How To Cut Your Grocery Bills Without Coupons

I think you’ll agree with me when I say that groceries have been consuming a huge chunk of our household incomes. You might think that reducing your grocery bill requires buying five copies of the Sunday paper. But what if I showed you how to cut your grocery bills without coupons? Then you might think it’s still going to be too difficult.

Can you cut your grocery bills without coupons?

Do you know you can reduce your grocery bill by up to 90 percent and still eat healthy – saving thousands of dollars every year?

I’ll show you some practical tips that have worked for me and many other families who wanted to cut their spending on groceries.

America, one of the cheapest (if not the cheapest) industrialized nations to live in, is also -unsurprisingly- the most expensive. It all boils down to the decisions you make when shopping because this is a country where the most and the least expensive are available for you to choose.

What’s the real story?

The real story is that American high-income households spend about 12.5% of their income, which is $7,023 on average, on food alone. Food bought at the grocery store accounts for 57 percent of all the spending on food.

This is average SPENDING, which means that it is not a fixed cost. It can be reduced just like the way we cut our transportation expenses by using public transportation or driving cheaper cars. So, instead of aiming to spend the national average of your income group, you can decide to come up with your own unique food budget.

The fact that it is only in 2015 that spending on bars and restaurants surpassed what Americans spent on groceries suggest that groceries have been the most dominant item on Americans’ food costs for ages. This paradigm shift has been attributed to the millennials who prefer to eat out rather prepare food at home.

However, this study shows that baby boomers are still hanging on to their old habits. Plus, boomers are even spending more on groceries this year than they were spending last year.

How you can actually reduce spending on groceries without coupons

If you plan to spend $270 per month on groceries, you will be spending approximately one dollar per meal. If we assume that you need the number of calories that is healthy for general adults (approx. 2000 per day), then every meal should give about 670 calories. Yeah…I know many of you have their eyes wide open, wondering what kind of a whole meal costs just a dollar.

Below is a breakdown of common foods and how much they cost per “meal” of 670 calories:

• Organic chicken breast – $8.00
• Organic eggs –$2.85
• Apples – $2.79
• Bananas – $0.92
• Potatoes – $0.57
• Black beans – $0.49
• Rice – $0.25
• Raw Almonds – $0.80
• Canola Oil – $14.38

Not all of the above foods cost a dollar per meal. But it shows that you can plan your eating timetable in a way that you can spend less than a dollar on some meals. By eating cheap sometimes, you can save money to eat the delicious chicken breast or eggs while still remaining within your budget. No coupons required!

That’s not all…

Here are some additional tips that are guaranteed to work. Why? Check out the story of Jody Allen, the stay at home mum and author of “The $50 Weekly Shop” who managed to reduce the grocery bill for her family of four to $50 per week.

1. Forget the packed items

Any time you walk into a grocery store and purchase packed items like fruit snacks, meals in a bag, steamed vegetables, chips, or even pre-sliced produce, you’re paying a premium on them.

Processed and packaged food items cost more because of the job done on them. I’m no lover of kitchen chores but I have come to realize that peeling potatoes at home will save you a lot – even though it is time consuming. Bottom line; it’s worth the effort. And if you have kids – put them to work.

2. Reduce meat consumption

I have a problem with people who think that in order for a meal to have enough proteins, it must have meat. Meat is only the most expensive way to get a protein fix.

Look:

An average adult requires approximately 75 grams of proteins each day. So, taking a meal of rice and beans will give you the complete amount of protein you need at virtually no cost. Eggs are also another tasty and economical way of getting the proteins you need as they have the highest quality of complete protein.

3. Plan out what to eat

Delicious food is not about expensive ingredients, it’s more about how it’s prepared and the spices you use. Spend some times scouring the Internet or cookbooks to find out great recipes that you can use for your cooking. The library is loaded with cookbooks you can check out for free.

Before, I never dreamt of spending even a single minute checking for recipes but nowadays, with a family of four cooking saves us money. I still buy the Costco packaged food in a pinch or when I don’t have time to cook, but most of our meals are from scratch or semi-homemade. We also buy organic things and stick to our budget.

Last but not least, avoid bringing your kids grocery shopping! Kids will always cost you a little more than planned for.

4. Track what you spend

Using a receipt scanner app, like Shoeboxed, to track your grocery expenditure can be a game-changer for your budgeting strategy. It digitizes, organizes, and automatically categorizes your spending, making it easy to spot patterns and identify areas for savings. You can quickly access a comprehensive overview of your expenses and discover where your money is truly going. Instead of manually tracking and possibly losing or forgetting paper receipts, the app does the work for you, ensuring accurate and efficient record keeping. This not only saves time but also empowers you to make informed decisions that could significantly reduce your grocery bills. It’s a small change with potentially big returns for your wallet.