Save Money on Your Grocery Bill

My family and I, we like to eat.  And though I haven't made the best food choices over the past few months, I do like to be able to eat healthily even though I am on a tight budget.  Here are some of my top things I do to save on my groceries.

1.  Beans can be yummy!  You don't need to be a vegetarian to enjoy beans.  Mix some black beans with salsa and rice, top with some cheese, and enjoy!
2.  Buy dried beans over canned. I sometimes buy canned beans, but usually buy dry beans.  I cook the whole bag in my crockpot at once, then put them in freezer bags in smaller servings.  Then when I need some, I just grab a bag from the freezer!
3.  Make meat the addition, not the main course.  Add meat to soups and stews, stir fries and casseroles to make it go further.
4. Make your own convenience foods.  I've made my own jam, taco seasoning, granola, yogurt, pancakes and so much more!

5. Grow a garden.  Nothing tastes better than a fresh tomato from the garden!
6.  Cut out the cereal.  My family LOVES cereal.  But it is expensive.  To appease them, I will buy one box of cereal on sale.  Once it is gone, we eat oatmeal, eggs, or pancakes until we grocery shop.
7.  Buy discounted meat.  Okay, before you get all grossed out, hear me out on this one.  Meat is usually discounted because it is going to expire in a day or so.  Once you put the meat in the freezer, it will keep for a long time.  As long as you either cook it the day you purchase it or put it in the freezer it is fine.  Obviously, don't buy anything that looks questionable.
8. Menu plan.  How many times have you stopped at the grocery store on the way home, or the drive-thru because you had no plan for dinner?  Having a plan will avoid these unexpected trips.
9.  Shop the flyers.  Plan your menu around what is on sale that week.  And don't forget to price match!
10. Don't shop while hungry.  Oh man, everything looks so delicious when you are hungry!  You will end up spending more than you planned.  Eat before you shop.

How do you save money on your grocery bill?

5 Convenience Foods you can Make Yourself

I am all about convenience. I have three kids, six and under.  They require attention.  All. The. Time. They are like little energy suckers. Cute energy suckers, mind you, but energy suckers nonetheless.  So if there are ways I can make meal time faster in the kitchen, I want to do it.  But convenience foods that you purchase in the grocery store aren't always budget friendly. Not to mention the homemade versions are usually much healthier.  Here are 5 convenience foods that you can make for yourself at home.

1.  Pancake Mix. Seriously, when you buy a mix in the store you are probably adding eggs and milk to the mix. If you make the mix at home, you are only adding a bit of sugar, salt, and baking powder to that.  Three extra ingredients.  Really not all that time consuming.  And you can always make a huge batch of this to store in your pantry.  Just take your favorite pancake mix, double, triple, quadruple the recipe of just the dry ingredients and store it in an airtight container.

2.  Taco Seasoning.  Have you ever looked at the ingredients of storebought taco seasoning?  A lot of salt, and other ingredients you probably can't even pronounce.  I love that I have a jar of taco seasoning in my pantry at all times for whenever I am in a mexican-type dinner mood.

3.  Yogurt. The yogurt aisle is where I find myself the most frustrated in the grocery store.  It seems like almost every brand contains some type of alternative sweetener -sucralose, asparatame, etc.  I'm all for cutting back on sugar, but I'd rather have good ole' refined sugar any day over all those weird, bad-tasting,we-don't-know-what-it's-doing-to-us sweeteners.  By making yogurt at home you can avoid this. Though yogurt takes hours to make, most of it is just incubating time.  The initial work is pretty simple.  And you don't need any fancy yogurt maker.  I actually got rid of my yogurt maker awhile back because I prefer to use a small cooler and some mason jars.  For a tutorial on how to make your own, check out The Frugal Girl's blog.

4.  Breakfast wraps.  Hmm, breakfast wraps.  Okay, truth be told I'm not a huge fan, but my husband loves them!  You don't have to shell out some cash in the drivethru when the craving hits.  Just fill some tortilla wraps with some scrambled eggs, sausage, salsa, and basically whatever you want, wrap them up, freeze them flat on a cookie sheet so they don't stick, and put them in a big freezer bag when they are frozen.  Just take one out and pop it in the microwave when you want one!

5.  Granola.  I LOVE granola.  But everytime I see it in the store I am floored at how they charge so much for a little bag.  Especially since it is mostly just OATMEAL!!!  I get my oatmeal in bulk, either at the grocery store or a local amish store, and it is cheap.  Making my own granola is easy, and a fraction of the cost.  Granola recipes are everywhere online, but one that I like to use can be found here.

Making your own rather than buying can save you money and be healthier for you.  And many times it isn't as difficult as it seems, it just takes a bit of practice getting into the groove of things!