Here's How to Save $$$ at the Grocery Store

The Money Minute is your one-stop-shop for financial advice. Subscribe to get three articles/week on the best money tips, delivered straight to your inbox. 💸💸💸

On Monday, I outlined the financial blindspot people often miss: the grocery store. Today, I'm sharing some more tips around illuminating (and nixing!) that blindspot, once and for all.

In that article, I told you that you should keep your food budget to about 5% of your overall spending plan. Maybe you’re a foodie and you’re thinking: “5% of my spending plan should go to groceries?! But I spend 20% and I can’t trim any fat, so to speak.” Well, Gordon Ramsay, how much are you spending on extravagant meals out? How often do you download a recipe and notice you’re missing three spices and rush the Fresh Direct delivery because you just have to make Moroccan chicken tonight. I hate to break it to you, those costs do not go into the "Essentials" category of your spending plan.

If you’re splurging on going out to dinner or extravagant meals at home, that’s exactly what it is: a splurge. Not essential. But that doesn’t mean you should never do it! Throw these costs into the “Extras” category and budget for some treats.

Here’s a tip for you foodies who are cooking it up on the daily: check for substitutions before you buy new novelty items. Spices are sneakily expensive; for example, saffron is $18 a pop. Yikes! I mean, heck, I can make a whole meal for $18, easy. So if you fall in love with a recipe, but don’t have some of the ingredients, look up some common substitutions and see if you can use something that you already have. Who knows, maybe in using some substitutions, you’ll come up with the next big flavor craze.

And for the other side of the spectrum, you snack connoisseurs who are down for Fritos for dinner: yes, packaged foods and snacks with a million ingredients you can’t pronounce might be perpetually on sale and seemingly cheap and easy, but you don’t need to compromise your health for cost. Yes, organic food should be more easily accessible, I totally agree, but you’d be surprised if you just Google “cheap healthy meals” how many great recipes come up.

Plus, studies have shown that buying healthy food and cooking at home (as opposed to “cheap” fast food and prepared meals) are actually less expensive in the long run: a typical family of four will spend nearly $30 for a meal at the drive-through window, while a basic and nutritious meal of rice, beans and fresh vegetables makes enough for a few days’ worth of left overs for less than $10. Winner, winner, tofu dinner!

And you’ll likely end up spending less money once you get the hang of shopping and meal planning this way, because last time I checked, an apple was less expensive than a bag of Cheetos. Plus, you’ll skip those hospital bills that you may incur if you get a kidney stone from all that salt or, you know, turn orange.

Here are my parting words of wisdom: stretching your meals doesn’t have to be boring. The convention forever has been that you stretch your meals by making one big pot of something on Sunday night and eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day the next week. Hell to the no!

What you should do instead is make one big batch of a protein: like chicken, or tofu (which is cheaper than meat, thank you very much). Then, rotate that into different meals. On the first day, throw your protein into tacos. The second day, use the protein leftovers in a salad. On the third day, throw it into a pasta. And on the fourth day, send me some Kleenex because I will truly be *crying* happy tears of pride for you.

xo,

Here’s a note for all of you folks who want to get rid of debt, lock in that raise, plan for your best retired life, find unclaimed money and generally cruise along the road to financial freedom:

If you’ve been thinking that you need more Money Minutes in the day, level up with a premium subscription. Subscribers will get enriching bonus content like cheat sheets, exclusive articles, reader questions, a new community hub for Rich Bitches (and pre-Rich Bitches)— all the things I wish I had when I was getting my financial shit together. Invest in yourself and hit subscribe to check out your new favorite place on the internet.

Here are more ways to get it together and get it all:

🎙Click here to subscribe here to my daily financial advice podcast, Money Rehab.

📖 Click here to pre-order my latest book, Miss Independent