Hi. I’m the mom with the really high, make you pass out, grocery bill. There are about zero things I can do about it, what with all my awesome kids in the house, so we’re continually thankful that God keeps providing.
Ways our family saves money so we can afford our high grocery bill
Today I decided to make a list of ways we cut spending so we can make our monthly grocery budget bigger. I’d love to hear about some of the ways you save too! I’d also love to hear what some of your splurges are. (Every family has different events and items they consider priorities or treats, right?)
Here are a few ways our family cuts back so we can buy the amount of food it takes to keep our family full and healthy.
1. We make coffee at home.
Sound silly? What I mean is – we very rarely buy coffee and specialty drinks at a coffee shop. If I want to enjoy coffee with a friend, typically I invite her to my home to drink coffee at my table. (I can make a pretty mean cup of coffee for around $.035/cup!) At $5ish per cup for specialty coffees at shops, and with 10 people in our household to feed currently, going to a coffee shop for a treat is exactly that – a treat. It’s very rare and it’s a splurge. (If our older boys want to meet friends at the coffee shop, they use their own money.)
2. We almost never eat out.
This is partly because we don’t want to take forty-eleven children into a restaurant. CAN YOU IMAGINE? But it’s also because we don’t want to pay the bill after taking said kids into a restaurant. CAN YOU IMAGINE? So all of our food costs go toward groceries, saving us thousands!
I know that some people really, really enjoy eating out and can’t imagine never doing it. That’s awesome – go for it! Matt and I truly don’t enjoy it and don’t feel like we’re missing anything by avoiding it. Our kids don’t feel like they’re missing out because we do all of these fun things instead!
3. We have high deductible, low monthly premium healthcare coverage.
I can’t say enough good about this. We are grateful to pay only $255/month for healthcare coverage for our family. It’s perfect for us since we typically go to natural doctors not covered by insurance. Saving hundreds every month on our monthly healthcare premium helps us afford groceries to keep us healthy. I am so thankful for this for so many reasons.
4. My husband’s truck is rusty.
What I mean is, we don’t have the nicest vehicles on the block. They run great, they do the job, and they are paid for. Our older sons drive cars that they bought themselves after years of hard work and saving. (2024 UPDATE: Matt’s truck died last October and we have decided not to replace it right now. So far, so good!)
5. When we want a treat at home, we buy it at the store.
Say we want to enjoy a special family movie night or game night – something fun for the family and a break from cooking. Instead of going out to eat or getting takeout, we’ll get something fun from the store. While it seems that buying bags of prepared chicken nuggets or boxes of frozen pizza at the store is a splurge, it’s wonderfully cheaper than the $40-$60+ it costs to eat out. (I can feed our whole family chicken nuggets and fries at home for a total of only $10.16!) If we want ice cream, we’ll buy a container at the store for $3.50, which feeds us all, instead of paying that much per person at the ice cream shop.
6. We don’t spend much money on outings.
We take our family out and about to all kinds of awesome events and activities! But most of them are either free or super inexpensive. We bought a Zoo Membership and one for our Children’s Museum, which is super cost effective for our family (and paid for with Christmas money from Grandparents). So we can go to those any time we like! In addition, we go to libraries, parks, city-hosted events, the splash park, hiking trails, wow. We have a lot of fun and make so many great memories!
Ways we don’t hold back on spending money
As much as we spend frugally for most everything, there are a few ways we have found it’s not worth it to “save.”
1. Extra food so we can invite guests over often
We’ve found that it truly doesn’t cost much more to add people to our table and we add to our grocery budget accordingly. We love hosting gatherings at our house, so we never hold back when asking people to come over and eat with us.
2. Giving
That comes off the top of our monthly budget, without compromise. I’d rather cut back on food spending and eat beans all day than give less than we feel God calling us to give. This is saying something because well, just think what it would be like at our house if we ate beans all day.
3. Good coffee
Look at me – beginning and ending my post by talking about coffee. While we rarely buy coffee at a shop, I really do love good quality coffee at home. Folgers just doesn’t cut it, bless its heart. I simply buy higher-quality coffee in bulk at Sam’s or Costco and as I shared above, cost is still super low per cup!
Want more detail?! Specific food compromises I make so I can stay within budget (plus ways I will never compromise).
Share your ideas and what works for your family!
More money-saving posts you might enjoy!
- How to Save Money on Coffee
- How to Save Money on Meat
- Ten Easy Food Items You Can Make at Home to Save Money
- What to Add to Meat to Make it Stretch
- How Eating Fruits and Vegetables Isn’t Expensive
- Four Inexpensive Meals I Made from Costco Groceries
- Why Did I Spend $8 on a Watermelon?
- More Ways to Save on Groceries – Maybe??