How Saving on Food Expenses Can Help Stretch Your Budget

The cost of living expenses is rising and there is no sign of it stopping in the near future. Some of us who are making big money may not still feel the crunch, but not for long since the steady rise in global commodity costs is evident anywhere you go.

Before we all get worried, each of us can do several practical things to still save some few dollars off our monthly budget to we don’t end up living on the streets. Here are some ways to stretch your dollar:

1. Keep a list of things to buy

Keep things organized. Before grocery shopping, make a list of items to buy. This can help a lot in keeping the family’s budget from overshooting. With this list, you get to have an idea of what your household needs and can go over it to review which of the items you should prioritize and cross out. With this practical approach, you avoid overspending or spending on unnecessary food items.

2. Do your grocery every two weeks

Visiting the store every two weeks is not too short and not too long to buy food stocks. This will surely save up not only your time, but some few dollars savings on your travel expenses. The less frequent you go to the grocery store, the less you buy unnecessary things you see while shopping.

3. Make new meals out of leftovers

A little creativity with rice from last night’s dinner can be made into fried rice and make a hearty breakfast in the morning. For an added flair – put onions springs or scallions, other leftovers like sausage, or hotdog, or shrimps, veggies like carrots from other dishes left in the fridge, and you have a Chinese-style wok fried rice dish – Yeung Chow Fried Rice!

4. More meat for the kids, more veggies for the grown ups

As adults, our food intake should be more on fruits and vegetables — which costs less. Adults don’t need too much meat products especially pork and beef as they can cause health issues as we age. Let the kids have more of these as they need more protein to supplement their growth. With this practice you cut down a big portion on your budget for meat products.

5. Look for sales / coupons / rewards programs

An exciting way to save on food budget is through free coupons and vouchers. Hunt for the best deals when there is a sale or take advantage of rewards program offered by many grocery stores. Sale season gives you the opportunity to buy food items in bulk and at wholesale prices — savings! It also pays to be loyal to your grocery store because at the end of the day, you get rewarded with more discounts!

6. Buy generic or store brands

Less known brands sometimes offer better food quality than most popular brands in the market at a surprisingly lesser price. You have to go the extra effort of checking each food item you want to buy. Say, you have a generic store brand vegetable soup in one hand and a branded vegetable soup on the other. You have to compare the prices — usually a branded food item costs twice the generic brand, from price point, you know what to buy already.

There are many ways of saving some of your food budget, and people are getting more and more creative at finding ways to do just that. We should learn to do our part and teach family members, too.

Think of it as and fun endeavor for you and your family, at the same time doing the right of saving some of your dollars for harder times or as an added stream of fund to pay off your mortgage faster. With conditions being predicted to worsen up with all the natural disasters, increased oil prices in the world market, social unrest, have control over what you can, and reap the benefits!

Guest Author: Jason Vandermeulen is a regular contributor for Credit Card HQ where he tries to help people save money by choosing the best credit cards, read more by visiting him here, www.0balancetransfercreditcardshq.com/0-transfer-credit-cards.

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