Surviving the Grocery Hike: Ask the Frugal Mom

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Hold the Meat
Plan one or two days each week to skip the meat or at least focus a little less on meat in your entrees. We try to plan one night where we do breakfast for dinner and have waffles or pancakes instead of our usual meat and potatoes type of meal. If your family is not open to going meatless one night, try finding dishes that take the focus off of the meat. Pasta dishes or casseroles might have meat in them, but one pound of meat will stretch a lot further than one pound would as a main dish. Stretching or eliminating meat can have a truly positive effect on your grocery budget and you might be surprised that with a little creativity, you won’t miss it at all!

Grow Your Veggies
I am a novice gardener and began gardening last summer. I had low expectations for what I would be able to grow, but my garden did surprisingly well for a black thumb like myself. Growing your own herbs and vegetables will save you a ton of money at the supermarket. If you are just beginning gardening, like me, start with a small garden or even just a container garden before making a large investment. Check out books from the library and spend your winter researching ways that you can improve your garden each year. Involve your children in the whole process, as it can be an invaluable teaching tool for them, and make your gardening a family event. It is amazing how much you can the save and learn from just a few plants.

Ditch the Disposables
Did you ever think about how much of your grocery budget you are actually just throwing away? Disposable napkins, paper plates, wet wipes, and paper towels can drain thirty-dollars or more each month on your grocery budget and you have nothing to show for it. We decided to make the switch to cloth napkins, dishrags and micro fiber cloths for our counters, washcloths for little one’s faces, and reusable plates for eating on each day. The cost savings has helped us to stay on better track with our budget, and we also have the side benefits of doing our part to help in the green movement towards making our environment a little better. Try replacing just one of these budget drains and you will see that it is so worth your time and effort.

Step Out of Your Comfort Zone
Research proves that we lean towards buying the brands and products that we have grown up with. It is also known that we tend to gravitate towards stores that are the easiest or most familiar for us because we think it saves us time. Are we really saving any money though when we just pick the most convenient or buy the brand that we have always bought? Probably not! With the grocery prices going up, now is a great time to begin exploring other stores in your neighborhood and trying generic or cheaper brands on the products that you buy. You just might find a new favorite store or brand—you only need to be open to trying it.