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Do you ever look at your financial goals—owning a home, buying a car, clothing all your little ones—and feel like it’s just not possible? Everything is so expensive right now. But if you’re looking for a place to start saving in a meaningful way, let me suggest the grocery store. It might not seem like much, but with the right approach, you can feed your family well—without overspending.

1. Cook from Ingredients, Not Prepackaged Foods

The first, and possibly most obvious, tip is to cook the majority of your food from ingredients rather than prepackaged or prepared foods. If you’re already rolling your eyes, I understand. This advice is nothing new and is plastered all over the internet. But let’s make it simple: decide on just one easy thing to make from scratch this month.

Make Broth From Scraps

Start saving your vegetable, bone, and fat scraps in separate bags in your freezer and use them to make broth.

A quick glance at the broth section will show you the savings potential. Store-bought broth ranges from $2 to $7 per carton. When you make it at home from scraps, it’s essentially free.

Just throw everything into a crock pot overnight, strain it the next day, and store it in jars in your fridge or freezer. I have used these containers from Amazon for over 3 years and highly recommend them for storing broths and soups.

2. Be Picky About Snacks

Children love to snack. Adults do too, but kids are snacking fiends. Decide on the cheapest, yet still healthy, way to provide snacks.

Our go-to is popcorn. You can buy 25 lbs of organic popcorn from Azure Standard for $30.70, about $1.23 per pound. Using a microwave air popper, you only need about 1/4 cup of kernels per batch, which comes out to around $0.12 per serving. You can get about 250 servings from 25 lbs.

3. Learn One Baked Good Each Month

Homemade baked goods are usually cheaper and healthier than store-bought options—and they build kitchen confidence too!

Start with something simple like my Sourdough Cinnamon Muffins. Don’t worry if you don’t have a grain mill or sourdough starter. You can reduce the flour by 2 tablespoons per cup and replace the sourdough with extra yogurt or even pumpkin puree.

Still not convinced? Here’s the cost breakdown:

🌾 Cost Breakdown: Cinnamon Sourdough Muffins

Ingredient	Cost
Cinnamon (5g)	$0.23
Salt (3g)	$0.00
Baking Powder (15g)	$0.19
Fresh-Milled Flour (310g)	$0.61
Butter (113g)	$1.27
Yogurt (250g)	$1.43
Eggs (2)	$0.78
Sugar (200g)	$0.55
Total Cost	$5.06
Cost Per Muffin (12 total)	$0.42

A wholesome, homemade muffin for under 50 cents—frugal, nourishing, and delicious!

4. Shop Early in the Week

Grocery markdowns often happen early in the week—and the savings can be substantial if you know when to shop.

Over the years, I’ve found the best discounts on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. Call your local store to find out when they typically mark items down.

Look for markdowns on:

• Meats
• Dairy (butter and cheese)
• Pantry staples
• Produce close to expiration

Be sure to freeze or use your food right away. This habit alone can trim your grocery bill significantly.

5. Budget $100–$200 per Person per Month for All Consumables

Having a ballpark budget per person helps keep you focused and gives you a realistic goal.

Years ago, I heard this budgeting tip and have used it ever since. It’s a helpful guideline for what’s appropriate to spend each month.

And by consumables, I mean everything: toothpaste, toilet paper, diapers, makeup, lotion, etc are included here. It might feel impossible—or at least difficult—but let it become a new goal.

A frugal home economist learns what household goods can be replaced, made at home, found at deep discounts, or substituted with something cheaper.

Don’t beat yourself up if it’s hard at first. Take the small wins. Pick one item this week that you can stop purchasing, swap for a cheaper version, or make yourself. You can do it!

6. Use a Single Grocery Card or Cash Envelope System

See if your favorite grocery store offers a debit card with no fees and cash-back perks.

This won’t work for everyone, but we found that our preferred grocery store (just 5 minutes from our house) offers a debit card with 5% cash back on store-brand items. We load our entire grocery budget onto it at the start of each month. It’s an easy way to track spending without manually logging every purchase.

If that doesn’t work for you, consider a cash envelope system instead. Withdraw your monthly grocery budget in cash, put into an envelope and track spending that way. Watching your money diminish that way is an excellent way to encourage frugality.

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Blessings,

Payton