10 Ways to Save Money on Groceries and Restaurants

Planning your meals around store sales can be one of the fastest ways to cut your grocery budget. Start by checking your local grocery store’s weekly ad online or in the Sunday paper to see what’s discounted.

Once you know what’s on sale, build your meal plan around those items. If chicken breast is discounted, plan chicken-based meals. If broccoli is cheap, add it to multiple dishes. This simple habit helps you save money, stick to your list, and avoid expensive impulse buys.

Don’t forget to check for free digital grocery coupons. Many major grocery stores and chains offer free digital coupons that you can load directly to your store loyalty card or app before shopping. These online coupons update weekly and can often be stacked with in-store sales for even deeper savings.

Set a limit on your grocery budget. Can you buy a week’s worth of groceries for just $50? How about $100? Turn it into a “how low can you go?” game.

As mentioned, scouring ads to see what’s on sale can help you hit your goal. Plan your meals and snacks around what you can get at a discount that week so you don’t spend past your preset limit.

You can also save a chunk of change by shopping for generic brands. Many major grocery chains carry non-branded versions of food staples that are cheaper. Before reaching for the brand-name version of an item, see if you can find the generic brand and make a cost comparison.

Have you ever dashed to the store to grab a stick of butter to bake some cookies, only to find several unopened boxes hidden at the bottom of your fridge? Check to see what you already have in your fridge and pantry before you make another grocery run.

Then come up with dishes you can create based on what you already have. If you have a surplus of food at home, skip that week’s grocery trip and use as much of what you already have before heading to the market.

Get creative and use what’s in your kitchen before spending more money. Apps like Tasty let you search for recipes based on an ingredient or two.

Retailers use psychological tricks to make you spend more than you originally planned. Watch out for these common tactics:

• Anchoring: This involves displaying sales prices next to regular prices to make you feel like you’re getting a good deal. But if you weren’t planning to buy the item in the first place, grabbing it off the shelf could cause you to overspend.
• Impulse placement: Stores also place tempting items at the ends of aisles and checkout counters to encourage impulse purchases.
• Loss leaders: These are super cheap advertised items that are designed to get you in the store so you’ll buy regular-priced goods once you’re there.

You can avoid falling for these tricks if you shop when you’re well-rested and stick to your list. Research shows that we tend to spend more when we’re bored, tired, or hungry.

Bulk buying only saves money if you actually use everything before it spoils. Focus on household staples that won’t go bad instead of buying perishables in large quantities.

Stock up on necessities like toilet paper, paper towels, baby diapers, and anything else you and your family use regularly. Memberships to discount warehouse clubs like Costco or Sam’s Club could be worth it if you go often and take advantage of the sales and discounts.

You might be able to snag a seasonal discount on a membership during the holidays, so keep an eye out.

Clothing stores aren’t the only ones with bargain bins and clearance racks. Check your local supermarket for discount bins, often in the back of the store near the restrooms. Sometimes you can find heavily marked-down food in the meat department or produce section.

Apps such as Too Good to Go allow you to buy leftovers from bakeries, coffee shops, restaurants, pizzerias, and grocers at a steep discount – often 50% off or more.

You can reserve a “Surprise Bag” through the app and pick it up within a designated time frame. Combating food waste and saving money is a win-win.

Misfit Market and Imperfect Foods are other options for scooping up less-than-perfect food or grocery surpluses at a discount.

If you’re a grocery store addict, you might head to different markets several times a week. But if you want to save money, wait until you’ve gone through most of your food before heading to the market.

Also, pick a single grocery store for your trip. It’s easy to trick yourself into believing you spent less on groceries for the week, but $30 spent at each place adds up quickly.

Restaurant meals or late-night trips to the drive-thru of your favorite fast food chain can seriously damage your food budget. If you eat out frequently, try to cut it down to once or twice a week. Make it count by carefully choosing where you want to eat and why.

Meal prep if you have the time, as it can help you avoid spending money at fast food places out of convenience. Meal prepping can seem difficult when you’re busy, but it can help you reduce food waste, eat healthier, and save money.

Carve out a few hours a week to focus on batch cooking. Lean on your slow cooker and easy recipes when you can.

For times you do want to dine out, look for ways to cut costs. Many bars and restaurants offer happy hour or lunch specials. Check the restaurant’s website, Yelp, or Google Business page to see if they offer a discounted lunch menu. You can enjoy the ambiance and joy of dining out and get more for your buck.

Another perk? If you opt for lunchtime or happy hour, you can beat the bustle of the dinner crowd.

Whether cooking at home or eating out, you can put more dollars into your pocket and reduce your overall food costs. And while you can’t control inflation, you can find ways to save. Watch your food spending go down without feeling deprived by employing a few simple tips and tricks.

Creating and following a budget can help you stick to your monthly food spending goals. Find out if the 50-30-20 budget could work for you.