"Depending on your diet needs and where you live food can be one of the largest costs to you, but there are dozens of ways to cut the cost of food up to 80%. I live in Washington state which has one of the highest costs of living in the United States and yet I still only spend $100 a month per person every month on food. The main things that have made this possible are 1. I cook from scratch 2. I buy from the most inexpensive grocery store in my town 3. I buy bulk food somewhere inexpensive 4. I rarely eat out 5. I use coupons and 6. I only buy something when it is on sale. This sounds like a lot but I have a lot of easy tricks to make this as simple and the least time consuming as possible.
Diet changes are also something that will help with your food expenses. I am as I call myself a, "mostly vegan" at home I eat about 99% vegan but if I'm out to eat or on the run I stick to vegetarian because it can be extremely slim pickings being vegan outside of the home. This has helped save me a lot of money, meat is constantly on the rise in cost and how dangerous it is to consume because of how we handle it in the United States. Sticking to wholesome and home made foods and not eating prepackaged and pre-made food and junk food will cut your food cost by 1/2 alone.
Using coupons can become a huge advantage for your cost of not only food but toiletries and other household items. I used to buy 6 sunday newspapers every week and cut out every coupon but I have found a more inexpensive and easier way than that. There are websites out there, if you look up "coupon clipper" on a search engine you will find websites where people gather up coupons and clip them out for you. You purchase the service of clipping each coupon between the price of $0.08-$0.25 on average. Instead of buying a newspaper at $1-$2 a piece you spend $0.08-$0.25 per coupon. Lets say that this Sunday's newspaper only has 2 coupons in it that you know you are going to use, to acquire my recommended 20 copies of a coupon when they come out you would have to spend $20-$40 on newspapers to get them, if you bought the individual coupons from a coupon clipping website you would only have to pay $3.20-$10 instead. Not only that, you don't have to spend all that time clipping them out yourself! Even if there were up to 12 coupons you know you would use, you would still be paying less than buying the newspapers yourself.
Most of the time the coupons available in your local Sunday newspaper every week aren't going to be the ones you want every time. Most of the time in Sunday newspapers there are only 2-4 coupons in that newspaper that I want or need. Let's face it, at least 80% of coupons are for junk food and other unhealthy things that you simply don't need to buy a lot of. I do recommend buying at least one newspaper a week so that if you do want to buy some junk food, at least you can buy it cheaper, I mean, we all want a candy bar and some chips sometimes right?
So why do I recommend buying 20 copies of each coupon? I recommend 20 at least because a good habit to form is to buy things in the largest bulk you feel necessary when they go on sale during the time those coupons are useful. Typically a coupon for a particular product or particular type of product (example: butter) comes out in a Sunday newspaper every 6 months at least, some, once a year. So acquire as many copies of a coupon to purchase the amount you think you'll use of that item in the next 6-12 months. For example lets say you eat an average of 1 can of green beans per week, then buy 26 cans of green beans at least when they go on sale with a coupon. Even if you over buy, since you are buying things on sale with a coupon whatever is left you still spent less than you would have if you had bought it all at full price. If I over buy I try to predict what I won't use a few months before it expires so I can donate it at a food bank. Lets say that those green beans are usually $1 a can but with a coupon and sale you spend $0.25 on each can. Lets say you only eat 1/2 of them before they expire, you still saved money in the long run.
Lets say it's November 15th and a set of 20 copies of a coupon you own expires on December 31st. You want to hold onto those coupons for as long as possible until the item goes on sale between November 15th and December 31st. For example lets say these coupons are for cereal and it's $1 off of two boxes. Lets say the lowest everyday price you can find them at "Super Grocery" is $2.00 a box. But lets say "Mary's Market" has them on sale on December 22nd for $1.50 a box, "go for the kill" as I would say. So not only did you save $0.50 a box on each box due to the sale, you can stack the coupon on top of it making the boxes of cereal $1 each. Sometimes that item won't go on sale during the lifetime of that coupon so you will want to wait till the last minute until you use them, you never know if a random sale might strike. Also, if a coupon expires on December 31st the last day you can use it is on that day, December 31st. If a sale doesn't match up during the lifetime of a coupon then go to your local grocery store with the lowest everyday price and buy from there, so at least you are getting the cheapest price in town and saving with the coupons.
I can understand how this is an odd way to shop but it has saved me nearly $4,000 in the past two years on food and other things. It takes some time to adjust to this way of grocery shopping but it becomes normal very quickly with a little effort and diligence. The way you know what is on sale at your local grocery stores is by getting a Sunday newspaper and checking the ads or check the ads online for free. I personally like to have all the ads at once, it just makes it easier, it's worth the $1 a week. Also, at first it is more expensive to shop this way but once you get what couponers call a "stockpile" going you won't have to go grocery shopping as often, you'll simply shop at your own home with 20 of everything. You can also eat whatever you like whenever. A word of caution, start to become familiar with the lifetime of a food so you don't buy too many things that will expire a month from now.
Lets not forget that there are also online printable coupons and even phone apps that will rebate you money on specific items you buy. There are also phone apps that link your debit or credit card to a store or your membership card and give you a rebate on your purchases for using that debit, credit, or membership card. You can find all sorts of coupons to print online with a good search here and there. Just don't forget to read the rules on these websites and on these coupons, which brings me to coupon rules.
So now onto some words of advice on how to use coupons. Now you know how to acquire them and when to use them but what about the rules of coupons? Yes, there are some rules, and they are important to follow because if you don't some can lead to problems as serious as the law. Don't let this scare you, it is seldom that someone uses coupons so incorrectly that they get into trouble with the law, typically it is someone who has xeroxed a coupon and used them which is highly illegal. The two general rules of coupons are: 1. read the terms on the coupon, some coupons limit using 4 copies of a coupon per shopping trip or other similar restrictions. 2. learn the coupon policies at the grocery stores you are shopping at, you can ask a manager or find them online on their websites. Some coupon terms and their meanings are:
-1 per person (this means you can use one coupon per person during that shopping trip and that day, one that day, one per person)
-1 per purchase (a "purchase" is one item, if you buy 20 boxes of cereal you are making 20 purchases and can use 20 coupons unless the coupons are something like $1 off of two and then you can use 10)
-1 per transaction (a transaction is when you have bought several purchases and have finished paying and you have gotten your receipt, the upside is you can do as many transactions as you want, it's a pain, but you don't have to wait another day, you're just gonna have to slide your debit card 20 different times)
-Limit 4 like coupons in same shopping trip or same transaction (that means either in that day or that transaction you can only use 4 of the same coupon)
-Limit one coupon per purchase (this means lets say you have one type of coupon that is $1 off one box of cereal and then you have a $0.40 off one box of cereal coupon too. Limit one coupon per purchase means you can't stack or use two coupons on one purchase, so chose which one you want to use.)
Some advice when using several coupons in a shopping trip, organize them, organize your food along side with them, be polite to your cashier, let them know you appreciate the extra effort and if they were really nice, if you have the time, write an email to let the store know how good of an employee they were. Sometimes the couponing process can take some time so often I let the person about to get in line behind me know that it will take a while and that they might want to get into another line. Often I will make a list of how many of each things I am buying so the cashier can count them as they are ringing them up so that when I give them my coupons at the end they can recheck that list to make sure I have bought as many of that item as I have coupons so they don't have to recount everything we have rung up. Often the cashiers appreciate all these steps and have just as much fun as I do watching my grocery bill go down by 50-80% at the end. I have gotten a lot of smiles and high fives.
Keep in mind however that just because you have a coupon and a sale for something, doesn't mean you are always getting the best price. Sometimes it is a wiser decision to buy an off brand product instead. Lets say your favorite pasta usually sells one pound for $2, it goes on sale for $1.50 and you have a $0.25 off coupon. However an off brand sells one pound for $1, that is $0.25 cheaper than the sale with the coupon. There are some things I wouldn't sacrifice taste and quality for (off brand grated parmesan cheese is one of them), so sometimes spending the bit extra for a brand name is best. However, off brand things or store brand things tend to be the same in taste and quality, and at least half of the time are cheaper than name brand even when a sale and coupon are stacked. A prime example of something I buy at my local dollar store instead of a grocery store is snack pretzels. They are flour and salt, cheap ingredients and are probably of the exact same quality regardless of where and who you buy them from. Only one dollar for the same size bag that goes for $2.50 at all the grocery stores in my town.
Now this is the most time consuming step but one of the most important. Go to the most inexpensive place you can buy food in your area, grab a notebook and go through all the isles (including produce, meat, cleaning supplies, make-up, toiletries, etc) and write down everything you use or think you might use some day (this includes this store's store brand of everything you buy, write down those prices too). This process will take you about 5 hours so make it your main event for the day. The reason for this is so that when you look at weekly ads for other stores you can see if it truly is a better deal or not. Don't forget to write the size of the product either. If there are several sizes write them all. So lets say everyday and any day you can buy your favorite brand of peanut butter 16 oz for $3 but this week you see at another store it's on sale for $2.50 you know it is now the best deal in town, and look at that you have a coupon for that peanut butter, so buy 20 or however many you think you'll use in 6 months. You'll also want to do this once a year due to inflation. The second time around won't take as long because many things will remain the same price. Make a spread sheet of all this information and store it in your phone or as a print out in you purse so when you go shopping you can change the prices if they ever change and so in case you want to impulse buy it will remind you, "hey, you can get this for $1 cheaper elsewhere ya know".
When it comes to whole foods (unprocessed "real" foods) there are always several options for where and how much you will spend on them. Spices in particular are insanely over priced. Many spices I find at my local dollar store, they are usually 10 times cheaper there. For the more expensive spices like saffron or lavender there are websites that sell them in bulk at an extreme discount, many you can get a quarter pound (4 ounces) of for $2-$5, where in grocery stores you get an ounce for $10. Or you can go to an ethnic grocery store, Asian and Hispanic grocery stores have really inexpensive spices. Don't buy the stuff you see in glass bottles at your local grocery store. For fruits, vegetables, and grains the same applies. There are grocery stores that sell in bulk things like flour, rice, pasta, nuts, etc for much less than the prepackaged brand name stuff. Fruits and vegetables are usually much more inexpensive at ethnic grocery stores too. My favorite place to get fruits and vegetables is at a Chinese grocery store, it is always fresh, super inexpensive and there is exotic product so I get to try something new too!
Also, as I mentioned above, don't forget about your local dollar store. There are plenty of high quality items there. I would not recommend buying all kinds of food there, but you can find name brand things there for cheaper than elsewhere. Just be wise when buying things there and ask what kind of quality would you get out of a particular food item at a dollar store. Many times the same quality as a grocery store if in a grocery store the price isn't far from $1 already."