Everyone could stand to save a little money on groceries, but doing it while still eating good food is a challenge—to say the least. It doesn't have to be that way. Here are are a few simple steps you can go through each week to keep your diet under control and save money in the process.


Step Zero: Get a Good Meal Planning App


Before you do anything: the crux of this method is planning your meals each week before you go shopping. If you don't already do this, you'll need to do some one-time setup of a meal planning app or tool, and get in the habit of planning your meals before you go shopping. Keep your health in mind too, you want to make sure the meals you pick are healthy ones.

Check out our guide to stress-free meal planning to get started. It's insanely easy to do—you can grab recipes all over the web, save them for later, and search for them by ingredient. I've found Springpad and Evernote Food specifically useful for saving recipes, and I know several people who swear by Pinterest both as a place to store recipes and find inspiration. Don't be afraid to be creative. As long as you're cooking your own meals, you already have a leg up, and if you're saving money in the process, you're well on your way to your goal.

Now that you have the initial stuff set up, let's move onto the three simple steps you should go through each week.


Step One: Review and Plan Using Your Grocery Store's Sale Flyer


It may seem to go without saying, but your first step is to embrace your grocery store's sale flyer. They still come in the Sunday edition of the newspaper, but if you don't get one, just visit your grocery store's web site. They'll usually have it posted there, or let you sign up to have it delivered to your inbox every week. Look over the sale items. Instead of thinking “what am I in the mood for?” think "what delicious, healthy things can I make with what's on sale this week?”

Whether you love grocery shopping (like I do) or you hate it (like a few others here at Lifehacker), keeping an eye on the weekly specials will help you save big no matter what you cook. Of course, you'll have to steer clear of common grocery store tactics designed to make you spend more. Keep your eyes glued to staples that can be made into multiple dishes. Avoid brand names unless they're your brand, and focus instead on meat, produce, and bulk goods.


Step Two: See What You Already Have in Your Pantry and Fridge


One of the best way to save money on this week's groceries is to look back at last week's groceries. We waste a remarkable amount of food every year. Some studies note between 14-25% of the food we bring home from the grocery store ends up in the trash. So how do you make sure the food you purchase—and all of the effort you put into making sure it's healthy and affordable—doesn't go to waste?

It's easier than you might think. Before you hit the grocery store, see where you can reuse or get more meals out of what you already have. Still have half a pack of bacon from last week? Try a new recipe that uses it. Got a bunch of vegetables left over? Pick your favorite recipe that needs them (or something that can use all of them, like stir fry).


Not everything you buy is destined for a specific meal (snacks, ingredients, condiments, staples, etc), and expiration dates can be tricky to remember. Here are some tools to help manage what you already have:


Of course, there's no substitute for being mindful of what you have in the fridge or the pantry. Keep small items in front and large ones in the back so you don't forget about anything. Keep the oldest items in the front and the newest foods in the back. First in, last out as a rule. Organize your fridge like a grocery store to minimize waste. Finally, do what you can to keep food fresh as long as possible.


Step Three: Use Technology to Stick to Your Meal Plan

If you followed steps one and two, you’ve got a list of stuff that’s on sale and a list of stuff you still have at home—which means you’ve already got a good list of ingredients to start your meal plan! Once you start eating based on these things, you'll immediately save money.


Next, it's time to put technology to work for you. There are a lot of great meal planning apps out there, but one in particular—called Food on the Table—is ideal for this setup, since it combines meal planning and money saving into one app. You can use it on the web or your iPhone or Android device. All you need to do is select your preferred grocery store, browse the weekly sale circular, and then build your weekly meal plan based on what's on sale, all from the app.

Once you have a few meals in your plan, one tap generates a shopping list with the ingredients you'll need. I've used Food on the Table, and it definitely makes meal planning around sale items easy. Nutrition info is easy to find and browse, and the recipes available in the app are interesting and delicious. Food on the Table also takes specific needs, like a vegetarian, lactose-free, or a gluten-free diet into account. Meal plans are customizable, and you can review, accept, or swap out dishes freely.


Still, it's not perfect. You have no guarantee that the dishes it suggests are healthy, so you'll have to double-check. You'll also have to review the shopping list to remove things you already have. Also, while the app supports several grocery stores, it's possible you'll find your favorite missing (like I did). Finally, Food on the Table is freemium at best. It's only free up to three meals a week, and only on your mobile device. To use Food on the Table on the web, to get five meals a week, and to get full access to all of the app's features, you'll need to sign up for a subscription ($30 for 3 months, $48 for 6 months, or $60 each year). The price tag may make you balk, but $60/yr may be little in comparison to how much you'll save on food and the benefit to your health.

Other Tricks That Will Help


This basic set of steps should be all you need to start saving money every week. However, once you've gotten used to that, here are a few extra money-saving tips you can incorporate however you want into your specific method.

If building a grocery list in advance is your sore point, services like Grocery IQ and ZipList make building a grocery list easy, and they work on the web, on your smartphone, or on your tablet. They'll even help you save money on the items you plan to buy by checking your store circular and offering you coupons for other items you may be interested in. Then you can use a different meal planning app for your recipes.


If meal planning is your big pain point, consider previously mentioned Eat This Much. It's billed as an "automated nutritionist," and while it definitely has its quirks, it makes getting a weekly meal plan full of healthy dishes and recipes really easy. A few clicks and you'll have your plan, and a few more will get you a grocery list full of the ingredients you need for that plan. You'll have to cross-check the plan with your store sales, but it's takes the hassle out of finding healthy recipes.


You could also consider grocery shopping online. We've shown you how to get started and why it saves you money and time, but it can also force you to eat better. When you buy your groceries online, you're never prone to bait-and-switch in-store sales, and you won't be lured by impulse purchase. Similarly, watching your subtotal tick upwards with every item in your cart will keep you from straying from your list.


Regardless of how you choose to do it, combining the goals of eating well with saving money on food doesn't have to be difficult. It's easy to assume that eating on a budget means cheap, processed crap from the center aisles of the grocery store, but it doesn't have to be that way. You do need to put in some time and effort, but the right technology can help, and as long as you're mindful of your health when you do it, your results will be delicious and nutritious.

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