When you go grocery shopping, buy the store brand often. Store brands are often just re-packaged name brands, sold for usually at least twenty per cent less than national brands. Experiment. Some generic items are just as good or better than national brands, some are just disgusting. Find out what your family will and will not eat; buying generics can save you up to forty percent on your grocery bill.
Shop at discount grocery stores, like Save A Lot, Aldi's, Bottom Dollar, and others. Every area has a discount grocery store or two. You may not find gourmet items, but basic items, in the sizes that sell most, are a good find. These stores cut costs by not stacking shelves as high, usually they just leave the items in the same cardboard flats they came off the truck in, and save the money they would have paid a stockperson. They also require customers to buy or bring their own bags, and many will let you just use the empty boxes where items were stacked. You also save money in discount grocery stores by bagging your own groceries.
For example, a national brand can of green beans in a regular grocery store will run about $1.49. At a discount store, you can get cans of green beans three for a dollar. They are the same green beans, just in a differently labeled can.
You can save money on meat by buying large cuts, then bringing them home and dividing them into appropriately sized portions. Wrap them properly, and put them in the freezer, and you have plenty of meat for about forty percent less than if you had bought each item or amount separately. If you spend your grocery money wisely when you buy staples, and cook at home instead of going through a drive-through, you'll save roughly half what you spend now.
Your family will slim down, because you will have better portion control. Most restaurant portions are based on what a large hungry man can eat. I'm not large or a man, so I eat about a third of the portion and take the rest home in a doggy bag. Cooking at home also means we eat less fat and sodium, because we eat less processed foods. I rinse all my canned vegetables. Any canning process requires salt, but factory-canned foods have a higher sodium content than is really needed to preserve the food.
Fat is often what gives restaurant food such a good flavor. A little fat is necessary, but most of us use way too much. I use cooking spray or vegetable oil- never lard- and drain my food on paper towels before I serve it. I salt very minimally. Only two foods do I salt, and those are potatoes and corn. Neither of these has to be salted, but everyone has to indulge a little. I salt even these sparingly, and drink an extra glass of water when I salt them.
Use every part of every food you can, it will save you time and money. Make hash or soup with leftover roasts or poultry. Don't be afraid to serve beans in as many possible ways as you can think of. They are economical and nutritious. Invest in good plastic storage ware for the kitchen. You can pack your leftovers in them and keep them fresh longer than leaving them in the pan you cooked them in.
Use zipper bags to store pieces of meat or other dry, solid foods. You can squeeze out more air, and they take up less space in your refrigerator. Keep a permanent marker and a roll of narrow masking tape in the kitchen. Use these to label leftover containers or baggies. Name the item, then put the date on there, and you'll know how old it is, thereby avoiding food poisoning.
Saving money on your grocery bill doesn't have to mean tight rations and portion control. It just means buying wisely and using what you have so your grocery dollar stretches farther.
