5 Ways to Save on Groceries

With the recession, I have been cooking a lot more, for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for my husband and I, although I love eating at restaurants. Here are some strategies on saving money on food.

1. Cook most of your meals. Buying raw food is much cheaper than eating at a restaurant. At least buy foods you can heat up like soups, ravioli, chicken nuggets and add ingredients to make it your own, like cheese.

2. Try substituting vegetarian foods for some of your meals. Meat can be expensive! I have learned to make veggie meatloaf, meatless roast, tofu scramble, kale, summer squash, and veggie sausages, some which tasted almost like meat. Lentil soup is also a yummy. We’re supposed to eat more vegetables anyway.

3. Buy in bulk when you can. At Costco, we buy our raw chicken, Amy’s lentil and minestrone soups, Dave’s Gourmet Pasta Sauce (with heirloom tomatoes), almond butter, and Alvarado St. sprouted wheat breads. Buying those things separately would be more expensive. For example, the bread is $4.49 a loaf in grocery stores, at Costco, for 2 loaves, it’s about $6.69, with a savings of $2.29. I freeze both loaves since I don’t eat bread everyday. When I need it, I just take a slice from the freezer and toast it and it tastes exactly the same. Some people even invest in an extra freezer so they can stock up during sales. Amy’s soups are $2.49 each in the stores. At Costco it’s $11.99 for 8 cans, with a savings of $7.93!

4. Shop at a Chinese Supermarket. It’s just like the major chains minus the frozen dinners and processed foods, which will save you money in the long run because you will be forced to cook from scratch. You can get fresh vegetables, fruits, fresh seafood, meats, etc. Prices are dirt cheap and I am not exaggerating! For example, green onions are only 49 cents vs. 99 cents at Safeway/Vons. And Chinese supermarkets are not just for Chinese people. There’s no excuse not to go if you live near one.

5. Plan your meals. By planning your meals ahead of time, you will save yourself time and money. There will less wasted food because you won’t forget about some of the food you bought. Think about all the forgotten food sitting in the pantry or the rotten vegetables you throw out during garbage day. Instead of looking into your fridge to decide what to cook, you will see it on your meal planner on your fridge. You will be able to use all of the food you have bought to make a meal.

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