Planning Your Budget

The best way to live frugally is to plan ahead. It is always a good idea to head to the grocery store with a plan and a budget in place. Here are a few tips on planning your grocery budget that may help you stretch food dollars:

1. Calculations - Figuring out how much money you absolutely need is the key to frugal grocery shopping. Throughout the years, I've found that it takes approximately $30 - $37 dollars a week to feed one person - it may be more or less, depending on how much your family eats and where you live. Here's a good formula to figure out your weekly grocery budget:

(number of family members) x $34 (middle ground) = (have to have for groceries)

For example, since there are four people in my home; I have $136 allotted for the week. With any luck I will save more with grocery coupons and store sales.

2. Plan your meals for the week and write them down. Keep them simple: meat, vegetable, carbohydrates. If possible, plan to use the same type of meat twice in one week; you can buy in bulk, which is generally cheaper than buying in small amounts. Hamburger, for example, is a good meat to use twice. One day you can make hamburgers; two days later, you can make tater tot casserole.

3. After you have planned your menus for the week make a list and put the price next to each item. You can easily get this amount from the sales ads and estimate the other items on your list. This doesn't have to be exact. If you generally buy the same items often then you probably have a good idea of the cost.

4. Always round up, never down. If you're buying something that's $0.88, write it down as a dollar. We have been tricked by the "Buy a car for only $12,999!" ads into believing that $1.00 is a dollar, but $1.50 is a dollar, also. Those pennies add up; I end up spending $10 to $20 less than I planned to, using this rule.

5. Add up the totals as you go along, keeping in mind your "have to have" amount. Once you have reached that total, stop and check your meal plan. If you're at your "have to have" amount and only have three meals covered, you need to reassess your meal plan; it may be too elaborate.

Although every household has a different level of how much they eat or how many people there are, this is a good start for budgeting groceries. You may have to fiddle with it a little to match your family's needs.

Healthy Meals on a Budget

A lot of people say that it is hard to feed your family healthy foods on a budget. Even if rice and pasta become your main staples it doesn't mean you can't round out the meal plan with healthy fruits and vegetables. The next time you make a list keep these things in mind:

Not all vegetables are created equally - Buy frozen if you can't afford fresh. The juice in canned vegetables is where most of your vitamins are. Not so with frozen vegetables; the vitamins are still in the food itself. Buying frozen vegetables generally gives you more for your money as well.

Buy potatoes, noodles or rice, but use them sparingly. Give larger amounts of vegetables, with the starches as a side dish.

Buy carrots as snack foods for the kids. You can buy a large bag for low cost, peel them and then cut them up. Not only do they get vitamins this way, but they're also low in calories. Most kids like carrots because they're sweet.

Buy in Bulk

Whenever you can - and if you have the freezer room - buy your meats and vegetables in bulk. You can save a lot of money this way. Meat is usually cheaper by the pound when you buy the big packs.

You can do many things to stretch your food budget; this outline is just the tip of the iceberg. However, the biggest thing is to look at cost vs. amount. While generic foods may look like a better deal, the contents of the container may weigh much less than name brands. Do your research - though it may take more time, the savings are well worth it.