Are groceries the second biggest expense for your household after your mortgage/rent? They are for us, so I am always searching for ways to spend less on groceries without sacrificing quality.
I’ve found a bunch of creative ways to save money on groceries and household items, so I’m sharing my best tips and tricks in this post!
Buy Essentials at Costco
Shopping for essentials at Costco (or another warehouse club) has the potential to save you a ridiculous amount of money! In this post, I calculated that we save almost $300 each year just from buying five basic items at Costco. Since we buy many more items on a regular basis, I’m sure our savings is WELL over $1,000.
Here are items I buy regularly at Costco at significant savings:
- Salad mix
- Fresh green beans
- Fresh fruit (raspberries, blueberries, bananas, etc.)
- Butter
- Pork Loin (I cut it into pork chops myself)
- Vegetable Oil
- Olive Oil
- Coffee
- Bacon
- Frozen Fruit
- Rotisserie Chicken
- Shredded Cheese
- Half and Half
- Contact Solution
However, I do have two warnings for shopping at Costco:
- You MUST stick to your shopping list and resist impulse buys or your savings will go right out the window!
- You’ll have to be able to use everything before it spoils (I store a lot of excess in our full-size freezer)
I got our first year’s membership at a great price thanks to a now-expired Living Social deal (you can sign up for Living Social deals here). We are able to recoup the $55 annual fee easily through buying these basics at Costco and resisting impulse buys.
Amazon Subscribe & Save + Prime Pantry
I use two Amazon programs – Subscribe & Save and Prime Pantry – to save big on food and household items.
I estimate that I save roughly 25% off of store prices on the items I buy regularly through Subscribe & Save. I often save even more thanks to clipping digital coupons like these! Check out my full post on using Subscribe & Save for all of the details.
I also regularly get cheap or free groceries on Amazon Prime Pantry using these tactics. It does take a little bit of time to put an order together, but it is less time than it takes for a trip to the grocery store!
I like using these Amazon programs to get quality items that are prohibitively expensive in stores. I can afford to spend $0.50 each on Larabars from Amazon, but I couldn’t regularly afford them at the $1.49 in-store price tag!
Meal Planning
I know the words “meal planning” aren’t super sexy, but making a loose plan for some frugal meals each week can really help you save on your grocery bill.
I have a collection of almost a YEAR’S worth of frugal (and delicious) family dinners in my Meal Plan Archives. Or you can see all of my favorite dinner ideas in one place on my Pinterest What’s For Dinner Board.
Ibotta
I’ve tried all of the money-saving grocery apps out there and the ONLY one I find I can stick with and use regularly is Ibotta.
Ibotta is a way to earn cash back on grocery purchases, including fresh fruit and veggies. You can have your money deposited into your PayPal account or redeem it for a gift card. You can sign up and start saving here!
I hope these tips help you save money on stuff you are buying anyway, like food and household items. I figure that if I can get what we buy anyway for less, it frees up room in the budget for other things – like travel!
Please leave a comment below if you have any questions!