While groceries often are not the biggest problem in a tight budget, they are one of the areas many families focus on first because grocery shopping must be done so often. And in many cases cuts can be made with relatively little trouble. Here are some ideas.
1. Eat vegetarian meals sometimes.
Meat costs more than many other ingredients. While most people aren’t ready to go vegetarian all the time, eating this way once or twice a week (or more) can save some pretty good money. There are many delicious recipes for vegetarian meals. And of course these tend to be quite healthy as well.
2. Keep an eye out for bargains on food and have a place to store extra.
This includes using coupons and watching store flyers. Have an extra freezer? Store meat you buy on sale in it. Figure out a place to store extra of other ingredients.
A good way to know if you’re seeing a good price is to keep written track of prices. A small notebook in your purse can help you figure it out, without trying to remember each and every price. After you’ve been watching prices a while you’ll have a general idea what most things should cost, but with your notebook you’ll know more precisely.
Buying extra can be tough on the budget if things are really tight, but if you can manage it you can save quite a bit of money in the long run. Read the rest of this entry »




