With inflation at an all time high, so many families are struggling and asking themselves how to positively affect their grocery budget. I’m here to share 5 ways to save at the grocery store that not only save you money but also aid your overall health.
Use your scraps
It should be no surprise at this point that choosing whole food or 5 ingredient or less products is the number one way to save money at the grocery store. So I am not even going to officially make this one part of the list.
Another way to save money at grocery store is to make your food go further. Use EVERYTHING. I love ancestral practices because of how little they wasted. As a modern people, we have such easy access to such an assortment of food and products. Because of such easy access, we don’t think twice about throwing away scraps. Instead of buying vegetable stock for $3 at the store, save by using your own scraps to make up some stock or broth. Use banana peels soaked in water to fertilize your garden and house plants. Use bones for bone broth. Make jam with the typically discarded berry tops. The list goes on and on!
Choosing Foods by Season
Seasonal eating means you are choosing to buy foods at their peak flavor and the highest nutrition possible. Studies show that the longer we store fresh food the more chemical changes and nutritional losses occur. Seasonal produce tend to be more affordable and can often be found locally which is a big pro if lessening your carbon footprint is something you strive for.
Our family finds that eating seasonally means we look forward with great anticipation to the flavors each season offers! But with young children in the house there are certain things they desire all year around. Such as berries… so my way around this is that we buy locally picked or even flash frozen berries in the summer at the peak of the season and store them in the freezer for the fall and winter months.
Most vegetables are flash frozen immediately after harvest and are sometimes cheaper than buying fresh produce. So buying frozen veggies in bulk is a great way to prioritize whole foods while saving a buck or two.
Making more from scratch
Tonight, I was making a quick soup for dinner so we could be out the door for a function this evening when I had this gut feeling that my children were not going to eat what I had going. I hadn’t made sourdough in 10 days or so and had no type of filler to entice them to eat what I made. I didn’t even have bread for a quick pb&j as back up. But I have flour, salt, yeast, water, and honey. After a quick google search and 5 minutes of prep I had sweet rolls in the oven and ready 20 minutes later. It took little to no hands on time to get creative, to see what I had, and to just go for it. Not only did my kids love them… they both ate the soup.
Long story short, a simple way to save money at the grocery store is to make more things from scratch. Buying dry rice to boil at home is going to be cheaper and healthier than the microwavable pouches.
Simple meals
This tip on how to save money at the grocery store may surprise you. Especially coming from someone who loves developing recipes of her own. But a huge way to save money at the grocery store is to stop obsessing over recipes! Recipes often lead us to buying speciality ingredients or things we otherwise wouldn’t think necessary.
Healthy whole food (especially when in season) can be so simple and so flavorful. Saving you time, money, and stress. Sometimes complicated recipes with heavily processed foods make me think we are desperate to make bad food taste better. Instead focus on three meal parts: protein, produce, starch. Easy cost saving meals can be summarized with a well seasoned cut of meat, potatoes, and green beans. Done. Phew.
In all seriousness, I really think so much of our home life is overcomplicated with this need to keep things spicy and sometimes a new recipe is what you need for a refresh. But if you, like me, are a parent often just trying to do your best and get food on the table this is your sign to keep it simple. There is no shame in that. For simple meal ideas check out this post!
Grow something!
For most all of time until the industrial revolution, nearly household gardened in some capacity. So even if its just a pot on your porch with herbs, growing something yourself is bound to save you some cash at the register. And if you don’t have much room to grow herbs are certainly the highest ROI.
I hope you feel encouraged to take back a little control of your grocery budget! For more be sure to subscribe!
Amazon Storefront
If you’re just starting your homemaking journey I have an amazon storefront with some of my favorite kitchen and garden tools as well as resources I love. Check it out!
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