Six Tips to Save Money on Your Food Budget
by S.L. Simmons

If you want a nicer car than the one you have now, you usually have to spend more money. Luckily, this generally isn't true with food. With more careful food planning, many people can spend less money and actually eat healthier than they do on their current diets. Unprocessed, whole foods are not only generally the cheapest foods you can buy, they are also often the healthiest. Unlike money, food really does grow on trees. Listed below are some tips to eat healthy and save money on your grocery budget.

1. Avoid expensive convenience foods and make more home made, preservative, and dye free foods using fresh ingredients.

2. Visit a discount, warehouse or bag-it-yourself store once a month to stock up on nonperishables. Only buy perishable food such as meat or produce in warehouse size portions if you can freeze it or reasonably expect your family to eat it all before it spoils.

3. It has been estimated that families in the U.S. throw away around 14% of the foods they buy, so be careful not to buy more than you need. You can always go back to the store for more food, but you can't return a week old wilted head of lettuce.

4. Plan your meals in advance and make your grocery list from your plan. Go to the store with your list in hand, and avoid buying anything not on your list.

5. Make it a challenge for yourself to try to spend less than you have budgeted for food. Save any money you have left over from your grocery budget for other expenses or use it to pay down debt. Also spend a little bit on a special treat for yourself, like fresh flowers or a new book, as a reward for coming in "under budget".

6. Take the following quiz: If you had an extra $520, would you rather:

A) Spend it at fast food restaurants

B) Invest it

C) Pay off your bills

D) Buy a new TV

Not many people would consciously choose option A, but the reality is that many people do choose that option by default. If you have a family of four and you spend $20 a week on a fast food meals one night a week, over the course of a year that adds up to $1,040. Make a meal at home for $10, save the difference, and in a year you will have an extra $520.

For busy nights, instead of resorting to fast food restaurants, try to keep the house well stocked with staples that you can turn into healthy, quick and easy meals. A dinner of spinach pasta topped with spaghetti sauce with some ground beef, apple slices and a side salad topped with a home made oil and vinegar dressing can be prepared in not much more time than it takes to make a round trip to go get fast food. The home cooked meal is better for both your budget and your health. If you can do this just once a week, after a year you will be $520 richer.

Article by S. L. Simmons, a thrifty mom of two and the editor at Always Frugal. Visit her web site at http://www.alwaysfrugal.com/groceries.html for additional tips on how to lower your grocery budget.