Whether you’re single and living on takeout or a parent feeding a growing household, food is a necessary expense and many of us could reduce what we spend. From straightforward tactics to more adventurous approaches, here are 22 practical methods to lower your grocery expenses.
1. Set a Grocery Budget
The first move toward spending less on food is to plan ahead. Establishing a weekly or monthly grocery budget keeps you accountable and prevents overspending.
Need examples? One person survived on just $4 a day, while another feeds a family of five on $64 a week. They reached those targets by deciding how much to spend before ever entering a store and by finding resourceful ways to meet their goals.
2. Map Out Your Meals
Plotting your meals for the week helps you purchase only what you’ll actually use, reducing waste, minimizing prep time and saving you from staring into the fridge wondering what to make for dinner.
3. Clip Coupons
This is basic savings advice, but many people still skip it. You don’t need to devote hours to clipping and organizing like the extreme couponers; a simple, streamlined system will do the job.
4. Cook More at Home
The more you prepare meals from scratch instead of buying prepared and packaged convenience foods, the more money you’ll keep.
If nightly cooking isn’t your thing, try a slow cooker to make a large batch on the weekend and reheat portions through the week. Packing your lunch and making coffee at home also trims costs.
5. Start a Kitchen Garden
Growing your own fruits and vegetables can save a considerable amount — but be selective. Some produce is cheaper to buy than to cultivate. Check lists that compare the most and least cost-effective crops to grow.
6. Regrow Used Vegetables
It may sound like a trick, but you can regrow certain vegetables from scraps, stretching the value of the produce you already bought.
7. Raise Backyard Animals
If you have space, raising animals can be the next step. You don’t need a farm to keep rabbits for meat or chickens for eggs — a modest backyard is often sufficient.
8. Reduce Food Waste
Throwing food away is the same as tossing money. Designate a leftovers day each week to clear your pantry and fridge. Omelets, soups, salads and wraps are excellent for using up miscellaneous items.
Repurpose food you’d normally discard: stale bread becomes croutons, and overripe bananas make perfect banana bread.
9. Try More Vegetarian Meals
Meat can be costly, and there are plenty of delicious recipes using protein alternatives like tofu, beans and soy. Whether you go fully vegetarian or just incorporate several meat-free meals weekly, you’ll likely save money and eat better.
10. Buy Seasonal Produce
Purchase fruits and vegetables when they’re in season and locally grown to cut costs. Buy in larger quantities to save more — freeze extras or turn them into applesauce, jams and other preserves to enjoy year-round.
11. Earn Cash Back
Beyond saving, you can earn money on groceries. Apps such as Ibotta and Nielsen Consumer Panel offer cash back for purchases you’d make anyway.
12. Remove Extra Weight
Not your body weight — your produce’s. Trim stems, stalks and leaves before purchasing items sold by the pound to reduce the billed weight. Even cutting 5% off the weight cuts 5% off the cost.
13. Build a Stockpile
When you find a great price on an item you’ll use and that won’t spoil soon, buy extras. Keep overflow on shelves in a cool place and consider an extra freezer for frozen goods, leftovers, bulk meals and seasonal produce.
14. Consider Freegan Practices
Dumpster diving for food sounds extreme, but some people recover discarded items from restaurants and grocery stores to cut costs and reduce waste. Sanitation matters here — focus on sealed, wrapped products.
15. Try Urban Foraging
A milder cousin to freeganism, urban foragers gather edible plants — like wild herbs, mushrooms and greens — found in public parks and green spaces. Do research first to identify safe species and avoid harvesting from private gardens.
16. Learn Grocery Store Tactics
Stores design layouts and placement to increase spending. Understanding these tactics helps you stick to your list and budget.
For example, more expensive items are often at eye level, impulse buys appear on end caps, and staples like milk, eggs and bread are located at the back so you walk past many tempting aisles.
17. Learn Your Store’s Patterns
Beyond general tricks, learn the specific rhythms of your local stores — when they mark down items and what strategies work there. Knowing these details can lead to extra savings.
18. Don’t Obsess Over Dates
You don’t have to discard food the instant it passes the printed date. “Sell by” is a guideline for retailers, and “best if used by” indicates peak quality. If a product is only a few days past its date and looks, smells and feels normal, it is often still safe to eat; see resources like StillTasty for guidance.
19. Negotiate Prices
Haggling isn’t limited to yard sales. At deli counters and bakeries, freshness matters and items close to expiration may be discounted rather than thrown out. Ask to speak with a manager to request a markdown on near-expiry goods.
20. Store Food Correctly
Proper storage affects how long food remains fresh and tasty. Consult resources like StillTasty to learn the best storage methods and read guides on which areas of your fridge and freezer are ideal for specific items.
21. Snack Before Dining Out
When you plan to eat out, have a small snack beforehand so you don’t arrive ravenous. Eating a light bite can help you skip appetizers, split an entrée, or limit yourself to dessert while enjoying company.
22. Bring Home Leftovers
Always take home your restaurant leftovers, and volunteer to help clean up at office lunches, school events and fundraisers. You can often score extra slices of pizza, sandwiches or baked goods to enjoy later.
