After housing and transportation costs, food takes up more of the average household's budget than anything else.
are a few ways trim our food budget without tightening our belts.
1. Set a Budget, and Stick to It. It's all about goal-setting. Save a couple weeks' worth of receipts and subtract 10% from that amount.
2. Don't Shop the Same Store Every Week. Shopping multiple stores is key to paying less for groceries, but be strategic. Find the best deals in the stores nearest you.
3. Use Coupons. Coupons are worth the time they take to clip, print out, or load to a store card.
4. Buy Clearance Items. Some stores regularly put soon-to-expire meat in a special clearance bin, marked 30% or 50% off.
5. Look for Alternative Grocery Stores. Don't walk past a small neighborhood grocery or ethnic store, without checking it out.
6. Try Amazon. Sometimes they offer steep price drops and coupon codes. Wantnot.net is a good blog for getting alerts on great Amazon deals.
7. Participate in Meatless Monday. Meat is often the most expensive part of a meal.
8. Stop Wasting Food. Forty percent of all food produced in the United States is thrown away. That's a whopping 20 pounds of wasted food per American.
9. Make Economical Substitutions. Replace expensive or out-of-season vegetables in recipes with the always-cheap carrots or cabbage.
10. Stretch the Meat. Instead of serving whole pieces of meat like steaks or chops, serve casseroles and stews with chopped, crumbled, or shredded meat.
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