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When you track your spending manners, you will notice how your food bill can get out of hand.
Living frugally is not a new thing, and stretching your budget for your groceries is something many people have been doing for a long time. With the current price hikes and inflation uncontrollably going on, it’s no surprise that plenty of families have turned to this practice.
You can save a lot of money by planning and sticking to a few guidelines.
Once you learn how to stretch your grocery budget, you’ll put more money into saving and paying off debt.
Table of contents
WAYS TO STRETCH YOUR FOOD BUDGET
- Pack your own lunch. Buying a meal from a restaurant is now too costly. In a week, you’ll be spending $50-$100 extra if you’re not careful. So get in the habit of packing your lunch the night before you’re leaving for work to save your money.
- Eliminate snacks. Snacks can drain out your budget real quick. If one of your family members gets a little hungry between meals, always make sure that you have some leftovers to give to them. One note to recall is to have 3 square meals a day.
- Meal plan. If you don’t do meal plans and create a grocery shopping list, your food budget will spike immediately. Go into the grocery store with your plan and don’t spend useless time on aisles or products that you don’t need.
- Always save your leftovers. Even if the leftover food is only one plate, it’s still worth it. You can store it in a glass container to reheat in the microwave for the next time you’ll use it.
- Consider having breakfast for dinner. You can try this once a week. Kids will enjoy it and so will your budget. A meal of eggs and waffles is super cheap, and those leftover potatoes will make for a delicious hash brown.
- Grow your own food. Even if you don’t have a large backyard, you can still grow your own food at home. Try hanging a basket in the kitchen and raising some salad greens or herbs in a jar on your kitchen counter. Potatoes are grown in a barrel and you can produce many vegetables in a container.
- Use every drop of product. Try to squeeze out any small bits of toothpaste or shampoo you have at home. The number of people who throw away half-used products because they can’t get them out is insane. In the long run, it will make a vast difference.
- Shop when prices are slashed in half. Grocery stores reduce the items on some products when they’re close to their expiration dates, so take advantage of that.
Start with a budget and go from there. When you cut costs and expand your purchases, you can diminish your spending and build up your savings!
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Allison Lancaster is a blogger and work-at-home mom. She has always had a passion for writing and after becoming a mom in 2015, decided to turn her passion into her career. Her writing has been featured in the Huffington Post, Scary Mommy, and more. She resides in Tennessee with her husband and two children.
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