Anchor Intro: For most families, food is the number one area of a budget that can be cut-back to save money. But in order to save, you got to plan ahead. We have some smart strategies to save you both money and time.
Inventory: First things first…take inventory of your cupboards to find out what food you have on hand. When you know what staples you have in your inventory versus what you need to buy, you’ll automatically save yourself from buying more than you need or forgetting any key ingredients.
Coupons: Coupons can save you money no matter how much or little you use them. Usually, coupons will save you a couple of cents off an item … but some coupons are so generous that when used in combination with other coupons or if a store allows double or even triple coupon days, you can end up getting the item for virtually free. You can find coupons in your weekly Sunday paper, online and in weekly circulars. Even if you only save $3 dollars a week by couponing, that’s $156 dollars a year.
Plan meals: You don’t always know what you’ll want to eat, but you can plan your meals ahead of your trip to the grocery store by looking through the weekly circulars to see what’s on sale and how you can combine that with coupons and items you already have in stock to achieve maximum savings.
Buy in Bulk: Certain foods like frozen vegetables, rice, pasta and peanut butter are great items to buy in bulk as they don’t quickly expire. Having enough staples on hand means you can wait until the next sales cycle to replenish your supply instead of paying full price during a quick trip to the grocery store.
Frugal foods: Sometimes, it’s not the ingredients it’s how you cook them. Instead of sirloin and chicken breast, try cheaper cuts of meat…they taste great, are easy to cook and are brilliant on a budget. You can eat like a King on a Pauper’s budget, all you have to do is plan accordingly.
Now, if you could just cut down on your laundry bill. Actually, you can … we’ve got more money saving tips in our next video.
