20 ways to save money on food and shopping

If you are looking for ways to save money on food shopping there are certain supermarket aisles and grocery items you should avoid while shopping. You can achieve this by being strategic about your food choices, using a shopping list, picking budget recipes, using coupons and cooking food in bulk. These are just some of the ways you can drastically reduce your food budget.

Here are 20 ways to save money on food shopping this week:

1. Save on meat by switching to two vegetarian meals each week.
2. Always shop at home in the pantry, fridge and freezer before shopping at a supermarket.
3. Use up everything in your kitchen before shopping again.
4. Do your grocery shopping online where you can sort by price. This saves big money and also valuable time during the week.
5. Make a rule to reduce the use of disposable products in your home by 50 percent. Choose alternatives.
6. Avoid gourmet recipes and go for budget, easy-to-cook recipes with fewer ingredients.
7. Shop around the edges of the supermarket where the food is fresh. Packaged and processed foods tend to cost more.
8. Save even more on meat by becoming a Flexitarian. Eat vegetarian from Monday to Friday and then treat yourself to meat on the weekends.
9. Invest in a bulk-cooking system like Freezer Meals, which delivers 28 dinners, one grocery list and cooking methods for the entire month.
10. Buy long-life milk and keep it in the pantry. Buy enough milk to last until your next shopping trip. This also helps you to avoid extra trips to the supermarket where you will be tempted to buy unnecessary grocery items.
11. Buy bulk loaves of bread and freeze immediately while fresh. Avoid more unnecessary trips to the supermarket.
12. Cook a Sunday roast and use up the leftovers for lunch. Avoid expensive meats from the deli.
13. Sign up for FREE tools that can help you find more ways to save money on food. Grab my free eBook 110 Super Fast Saving Tips and learn more about how to save on groceries.
14. Beware of packaging tricks. For example, watch out for the larger holes in sauce and condiment bottles. These larger holes make you pour out more sauce than desired.
15. Buy supermarket gift cards to assist with budgeting. For example, buy four gift cards worth $100 each. When grocery shopping only take the gift card to the supermarket. Do not take cash or your card.
16. Bulk up meals with cheaper ingredients. For example, add a can of chickpeas to a casserole.
17. Always plan meals, buy in bulk, cook in bulk and freeze meals ahead of time.
18. Consider liking a social community such as the Savings Room Facebook Page where you can start up a bulk-cooking group with people on your street.
19. Make your own kids’ lunchbox snacks such as cheese sticks or crackers with cheese spread.
20. Base your grocery shopping around coupon specials. Collect them up from the letterbox, your local supermarket and also the local newspaper. Also check online for further specials and sign up to coupon sites for your locality. These sites will send you coupon deals daily.

Do you have great ways to save money on food shopping? Share them in comments below. Discover more ways to increase savings and budget better when food shopping here.