9 Ways to Save (A TON) on your Grocery Bill

December 22nd, 2010 admin

I feel like I’m getting a black belt in living frugally.  It makes me very excited because I grew up in a very well to do family where money was spent very freely.  I think in many ways the spending of money freely in my family led to my parents divorce as well as other problems.  Scipture does say that “The love of money is the root of all evil.” (1 Tim 6:10).  How easy it is to love money when we spend it like it is our own and not God’s?

Lately, I feel like God has really been multiplying our finances as we strive to honor Him with each penny that we give, spend, and save.  I have seen God multiply not only the money in our pockets but the food in our refrigerator and pantry.  I wanted to share with you 9 Ways to Spend Less on Your Grocery Bill so that God might bless you as well – may you learn to live more frugally during the new year so that you will honor God with each penny that he has given you. 

Meal Planning is by far one of the best ways to save money.  If you have a meal on paper and all the ingredients in the fridge or freezer you are less likely to go out and get something quick for dinner.  It will help your family eat more healthy and save you tons of money.  You can get free meal planning resources by going here or  Click here to get some of my favorite kitchen/meal planning resources for a small fee. (COMPLETELY WORTH THE SMALL FEE)

Swagbucks is absolutely AMAZING because you can earn swagbucks just for searching on the internet.  I use it all the time, even for websites that I go to all the time.  Once you earn enough swagbucks you can use them towards lovely prizes like gift cards to amazon.com.  Once you have gifts cards you can look for great sales and buy organic groceries at a discount!  I save lots monthly using all my swagbucks!   

Secret Shopping has been a great way to get several meals for free!  They aren’t always the most healthful meals but they are great for a splurge once in awhile.  This past week we did some Papa John’s shops.  They were also paying some bonus cash so we got free food and a little extra cha-ching for our pockets. (We’ve also done shops for free oil changes.)  Some of the services we have used and gotten paid by are The National Shopping Service (if you sign up for this one you can use bjwebbsjunkmail@gmail.com for a referral email) or Market Force (you can use the same email if it asks for a referral). 

Freezer Cooking is one of my new found favorite ways to save money when it comes to eating.  My favorite way to cook for the freezer is to simply double a meal that you are already making and pop it in the freezer.  It makes great convenience meals that are no fuss.  You can get one of my new favorite books for freezer cookinghere.  The recipes are simple, yummy and easy to make!

Shop It To Me This is a website dedicated to saving money on designer clothing.  I know it might not sound like a money saver on your grocery bills, or maybe a money saver at all but you can get free gift cards to many things but also free gift cards to Whole Food Market and you don’t have to buy ANYTHING! All you have to do is invite 10 friends and for every 10 friends that sign up for the newsletter you will get a free $10 gift card! Does that sound cool or what?  Did I mention that you can get free gift cards to Wholefoods? Click here to get started.

    Groupon If you haven’t jumped on the Groupon train yet you are missing out!  When you sign up for Groupon it will ask you to choose a city.  Choose the one that is closest to your area but keep in mind that you can purchase a Groupon from any area.  Some Groupons can be used only in that area but many can be shipped to you no matter where you live.  There are great deals frequently with websites like The Nutty Guys and Nature’s Prime Organic Foods where we have purchased Groupons and gotten pretty stellar deals.   

Learn to Coupon- Print Free Coupons There are often online printable coupons that are not in the Sunday papers.  There are lots of great blogs that can help you learn to coupon like Money Saving Mom or Faithful Provisions.  Coupons are just like money when are you using them to purchase things you usually buy. If you combine them with items already on sale you will save extra this could cut your grocery bill from 30-50%. 

Buy in Bulk We have recently started purchasing from a local bulk foods co-op and I love it!  Less shopping and great food!  We are saving lots of money and I often split some of the big purchases with friends so it is savings for everyone!

Loyalty Programs Many restaurants have loyalty programs where if you eat there often you can get points and get free food.  Many of those programs will send you regular coupons as well.  My husband’s favorite loyalty program is Qdoba, mine is Panera, we also coupons and birthday surprises using loyalty programs for TGI Fridays and Red Robin.