How To Save $50 a Week On Groceries

This summer we’re heading to Tybee Island to vacation as a family.

photo credit: Clicksy

Yea! The beach!

But in order to make that happen, I had to create some extra cash, so I decided to lower my grocery budget by another $50 a week.

Currently we budget $800 a month for groceries. I consider this pretty good considering there are 8 of us. (And even though Ruby is 9 months old, she eats an entire egg for breakfast in the morning and her appetite is on par with the 5 year old at this point!)

Also good considering we get our milk and eggs from a local farmer (free range chickens, and the milk is from grass fed cows), and I only buy the best grass fed beef and “clean” meat I can find.

I spend about $150-$170 a week at the grocery store, and hubby spends about $40 a week picking up from the farmer’s drop off location.

So how am I going to save another $50 a week on groceries?

My plan is this:

• Stop stockpiling. I like to really stock up when I see great deals. (Frozen veggies for .17 a bag after coupons? Free after coupons canned tomatoes? Don’t mind if I do!)  Stockpiling is great if you want to save money on groceries, but at some point you can decide to USE UP the stockpile instead of adding to it.
• Cook from the stockpile. Similar to above. Instead of buying all new food each week, I can concentrate on using up what I’ve already got.  If this means passing up great deals at the grocery store, so be it.
• Eat less meat. We eat small portions when we eat meat. For example, I use less than one pound of beef when I make meat sauce for spaghetti. We also love beans and rice and veggies and can skip meat altogether.
• Eat less, period. I would never deprive the kids, but for us adults who are usually carrying around extra weight anyway? Heck yes. This has been working well for me since I did my juice fast. Even though it was short, I’ve been eating less ever since. Either my stomach, or my eyes have shrunk. I’m going to try putting hubby’s food on a smaller plate and see if he notices the difference.
• Once a month, don’t shop. Well, I would probably have to buy bread and fruit and cheese (in addition to hubby’s farm run), but I could probably stay out of the grocery store entirely for one week a month and do some really creative dinners.
• No wasting food. I have anointed my 8 year old daughter the “Food Waste Monitor”. She even made a badge to wear around her neck. Offenders get their allowance docked (3 strikes, you lose a quarter). My job is to make sure all leftovers are used up. Honestly, we rarely have leftovers, but I’m sometimes guilty of letting food go bad in the fridge. (Who, me!?) So I vow to make sure random bits of food are repurposed and eaten. The Tightwad Gazette’s Amy Dacyzyn calls this “Leftover Wizardry”.

How’s it working so far?

I’ve been doing this for the last two weeks, and I’m happy to report that I’ve been able to put around $80 in our Tybee Island savings jar. Yippee!

Do you have any other suggestions for me?