Save money on groceries

Saving money on groceries can be made very very simple, doesn't require a ton of planning or prep, and in the end, can be a big difference in your life.

My wife and I have spent the better part of our marriage trying to whittle down our grocery and food expense every week, month, and year to ensure we are eating everything we buy and being as frugal as possible (reminder that being frugal isn't bad and in this case helps lower our impact on the planet).

In all our efforts our family found two key ways to ensure our grocery bill remained low, we ate everything we bought, saved money in the process, and was easy to replicate.

1. Buy what is on sale

2. Buy in bulk and plan to have leftovers

Buy what is on sale

To save money on groceries you just need a little bit of flexibility. If your area is like mine, then you get a weekly newsletter where you can see all the specials that your local grocery stores are offering. To save on groceries, just tailor your menu each week to what is on sale.

One week you may be eating eggs and bacon. The next week you might be eating steak and potatoes. Then after that, it might be raspberries and chicken. Focus your menu on what your local grocer has on sale and you can easily save $50-$100 per week on groceries (depending on the size of your family). If you have read previous articles you know that $50-$100 per week can mean $400,000-$800,000 in retirement. That is a healthy amount of money for anyone's retirement portfolio if you focus your attention on saving money each week on your grocery bill.

Buy in bulk and plan to have leftovers

Each week our family will review what our local grocery store has on sale and in the process look for an opportunity to cook one meal, with enough food to ensure we have leftovers. When buying in bulk you need to be careful that you are going to eat everything or have enough time to eat all your leftovers.

The results of this process can have two benefits 1) you save money on food 2) you save time on food prep. For many families that are busy this is a great solution to ensure you get plenty of time to spend together while also saving money, a huge win-win.

Your turn: How do you save money on groceries each week?