Save $300 a Month on Groceries: See How This Mom Majorly Cut Costs
Written by
Gabrielle Olya
Edited by
Gary Dudak
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After her rent check bounced for the second time, Ainsley Heimall knew she needed to overhaul her family’s finances. The Army wife and mother of a 4-year-old based in Clarksville, Tennessee, decided to start by looking for ways to cut back on grocery spending, as this was taking up a significant portion of their overall budget.
“It tallied up to about $200 a week for the two of us plus our then 1-year-old daughter, who barely contributed to food consumption,” she told What to Expect. “I used to think it made sense since we worked out regularly and ate cleanly — a healthy lifestyle can be expensive.
“But our monthly grocery spending was almost equivalent to what we paid in rent. I knew this could be a huge area to save in if we could cut back without compromising the quality of our food. So began my exploration and experimentation with how to save money on groceries.”
Here’s how Heimall drastically cut down on her grocery spending.
Planning Family Meals Ahead of Time
Before reassessing her grocery spending, it was typical for Heimall to make multiple trips to the grocery store in a single week.
“I can’t tell you how many times we went back to the store mid-week to buy the missing ingredients we needed for dinner,” she said. “Extra money was constantly being spent because we just shopped for foods we liked on the fly. And we ordered in far more than we wanted to because we didn’t have a real plan.”
Now, Heimall plans out all of her family meals ahead of time and only goes to the grocery store every other week.
“This has been a hugely positive change for our budget — not to mention our schedules,” she said. “I’m less likely to impulse shop — that bag of chips can’t magically find its way into my cart if I’m not in the store — and I’m more likely to use up all the food I purchased and produce less waste. Most people toss the last 20 grapes when they get a new bag, for example, but when you only shop every two weeks, you force yourself to use up everything you have.”
Comparison Shopping
While it takes more time and effort to comparison shop, the cost savings can be significant.
“Being intentional about what I am shopping for has helped me take advantage of store discounts,” Heimall said. “I’ve seen prices differ by more than $2 between different stores, so I would plan my trips to the stores that had the best deals on what I needed. For us, that’s typically Walmart. As long as you’re not wasting what you’re saving on gas, you can save anywhere from $5 to $50 a month by comparison shopping.”
Utilizing Her Pantry
Heimall would often neglect the items in her pantry, which caused her to keep buying more food than she actually needed.
“My pantry […] would be fully stocked and I’d forget to check there before heading to the store,” she said. “Suddenly I’d have three bags of rice and it would take me months to use them up. Shopping your own pantry is definitely underutilized. Oftentimes, we forget about the second half of a pasta box, the can of soup that got lost in the back or the box of crackers.”
Being Intentional About What She Does and Does Not Buy
Heimall has made changes to the items she routinely buys and those she skips. Now, she always picks up a whole chicken on her shopping trips.
“We break them down into two breasts, two tenderloins, and either two thighs or two drums, which means it can last up to three meals for our family of three,” Heimall said. “A whole chicken at our local Walmart is $7.42, which means the price per person is just $0.82/meal. We even save the bones and the carcasses to make broth. One chicken will usually yield about four to five cups of broth, which saves us the $2.18 a carton of chicken broth costs.”
There are also three items she won’t buy anymore, including bread. “I bake the majority of our bread products to save around $10 at the store,” Heimall said.
She also no longer buys pre-cut vegetables. “Whole bell peppers at our local grocery store cost $0.86, while a container of diced peppers is $4.88,” Heimall said. “Even if you buy three whole peppers, dicing them yourself saves $2.50.”
Prepackaged snacks have also been cut from her grocery list.
“If you look at the cost of a 10-ounce bag of Pirate’s Booty versus a bag of 12 1-ounce bags, you’re paying more for the individual sizes — the bigger bag is $0.69/ounce, while the individual bags are $1.32/ounce, even though the bags are comparable in price,” Heimall said. “Dividing it up yourself saves money.”
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