Prices are soaring on just about everything; from gas, food, houses, at the retail stores and etc. Everything is costing more! The cost of an 8-pound bag of chicken wings is about $33. I could not believe the price and had to look at it twice! If you are like me… I could definitely pass on the chicken wings for now. I want to share some ways that you can save money on groceries during this inflation.
Implementing one or all of the ways can certainly help with running up the total at the register. All of the different ways that I will share with you are some of the things we had to do in order to stretch our grocery budget. And it all helped a lot!
Meal Planning
Meal planning saves so much money because it gives you a plan of what you may have on a designated day. This keeps you from going through the drive-through window spending money that you did not plan to spend.
Meal planning helps extend stretched budgets by sticking to a grocery plan when shopping in the store. It also gives us a guide on what items we need to create a grocery list in order to complete our meal plan.
When we have a plan, it gives us direction. Direction on what to eat for our meals, shop for, and what we may not necessarily need.
I have created a 12-month meal plan just for you to get you started.
Clink The Link To Recieve The Download
Shop Sales
In order to save and especially during this inflation, shopping the stores sales are important. Items at the stores may still be a little higher than before even with the sales, although it is better than paying regular price.
Grab your local store’s sales paper, go to the stores’ website or search through an app called Flipp. I really like the Flipp app or website! You can look through all of your local store’s sales flyers with a click of a button. Very Convenient!
Some of my favorite stores to shop for great sales are Aldi and Harris Teeter (this store may not be in your area).
Once you have glanced over the sales flyer. Check to see if they have some sort of reward program. Usually, with the reward program, you will have access to sales alerts, points/cash back rewards, promotions/giveaways, and more.
Harris Teeter, for example, has weekly E-VIC specials if you are an E-VIC member. They send out a weekly email of items that they have on special for that week. And they send us a weekend E-VIC special of items that I may have shopped for in the past or just on sale that weekend only. Sometimes the email will list free items or items at a deep discount.
Many of these items are worth making a trip to the store for that week just to add to your pantry/fridge.
One of my favorite items to look for, years ago was a gallon of milk.
Our baby at the time was going through milk so quickly!! I ran to the store when they had the milk for about $1.97 or less (milk can also be frozen).
Taking advantage of the store’s rewards programs is a great way to save during inflation, especially if you feel like you do not have the time to coupon.
Learn To Coupon
Couponing is a great skill to have! Shopping sales/clearance and then adding a coupon on top of the savings is so wonderful. The feeling of walking out of the store with paying little to nothing for your items is amazing!!
Couponing has come a long way! There are digital coupons that you can add to your accounts instead of using paper or printable coupons. Purchasing the Sunday paper or using a couponing clipping service like Klip2save can also be useful with searching out even more discounts.
I have a blog post in that I mention all of the talented YouTubers and ladies on Instagram that share how to get started, that you can learn from, and they have weekly coupon matchups that you may want to follow. Watching their content saves me time, refreshes my couponing game, and helps me find those bargains.
HERE IS THE POST: 5 Simple Techniques To Save With Coupons When You Do Not Have The Time
Use Rebate Apps
Rebate apps help you receive money back (or gift cards) from the items that you have purchased in the store. Tackling them all at first could be overwhelming and confusing until you get the hang of them.
I decided to narrow them down to just two. These two I liked the most and the points seem to add up quickly. When I first got into couponing, I did them all!
Do what is best for you. You do not need to do them all!
The two that I enjoy the most are: Fetch Rewards and Ibotta.
I will leave links down below to join.
FETCH REWARDS – Turn your grocery receipts into gift cards with Fetch Rewards. It’s super easy. Just click the link below and you’ll get $2 in points when you snap your first receipt. https://fetchrewards.onelink.me/vvv3/referraltext?code=75CU9
IBOTTA – Thought you’d like to try Ibotta, a cashback rewards app that I use to make real money every time I shop for groceries, online purchases, and more! Just use my referral code “5ocwaq” at registration. Sign up at → https://ibotta.onelink.me/iUfE/1005cd3f?friend_code=5ocwaq
Earning money back and/or gift cards are wonderful to use instead of your money on top of coupons. A win, win for sure!!
This post may contain affiliate links, to use them is no extra cost to you. I may recieve a small commission if you use them, which helps support my blog.
Storing Food Properly
Storing food properly is key for it to last longer. Keeping it from getting freezer burnt, exposed to moisture, and too much cold or warm air can ruin your foods.
Vacuum sealers and vacuum sealer bags are great for storing foods, especially freezer foods. Glass containers are great for storing beans, rice, flour, sugar, oats and etc.
Glass or clear storage containers are wonderful for leftovers. With clear containers, food is easily visible and able to be seen; therefore it is eaten and not wasted. This is normally a problem in our home when food isn’t stored in a clear container. So I try my best to avoid not using a clear storage or glass container.
The Rubbermaid Brilliance containers are our favorite because they are leak-proof and they are air-tight.
Shop Your Pantry and Freezer First
You may be surprised how items that we may have in our freezers, fridge, or pantry that we tend to look over and purchase duplicate items. Shopping our pantry first saves money, time, and energy.
If we shop our own pantries, freezers before we go grocery shopping we would probably realize how we can create a meal out of what we already have in our kitchens. Or possibly create a meal/ meal plan from the majority of the items that we have on hand.
Next time try it! Your grocery list will be shorter and/or you can spend that money on trying something new by buying the ingredients to food items that you have already.
CLICK THE LINK TO DOWNLOAD A FREE MEAL PLAN SHEET
Create A Shopping List and Stick To It
Creating a shopping list is a great way to save money during inflation. Your shopping list is a guide of what to purchase in the grocery store instead of going without one. When we go without a list we tend to pick up items that we did not need and more items than we planned to shop for.
It may be helpful to list your items by aisle, section, or category. This will make it easier to shop and deter you from going down the aisle that is tempting to just pick up items and add them to your shopping cart.
Make sure that you do not go to the grocery store hungry. That will help with picking up items that you do not need.
Grow Your Own Food
Growing your own food is a sure way to save with the soaring prices of food today. It has many benefits such as: knowing where the food was grown from, being more affordable, keeping you active, giving us something to do with your family, and a wonderful skill to have and more healthy.
There are so many YouTube channels, books, and resources to help you get started with growing your own food.
Start small and expand as you gain more skill and get comfortable with growing your own food.
BONUS: SAVING ON GAS AT THE PUMP
If you need to save money on gas check out the GetUpside app and use referral code 5ZJH8, depending on the gas station you can get a cashback rebate from your gas fill-up (from .3 cents to 0.18 cents).
Check to see if your local gas stations have a reward program. My favorite places in my area are Sheetz and Harris Teeter gas stations. At these gas stations, you can receive 0.3 cents off per gallon of gas and other perks. My favorite places in my area are Sheetz and Harris Teeter gas stations. If you have a SAMS club or Costco membership those are great places to take advantage of savings with gas as while.
Try carpooling with co-workers, friends, or family. See if a family member is going out to the store, church or etc, and catch a ride. Also, utilize public transportation if it is available in your area.
With rising prices during inflation and when it goes away (hopefully soon) saving money with grocery shopping is doable with some planning and a strategy.
Try one thing at a time! Then gradually combine a new way of saving money into the mix.
Plan out a specific day to go couponing, plan your shopping trips, and how you will drive to each store in order to save gas.
Doing one or some of the saving strategies may seem like it is too much and not worth the time. But you will be surprised how much you will save! With that savings, you can do something fun with your family or stack it in your bank account.
There Is Always Hope…To Save and Live a Blessed Life!
But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19 KJV
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