How to Cut Your Food Bill This Summer
Summertime is great. Beautiful weather, non stop adventures, lots of time with the kids, it’s simply awesome! Oh, let’s not forget about all of the food. That’s not an exaggeration, my friends, when kids are home all summer, they eat ALL OF THE FOOD.
If you find yourself stressed about this, check out these tips on how to cut your food bill this summer and see how much money you can save on all of the groceries! Maybe you can even afford an adventure or two with all of the money you will save.
How to Cut Your Food Bill This Summer
Grow a Garden
Okay, so initially a garden can seem kind of spendy, especially if you need to buy soil and build gardening containers, etc. Once you get it ready though, it can provide a lot of food for you and your family for very little money! A pack of seeds typically only costs a few dollars and you can often get many pounds of food out of that.
Farmer’s Markets/Stands
I’ve said it before and I will continue to say it, but you can save some serious money if you shop for your produce at farm stands! You can buy some seriously cheap fruits and veggies and I don’t know about you, but we eat a lot of both during the summertime.
U Pick Farms
Our family LOVES to eat lots and lots of berries during summer and if you always buy them at grocery stores, you can go broke! Blueberries, for example, can go for $3-$5 per 8 ounce package in my local grocery store produce department. To curb this cost, I have found a local blueberry farm that charges just $1 per pound for blueberries! My teenagers and I usually go blueberry picking one morning during summer for about 2-4 hours and often end up with 20 pounds or more of blueberries. This gives us berries to freeze and munch on for the entire summer!
Unique Ways to Save Money on Groceries
Are you past ready to get started saving more money?! I get it. This summer has been ROUGH for my budget. I have had so many surprise expenses pop up that I spent way more money than I had anticipated, which sucks, but really, I am just super motivated to save some moolah in other areas! That’s why I am putting together this list of unique ways to save money on groceries.
Unique Ways to Save Money on Groceries
- Farm Stands. Not only are farm stand a great place to find delicious produce, but they are also much cheaper than grocery stores! I know at my local farm stand, I can buy 3 zucchini for a dollar, which is far cheaper than I can get it at the store.
- Meal swap. Host a meal swap party with your friends! Not only is it less work for you, but it is also a great way to save money on groceries! Yes, you still have to buy the ingredients, but if you stick to one recipe, you can actually make it quite cheap.
- Food Share. Hop onto Google and do a quick search for a food share in your area. Food share’s are a great way to greatly reduce your grocery bill. For a small amount of money each money, you can end up with a lot of food!
- Accept dinner invitations. If your family is anything like ours, you get dinner invites relatively often. From now on, start saying yes! For instance, my in laws invite us to their house for dinner at least once a week, yet we only say no maybe once a month. Saying yes to this would be we would save money on one meal per week!
What is your favorite, unique way to save money on groceries for your family?
The Best Tips for Saving Money on Groceries
I know that talking about ways that you can save money on groceries can seem pretty repetitive, but there is a reason why we talk about it all the time. Saving money on groceries can save you a lot of money all year long! In case you need a refresher, here are some of the best tips for saving money on groceries that you can follow to make a huge difference in your family’s budget!
- Meal plan. Yeah, I know you have heard this one before, but it is true!! Meal planning is key when it comes to saving money on your family’s grocery budget! This is for several reasons, but most of all when your meal is already planned for you, you are less likely to stray off of your budget and go to a restaurant or buy last minute items.
- Plan your meals around sales. Take a look at your weekly circular and plan those meals around what’s on sale!
- Plan your meals based on what’s in your pantry. Before you head out shopping or look at the sales ads be sure to see what you already have in stock. You may not have to do too much shopping as it is.
- Clip Coupons. Get out those scissors and start clipping coupons to save money when you head out shopping.
- Rice and beans and beans and rice. It’s not hard to make budget friendly meals, just be sure to choose budget friendly options.
- Shop farm stands. If you have any farm stands local to you, be sure and stop by to see how much you can save. Plus side, it’s healthier!
- Garden. You can grow your own food to save a substantial amount of money.
Have no fear my friends, you really can save money at the grocery store and at your kitchen table! You’ve got this!