The Complete Hill Family Guide to Grocery Shopping

I can still remember when we were only able to budget forty dollars a week for groceries and household essentials. Those lean times in our early days of marriage caused me to figure out how to put meals on the table that fit within our budget but also didn't compromise our health. Yes, we had ramen and peanut butter and jelly on occasion but we didn't have to totally rely on the college student diet to survive. There was a lot of going back to the basics and making things from scratch. Implementing small practices like looking at what we had in the pantry and fridge before meal planning went a long way in saving money and stretching our grocery budget. I thought I'd make a list of things I learned along the way.

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1. Meal Planning and Grocery Lists

Planning and saving money go hand in hand. Take a little time to think about the week ahead in regard to your meals. On the night before grocery day I usually sit at the kitchen table with my pinterest board open, my cookbook next to the laptop, and my notebook on the other side waiting for yet another list. This is a good place to plan because you can easily check to see if you have some of the ingredients you need already. I first look at our food budget on the Every Dollar app and then I look at our calendar. It's good to go over a list of questions as you write out the days of the week to begin coming up with a menu. Will we be out of town? Is a co-worker taking Jamie out to lunch one day? Is there a church function that I need to bring food to? These questions help you to know if you have all of your bases covered. Surprises will still come up sometimes, but these questions will keep them from becoming a regular nuisance. Plan every meal for every day for every member of your family and don't forget the snacks...that goes for pets too! Add the ingredients you'll need for those meals to your shopping list and be sure to check the kitchen first so that you aren't buying duplicates. After the meal plan is done ask the other people in your house if they're running low on any toiletries and do a walk through of the bathrooms and laundry area to see if you're running low on anything. I like to put an asterisk by anything that is expendable on the grocery list. If I'm going to Aldi I won't know ahead of time exactly what my bill will be until I'm there at the store. If my running total on my calculator is too high I can start putting expendable items back on the shelf for another day.

2. Turn Food Waste into More Food

Start to pay attention to what is going into the garbage can as you're preparing meals. Bones and veggie scraps can be turned into chicken, beef, seafood, pork, or vegetable stock. You can find out how to make your own stock by clicking here. Carrot tops and other veggie or herb stems can be made into chimichurri or pesto. Not sure if you can use your food scraps for something else? Check pinterest or google.

3. Go Meatless

You don't have to be a vegan or vegetarian to try out some meatless recipes every once in a while. Having a meatless monday, tuesday, or any other day can really stretch your money. Beans, lentils, and other sources of protein can be used as tasty, affordable bases of meatless recipes. Pinterest is a great resource for vegan/vegetarian meals.

4. Eat Soups Often

Soup can be made in big batches that last a few days. Meat is a more expensive ingredient but can definitely be stretched in a soup. Use seasonal vegetables and homemade stock to make a filling and nutritious meal that cost pennies per serving. You can make your soups even more hearty by adding grains, pasta's, or beans. Chili's and stews are also very affordable recipes.

5. Use Receipt Scanning Apps

There are lots of receipt scanning apps available. These apps give you points or cash back for scanning products or receipts with your phone. Ibotta, Receipt Pal, and Receipt Hog are a few that I hear about often, but my favorite one is Fetch Rewards. Within a week of downloading the app I already had enough points to redeem a $5 gift card to Target. You can use my code: 752UK when setting up a Fetch account to earn 2,000 points instantly!

6. Check the Sale Ads and Sign up for Store Rewards

Check the sale ads for the stores you are shopping at and base your recipe's on what's on sale if it makes sense. For instance, sometimes a whole chicken is still going to be cheaper than a roast that is on sale one week. Some stores offer special savings and perks to their members. One of my favorite stores that uses this system if Kroger. Kroger gives discounts on different items every week to their reward members. You also can earn fuel points when you buy groceries and gift cards or fill prescriptions with them. Fuel points can add up quickly so make good use of their program! We were able to fill up my husbands Dodge Ram more than once for FREE because we bought a ton of Disney gift cards to pay for our Disney cruise because they were offering double points on gift cards one month.

7. The Hidden Danger of Coupons

I've always admired people who can use coupons well because it's never been a talent of mine. I'm blessed with an Aldi in my town and decided to conduct an experiment. I made my meal plan and clipped a ton of digital coupons for things that I needed. I found out what the final prices would be on things if I used those coupons and I headed to Aldi to compare. Aldi's goods cost less than every single final price of the things I had coupons for. I realize some people do not have an Aldi in there area or really don't like shopping there so coupons could really come in handy for you. Be careful though because coupons can give us a tendency to spend money on things that we don't need just because we have a coupon.

8. Check Dollar Tree First

If you're in a lean season of life I would go to Dollar Tree first with your list in hand especially for household items. The only things that I wouldn't get at Dollar Tree are canned goods since those can often be found for less than a dollar at other stores.

9. Create a Cost Database Using Old Receipts

If you couldn't tell from all the times I've previously mentioned Aldi...I freaking love Aldi! The only thing that can be annoying is that they do not offer their prices online. When I was exclusively shopping at Aldi for a while I entered cost of goods from my receipts into a spreadsheet. After a few months I was able to refer to it and have a pretty good idea of what my total would be. This method will not be a hundred percent accurate since their prices can fluctuate over time but it can give you a pretty good estimate.

10. Check Prices Before You Go or Use Pick Up Services

Many retailers now offer pickup or delivery options. Wal-Mart offers free pickup while other stores like Kroger add on a small fee to use this service. Even if you are still going inside to shop you can pretend to create a pickup order so that you can add up all of your items before you go. Grocery pick up saves time and can save a lot of money if you are vulnerable to impulse buys while shopping in the store. You can get $10 off of your first pickup order of $50 or more from Wal-Mart if you use this link.

11. Make Simple Recipes with Few Ingredients

You may have a hundreds of fancy recipes tucked away on your pinterest account, but complicated recipes can really take a toll on your grocery bill if they call for a lot of ingredients that you do not already have on hand. Save these recipes for special occasions and keep weeknight dinners simple and miminal. Simple recipes do not have to be flavorless! Your seasoning cabinet can help you out a lot. If you just got your own place and are still working on stocking up on basics and seasonings make it a point to buy one new spice a week until you have a lot of options at your disposal.

12. Use Nutrient Dense Food Instead of Fillers

It can be tempting to offer cheap empty sides to round out a meal but you don't have to rely on macaroni and cheese or stovetop stuffing to fill up your family when you serve a chicken dinner. Bulk up dinner with simply prepared seasonal vegetables, sweet potatoes, or nutritious grains instead.

13. Don't Pay for Convenience

There are seasons of life when paying for convenience makes sense. A death in the family, a new baby, or maybe you've finally arrived at where you have been headed toward in your career. If you are trying to save money, however, then it's time to use good old fashioned elbow grease and choose saving money over saving time. Buy whole fruits and vegetables instead of peeled and chopped. Buy a whole chicken and separate it yourself instead of buying skinless boneless chicken breast. Make your own peanut butter and jelly instead of reaching for the uncrustables. You getting my drift yet? Okay, moving on..

14. Recreate Restaurant Favorites at Home

Kick your restauraunt cravings to the curb and search for copycat recipes instead. I've found wonderful almost identical recipes for foods I love like Chik-fil-a sauce or Evelyn's pasta from Cheesecake Factory.

15. Frozen Vegetables for the Win

Frozen vegetables usually cost less than fresh so be sure to stock up on them to bulk up simple meals. Roasting frozen veggies is one of our favorite ways to eat them. Just put them on a baking sheet with oil and seasonings. Broccoli and brussels sprouts are really good this way if you add some balsamic vinegar and shredded parmesan. Sometimes fresh vegetables are cheaper than frozen if they are in season. Always do a quick comparison to make your decision.

16. Use Bulk Bins

Many health food stores offer bulk bins for goods like coffee, nuts, grains, dried fruit, and snack foods. These bins reduce waste and allow you to find a better price on this type of food. Bring your own container and tare the weight to save even more money.

17. Freeze your Bread

If you are a couple or small family that doesn't go through a lot of bread quickly you should store your bread in the freezer so that it doesn't go bad before you eat it. Bread for toast can go straight from freezer to toaster just make sure you give it an extra couple of minutes of toaster time. Bread quickly thaws too!

18. Go Hunting

We don't miss a lot about living in a more rural area, but my husband does miss having lots of options for hunting game. We used to save a lot of money on beef when my husband killed a deer. You can substitute ground venison for beef very easily and deer steaks are amazing!

19. Shop Around

You can usually find the best deal by shopping at a few different stores. I wish I could say that Aldi has the lowest price for absolutely everything but unfortunately its just not true and it's not true for any one store.

20. Keep the Pantry Organized and Clean the Fridge Out Weekly

If you don't keep everything organized you are going to think that you're out of something when what you need is actually just stuck behind you're canned goods. I'm super bad at this which is why I currently have three black pepper grinders, and two containers of grits in my pantry.

I hope this post was helpful! Do you have any tips or tricks your family uses to save on food? Leave a comment below and tell us more. Happy saving!