Save money on food with better purchasing and consumption strategies.  When my children are home that often means one thing.  Let’s Eat!  It’s like the chorus of “Mine!Mine!Mine!” that the seagulls make in the movie Finding Nemo.  It’s challenging to not break the bank on groceries while keeping my constituents satisfied.  Recall The Money Skinny™ mission is to save you time and money.  Let’s review some tips to save money on food.

Tips to Save Money on Food at the Grocery Store

• Spread the interval between grocery shopping trips.  My people want to skim the cream from the top.  They inhale what’s good.  The rest lingers.  Less shopping trips reduce impulse purchases.  The gallon of milk/loaf of bread grocery stops that turn into a fifty-dollar hit add up quickly.
• Prepare a list. Willy-nilly grocery shopping, especially when hungry, has wallet repercussions.  A list is a plan.  A plan saves money.  Skip coupons and bring your list to a low-cost, no frills store like Aldi.
• Use a scarcity strategy.  Too many choices is confusing.  I bought butter in 1-pound blocks when I lived in Canada.  No sticks.  No tubs or other tomfoolery.  Reducing options makes food selection easier.  Less to organize, too.
• Bring back stock to the fore-front to reduce food that expires. The Money Skinny™ truism – The most expensive food is that which gets thrown in the trash.  Wasting food is so frustrating.  Rotating the food supply makes expiration less likely.  A quarterly eat-down reduces waste.
• Forceful follow-through on good intentions.  A multi-ingredient fancy food can be overwhelming.  So we pick up the phone.  We’ve all been there.  Done that.  Fight the urge to order take-out.  Have a goal to eat food already purchased before ordering or buying more.  This week.  This month.  This year.

Save Money on Food For Lunch

You want to do the budget friendly thing by packing a lunch.  Unfortunately, the food goes bad before you can eat it.  The freezer is your friend.  Make a week’s worth of deli meat sandwiches at one time.  Store in the freezer.  Each morning siphon a sandwich off the freezer pile.  It will defrost by meal time.  Having that sandwich at the ready lessens the urge to go to a restaurant.

Save Money on Food For Drinks

As mentioned in The Money Skinny™ article 7 Ways to Trim Travel Expenses, single drink packets mixed with water are cheaper than purchasing drinks.  They mask the taste of unfamiliar tap water.  Snapple Singles are sold at Walmart or Dollar Tree.  Stash drink sleeves in your desk, car and handbag.  Skip the vending machine.

• Spread the interval between grocery shopping trips to save money.  Prepare a list.  Use a scarcity strategy.
• The most expensive food is that which gets thrown in the trash.
• Freeze a week’s worth of deli sandwiches for ready-made lunches.
• Use drink packets to replace vending machines.