6 Uncommon Ways to Reduce Your Grocery Bill
Is your grocery budget getting stretched with the increased costs? For many families, the grocery budget is one of the highest line items. After all, everyone has to eat and usually multiple times a day. Even with these higher costs, there are multiple solutions to help reduce your grocery bill while still eating well.
1. Eat with the local seasons
In some regions, the growing season can be very short while in other regions have seasons that can be quite extensive. No matter the length of your local growing season, there are typically specific times where certain produce is abundantly available. With this abundance, the cost per item is likely to be less than if you were to purchase in the “off season”.
In the midwest, berries are a staple of spring and summer while root vegetables are staples of fall that can keep through the winter. By purchasing these items in their respective peak season, the freshest most tasty version will be available with a smaller price tag.
2. Prioritize utilizing leftovers
I may feel alone in this but already cooked food that’s waiting to be eaten in the fridge feels free but it’s still costly when it turns bad and needs to be tossed. By prioritizing eating or incorporating leftover foods into a future meal, the money used to purchase that food doesn’t go to waste.
3. Buy the whole chicken
If you’re like many of the families in the United States, you probably like to include a variety of produce and proteins in your diet. Oftentimes, families purchase just chicken breast, just chicken thighs or just wings. Not only are some pieces cheaper than others but each piece of the bird typically serves different dishes better than others.
Well, I’m here to tell you that purchasing the whole bird IS the cheapest and most beneficial to reduce your grocery bill.
By purchasing whole chickens, you can not only make simple and delicious roasted chicken for dinner but you can also get 3+ other meals by breaking down the pieces of each chicken. When I cut a whole chicken into its pieces, I separate the wings, breast, thighs, legs, and body.
I collect all the wings into freezer safe containers. When we have enough for a full dinner, we grill them up and enjoy the feast!
Depending on what you decide to make, the breasts and thighs are either kept whole or cubed for the main meal.
The remaining bits of the body can be roasted and made into bone broth for a delicious and nutritious healing soup. HERE is how I make bone broth
4. Utilize Your freezer
There’s a wide variety of items that freeze fantastically and thaw as if it was never frozen. The easiest way to get some ideas of what to freeze is to take a walk down the freezer section of your grocery store. If they can freeze it, so can you! It may take a few steps to ensure the quality stays but it will be worth it!
Some of the foods I frequently place in the freezer include baked goods, meat (cooked and raw), fruits, vegetables, casseroles and pre assembled or pre baked meals.
Don’t forget to freeze any leftovers, too!! I get it. Sometimes you just don’t want to eat pulled roast beef for the 4th time. If there’s even one meal worth left, I’ll throw it in a freezer safe jar and save it for a single lunch down the road.
Many meals like soup, cooked meats and casseroles thaw and taste just like they did when I made it. Freezing even a single serving of any meal can reduce your grocery bill over time.
5. Get creative with your meals
Sometimes a key ingredient is not available to buy or is too expensive. Other times, you may need to go one more day without buying groceries or you realize you’re missing a specific ingredient that’s typically used in a recipe. Regardless, getting creative and improvising to complete a meal can add up over time.
In many cooking recipes, many ingredients can easily be swapped for another similar one. The easiest swaps or changes apply to proteins, root vegetables and herbs. For example, you can swap the main protein and the flavor won’t really change much. You may also be able to use root vegetables interchangeably in soups, stews or casseroles.
Depending on the item that will be missing, you could omit the ingredient all together. This may seem quite odd if you’re one to follow a recipe exactly. But I PROMISE, most meals will turn out just fine if you’re missing one ingredient.
6. Grow SOMETHING
While I realize a lush garden may not be easily feasible for everyone, there is usually something that can be grown no matter where you are.
Even in the smallest of spaces, at least one kind of herb will grow. If you have a little more space than a windowsill, try growing just one produce item that you know your family will eat.
For some, that one plant may be tomatoes. For others, that one plant may be strawberries or peppers. No matter what plant you pick, just be sure its something your family already uses!! The last thing you want is to pick something your family has never had only to find out everyone hates it.
Did you try this? I’d love to know in the comments or by tagging @MissysHomestead on Instagram.
Find more at @MissysHomestead on Pinterest and Instagram.
