I don’t know about you guys, but I have been freaking out at how much food prices have been increasing over the past several months. A little here and a little there add up! When I looked back at my financial records (LOVE my Quicken software, or check out Quicken’s free online option Mint.com) I realized that I am spending $45 more per month than this time last year! Yikes.

If you are like me, here are some things you can do to help stretch your food budget!

• Make a menu list for the week. Notice the weekly sales at your store and plan your meals accordingly. Notice if certain things like chicken or eggs are on a great sale, plan a few meals around those items. If you have leftover corn, beef, or other veggies from your Sunday roast dinner, make soup the next day using those leftovers. You get the idea.

• Cut coupons. It has been proven that spending the time to cut coupons and combining coupons with sales DOES save you money. I can attest to this. In over 7 years of couponing, I have literally saved hundreds of dollars per year. I have paid for my newspaper subscription many times over with the deals and freebies I have gotten.

• Choose shortcuts wisely. Purchasing yogurts in small containers is much more expensive than in larger tubs. Many convenience foods are just that…for convenience. And we pay for it. Consider purchasing the bags of full size carrots instead of the more expensive bags of baby carrots. Things like that add up.

Here are some more ideas to help you stretch your food budget:

• track your costs
• scour the bargain racks
• watch for package shrinkage
• avoid pre-packaged snacks, instead make your own
• beware of overcharges..watch the register!
• be brand flexible..store brands are just as good as name brand
• use less meat

One thing I try to do is plan my meals according to what I have on hand. I like to keep rotating my food storage so I try to have at least one meal per week where I incorporate my food storage somehow. My kids enjoy having breakfast for dinner so we do that a few times a month. When I use ground beef in a recipes, I never use the whole pound in one meal. I always split it up in half, and adding rice is also a good trick to help stretch your meat usage.

About two years ago I made a big effort during one month to not spend any unnecessary money. With careful shopping and meal planning, I only spent about $260 in one month for groceries for us (at the time we were a family of 5.)  It can be done!

When there are really good sales, I really stock up! Then I know I don’t have to pay regular price for awhile. With prices changing so frequently, it pays to make sure you know the prices at different stores. I have notices in my area lately that Walmart is not always the cheapest place to get groceries anymore. Not that you have to run all over town to different stores, just plan your trips accordingly. Sometimes it is worth it to get everything in one stop, even if you pay a little more.

If you are in need of new recipes or tips in the kitchen, check out the Pennies Per Serving Forum here at Pinching Your Pennies. Lots of fabulous recipes and ideas in there, several I use on a regular basis!

What do you do to help your grocery budget?
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The printable coupon sites updated their coupons this morning.  There are some great coupons, like this Kraft Bakers Chocolate, Jell-O Pudding or Gelatin, Honey Maid Grahams, Nilla Wafers or Philadelphia Cream Cheese $1.25/3 coupon!  This coupon will make the Jell-O mix cheap or FREE.  Check out Group A, Group C & Coupon Network to see and print the new coupons.  Remember, you can print each coupon twice.