It isn’t wise to go grocery shopping when you are hungry. Random items practically jump off the shelves and into your cart. Before you know it, you’ve spent your monthly food budget in one trip. Similarly, you can waste money on miscellaneous food items by taking a sporadic shopping approach. Instead of buying food based on your hunger or recollection of fridge inventory, you can save money on your grocery bill by meal planning. 

5 Ways to Save Money on Your Grocery Bill by Mean Planning

1. Duplicate Ingredients

It is difficult to use an entire celery bunch in one dinner. Meal planning makes it possible to use one or two bunches during the week. Similarly, full-size cans of olives or bags of cheese are cheaper in larger packages. Duplicate the ingredients you use over the course of the week, and take advantage of family-sized savings. 

2. Bargain Shop

Meal planning allows you to take the time to plan based on savings. If chicken is on sale, plan on using this as your protein. If it’s hamburger, then it might be time to break out the barbecue for one meal and make a casserole for another. Advertisements can help to guide your meals throughout the week while prioritizing savings. 

3. Plan Your Snacks

Chips, dips, candies, and crackers are tempting to buy if you are just stopping by the store with no plan in mind. Instead, proper meal planning considers snacks and keeps them within budget.

4. Lessen Waste and Spoilage

Most people go through their refrigerators periodically to look for forgotten items that have gone to waste. Meal planning causes people to organize their food and take inventory of everything. This means little or no wasted food and no wasted money!

5. Improve Health

Lastly, meal planning typically leads to healthier eating choices. This is because people who cook their own food usually use more fresh and whole ingredients. Healthier eating results in costs savings. If you don’t see the savings at the cash register, you’ll see it eventually in your health. 

Meal planning can be as daunting as setting up a budget, but it is well worth it. The time and energy it takes to put together not only saves money on your grocery bill, but it also alleviates the stress involved in deciding what to make for dinner.

If you’d like more tips on money saving and other helpful stuff, check out our blog. If you are having difficulty with your budget, contact Pay2Day for solutions. 

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