A few months ago, I wrote a review of a popular meal service subscription. In it, I mentioned that one of the main reasons I wouldn't use it after my free trial is because the price was way higher than I could justify.
Usually, I said, our weekly grocery bill for our family of 5 (two adults and three girls ages five and under) is around $75. To spend $60 on three dinners was way too big a chunk of that grocery budget.
I was totally shocked by how many people commented or emailed directly to ask how I kept our grocery bill that low.
If you, like most of us, wish you were spending less on groceries, here are a few things that are probably pushing that number higher than you want:
1. You buy too many snacks and fun foods
3. You don't meal plan
I know. You hate meal planning. Most people do (one of the most popular things I share on Instagram are my weekly dinner menus). It doesn't have to be fancy, but planning out what you're going to eat every night for dinner is going to save you so much money. And also mental stress, too, which is worth a lot in my book.
4. You buy things with coupons that you wouldn't have bought anyway
I'm guilty of this too, but if you wouldn't have looked twice at some fancy yogurt or diet drink, don't buy it just because you have a coupon. $1 off of a $3 item is still $2 you didn't plan to spend.
5. You go to the grocery store too often
I basically do not go to the grocery store more than once a week. If I forgot something, I deal with it. If we run out of milk a day before shopping day? We can drink water. I Google a substitute, skip that ingredient or eat something else. Every extra time you swing by the grocery store, your budget will suffer.
6. You don't make a grocery list
No good has ever come of walking into the grocery store without a shopping list. You'll buy things you didn't mean to and forget the things you did intend to buy, and then you'll be back at the grocery store the next day to do it all over again.
