purchase a few sweet potatoes, 2 cans of vegetables, a bag of dry beans, a bag of rice, about 6-8 bananas, or if on sale, almost a whole 5 pound bag of Idaho Potatoes. You can purchase a whole days worth of food for the same price as a big bag of Doritos, even less if you shop deals.
I can make a big bowl of black bean soup to last me 4 meals for 2.34$, making a nice hearty serving for me about 57 cents. This is about a dollar less per serving that what you could buy the same soup for at the grocery store.
Now you don't need fresh produce to be healthy, let's nip that in the bud right now. You can east really healthy on either frozen vegetables, or even canned vegetables. This idea that canned vegetables are somehow devoid of nutrients is nonsense. For the cost of a single bag of potato chips, assuming you buy the cheaper store brands, so 1$, you can purchase a few sweet potatoes, 2 cans of vegetables, a bag of dry beans, a bag of rice, about 6-8 bananas, or if on sale, almost a whole 5 pound bag of Idaho Potatoes. You can purchase a whole days worth of food for the same price as a big bag of Doritos, even less if you shop deals.
I can make a big bowl of black bean soup to last me 4 meals for 2.34$, making a nice hearty serving for me about 57 cents. This is about a dollar less per serving that what you could buy the same soup for at the grocery store.
Learn to cook!
Don't give me the excuse that you "don't have time" to cook, as you most definitely have time to cook. That said, one of the best ways to reduce food costs is to just make the foods yourself. You can easily go to the store and pay 3.00 for a pound of beef, use 1/6th of it to make a burger, buy 8 buns for 1.00, so 12 cents a bun, even with all the other ingrediants added, such as lettuce, mustard, and ketchup, you can eat a burger for less than a dollar, and it will taste better than the burger that you spent twice as much for at the fast food restaurant, for which almost none of them have dollar hamburgers anymore, let alone dollar hamburgers that are fully dressed.
Simply cooking your own food means that you are not paying other people to cook your food for you, which saves you money over time.
Simply cooking your own food means that you are not paying other people to cook your food for you, which saves you money over time.
Etc.
There are many other ways for which you can save on food too that I will write in other articles. Nobody should be paying more than 100$ a month, per person, for food and household necessities.