1. We eat soup a lot. It's fast, cheap, easy, contains veggies... the only pitfall is outrageous sodium content, but at this point in our lives we're not that picky. We bring soup for lunch at work most days. It's way cheaper than picking up a fast food lunch each day and it helps us stretch our dinner leftovers longer, since we save them for more dinners. Also, eating soup instead of heavy leftovers for lunch helps me stay awake and productive instead of falling into a food coma from something heavy.
2. We disregard name brands. Did you know store brand foods are usually made by the same manufacturers as name brand foods? Sometimes they tweak the ingredients and the packaging... sometimes they only tweak the packaging. We are loyal Kroger customers just because Brian loves their store-brand peanut butter, and he insists it tastes identical to JIF. I would be 0% surprised if it is identical to JIF, just a different label on the front. Conveniently, at Kroger they always label the unit price (cents per ounce), so it's easy to compare brands and easier to pass on top name brands.
3. We stay flexible for sales. Often on our grocery list, we'll write very generic terms, like "fruit," "frozen meal," "meat." And we just look for whatever is on sale. I don't meal plan until after we get home with our discounted pork chops, chicken thighs, asparagus, pomegranate, whatever. If meat is on sale, immediately put it in the freezer, since it's probably close to it's sell-by date.
*bonus*
I use the app Ibotta. It is so easy to earn cash back using your grocery receipts. This is my referral link, please us it if you're interested, and we'll both benefit with a few extra bucks. (You get $10 for using that link, and I get $5.) I've earned $21 in two months, and it is literally free money, since I only choose to earn rebates on stuff I would buy anyway. Who ever thought free money could be a real thing.
Have any quick tips for keeping your grocery bill low? Let me know!
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