1. Meal Plan

If you want to start the week off right, you need to plan your meals. I can hear you groaning through the computer. Even though I’m giving you more homework, please trust me, meal planning is going to simplify your life. When I first got out of college, I took the “wander the aisles for inspiration” approach. Consequently, my lack of a planning left me scrounging around the kitchen most evenings hungry and annoyed that there wasn’t anything to eat.

A few years ago, my friend introduced me to what’s become my favorite budget conscious recipe blog, Budget Bytes. The author, Beth, started the blog because she was broke after college and wanted to eat something other than ramen. Beth’s recipes are easy, cost effective and delicious. I’ve been using her site for three years and have never eaten better.

Each week, I pick two recipes, one for lunch and one for dinner. Then, I cook everything on Sunday afternoon and, voila, my meals are done for the week! It makes packing my lunch a snap and keeps me from eating out because I already have food prepared. Budget Bytes is the answer to saving money at the grocery store!

2. Choose the Right Grocery Store

Where you chose to grocery shop has a big impact on your bottom line. For that reason, take a look at the lists of the least expensive and most expensive grocery stores in the US. Make sure you’re shopping wisely and getting the most value for your money.

3. Be Flexible

Sometimes you get to the store and they seem to be out of everything you need. Take a breath and consider alternatives. Do a quick search for recipe substitutions, find a replacement that sounds suitable and you’re back on track. For example, I recently made Hawaiian burgers and the store was out of ground pork. I wasn’t in the mood to make another stop. So, I bought ground turkey instead since turkey has a mild flavor similar to pork. The burgers turned out great!

4. Buy Generic

This tip is pretty self explanatory. When available, buy the store brand. For starters, the ingredients, nutritional value and taste are usually the same. But above all, the generic brand is always less expensive. If there isn’t a generic option, take a minute to find the least expensive brand. Recently, I needed grape tomatoes and there were five different options. One brand was a $1 or more less than the other choices. Saving a dollar here and there really adds up over the course of a month and a year.

5. Unit Price

6. Sale Items

When there’s a sale on a product you use, take advantage of the savings! The savings on meat can be significant, especially when there is a buy one, get one free deal. But, consider your freezer or storage space before buying!

Even though stocking up on sale items is generally a good idea, make sure you’re not buying things you won’t use. Unless there are 10 people in your household, you don’t need five extra bottles of ketchup on hand. Likewise, if you already have a freezer full of meat, eat what you have before buying more. Throwing away food is no different than throwing away money.

7. Freezer

If you have fruit or veggies that are on the verge of going bad, freeze them! Depending on the vegetable, it might be best to flash steam it before freezing it. Recently, I had a week where I slacked on meal planning. When thinking about dinner, I remembered I had some broccoli I’d frozen a few weeks prior before it went bad. Also, I had a bag of frozen chicken left over from a roaster. So, I made some rice and mixed the broccoli and chicken with a basil vinaigrette. A delicious dinner was ready in 20 minutes from frozen leftovers! This NEVER would have been possible during the years when I wasn’t meal planning.

Another thing I freeze are unused fresh herbs. Some herbs get mushy when you defrost them, but it’s worth trying to use them in another recipe versus throwing them away. A great way to use frozen herbs is in soup because the consistency of the herbs won’t affect the taste.