The Blue Collar Kitchen

The grocery budget is one area of our household budget that we can actually control each month. With more and more people out of work and the economy still weak, most households struggle each month to meet the monthly budget. After talking with friends and coworkers, I have found out that many people spend up to 50% more on groceries than they need to. I am not talking about eating less or buying fewer groceries. I am talking about shopping smarter. What I have found out, is buy implementing these five simple steps into my monthly grocery shopping, I was able to reduce my budget by 60% and end up with more groceries in the pantry.

Below you will find 5 steps that you can take to help control your grocery budget. I will go into each step in detail in upcoming blogs. To be successful with this, I recommend making a plan and setting short term and long term goals. Many people give up before they see the results because they try to do to much in the beginning and get frustrated and quit. Take one step at a time and implement them in stages. After a month, you will have all steps in place and should see a significant savings in your grocery bill.

Step 1 - Plan ahead. Don't wait and buy groceries because you run out and must buy groceries to prepare a meal. Keep a running list of items you are getting low on. You could pay twice the price of items you run out on at regular price compared to the same item bought when they go on sale.

Step 2 - Shop outside your box. Plan ahead and shop multiple stores to get the best price on the items you need. Most towns have three to four grocery and drug stores and many have a warehouse savings store. If you purchase all of your groceries at one store, then you will usually pay twice as much for 60% of your grocery items each month. Shopping at multiple stores and taking advantage of their specific sales will greatly reduce your grocery budget.

Step 3 - Prepare your home for extra storage and/or bulk storage. Most homes have a free closet or extra corner in the garage that you can turn into extra storage for commonly used grocery items. You do not need a large space to store a lot of grocery items. Consider investing in a freezer if you do not already have one. Meat can make up 40% or more of our monthly grocery bill. If you have a freezer, you can take advantage of meat sales through the month and really cut down the grocery bill.

Step 4 - Mix up the recipes. Most of us have a bad habit of dinning our or ordering delivery because we do not want the "same old thing" again. Instead of spending the extra money, look for a different recipe using the same ingredients.

Step 5 - Take advantage of the sales. This is one of the easiest and most profitable ways to greatly cut the grocery bill. I know what you are thinking; I don't have time to go through sales papers and clip coupons. You don't have to. Check back to see the upcomming blog on taking advantage of sales, without having to spend hours going through sales papers.

By implementing these five simple steps into your monthly routine, you will be suprised how much money and time you can save on your grocery shopping and budget.