How to save money on food

We all have different approaches to food. My goal is to enjoy it. Yours may be to eat all the right things. But however you look at food, I want you to buy it at the right price. You can learn to save money and reduce your food budget, whether you eat at home, eat out, or bring home ready-to-eat meals. As to what you drink, alcoholic or non-alcoholic, there are tremendous savings available in that area as well.

One of the few places virtually everyone spends money is the supermarket, and it’s a prime place to save. There are a few common-sense rules that can help you save on your grocery bill. You may be using one or more occasionally already, but you probably don’t follow them consistently. The first is to shop with a list. If you go into a supermarket without a list, you’re going to fall prey to the store’s marketing tactics. You’ll buy things that are displayed at “end caps,” at the end of each aisle. You’ll be tempted by merchandise that is positioned at eye level, often foods with a lot of fat and calories that will earn a higher profit for the store and also be bad for your health. The store’s goal is to get you to buy things you hadn’t intended to buy. Using a list helps you fight that. My wife, Lane, is obsessive about lists. She figures out exactly what she needs, goes down the aisles, and picks out only those items.

The second rule is never go to the supermarket when you’re hungry. That is a fatal error for you finances, because you’re much more likely to make impulse buys when you’re hungry. If you do just those two things, you can make an enormous difference in you grocery bill. There are a number of techniques that will help you save money on the things you buy. One is using discount coupons. I judged a newspaper contest on handling money, and it was tough to pick a winner, because each of the contestants had brilliant strategies. One woman took $500 and turned it into $1,900worth of food, simply by couponing. It was phenomenal. She did her shopping at four different stores, and was very organized about it. She went through the fliers each week to see what they were offering. If a store doubled or tripled coupons on certain days, she would shop there on those days. That may make your eyes roll because it’s a lot of work and a lot of time. But if you can take $500 and turn it into $1,900 by spending a little time organizing yourself and going to four stores, that seems well worth the effort. Normally, you’re not going to spend $500 on groceries at one time, but I love the idea of being able to get double or triple the value for your money simply by buying items that are on sale or couponable.