How to Budget Your Groceries Like a True Millennial
How I spend half as much as my boomer dad on food every week
For as long as I’ve been adulting, I thought saving money was a no-brainer. Budgeting for groceries and digging for deals seemed like an easy effort that everybody put in. It wasn’t until my last visit home that I realized, maybe not everybody knows how to do this.
I was sitting in my dad’s newly renovated living room snacking on chocolate chip cookies from my favorite home town bakery. We were doing our usual sitting in silence when he said something he’s said to me many times before:
“Groceries are too expensive.”
Like many times before, I agreed. I started talking about how we keep our weekly trip under $60, beginning with the fact that we shop at a lower-cost grocery store. Staying in true fashion to our repeated conversation, he stopped me right there.
I already knew what he was going to say. He won’t switch stores because, and I quote, “That’s where poor people shop”, and “people wear their pajamas there”. I like to call this his grocery pride.
The first step to saving money on groceries: Get over your grocery pride.
For anyone who needs to hear this, nobody is ever going to judge you based on where you do your groceries, and it will never be worth burning a hole in your pocket to impress strangers that might.
I’ve broken down my weekly grocery routine into 5 tips that my father will likely ignore forever (but maybe they can help you).
1. Make shopping a regular chore, and bring a list
Having a list will keep you focused, prevent you from getting distracted and forgetting things, or grabbing things you don’t need. Making grocery shopping a habitual routine will force you to make a more accurate list because you’ll know exactly how long you need to make your food last.
This may seem like a no-brainer, but I know when I moved out as a bright-eyed 19-year-old on her own for the first time, I was straight wingin’ it. Whenever I ran out of something, I threw on my backpack and walked 30 minutes to the nearest grocery store. This was an insane waste of time and made tracking my money awfully difficult because:
- I often went multiple times a week
- I bought a different assortment of items each time
- Each trip had a different price tag
This caused me to spend a lot more than I should have, especially if I was hungry. Nothing kept me on track for what I was actually there for, and as an extreme introvert, I am very easily distracted. Lists are a miracle on paper, and they are absolutely integral to an efficient shopping trip.
2. Shop at multiple places
If you have the luxury of a vehicle at your disposal, do some shopping around. We buy our soup stock, couscous, quinoa, flax seeds, and a lot more at the bulk food store. We buy our honey, peanut butter, tahini, chips, candy bars, and dog treats at the Dollar Store. If you’re able to shop in a supercenter with lots of different stores all in one place, take advantage of them! You’re likely missing a lot of good deals by only committing to one.
Another thing that’s been huge for us is having access to the farmer’s market. If your town has one, go there immediately. Not only do you get to support your local farmers, but produce is usually dirt cheap. In the summer when there are lots of vendors, we’re able to get most of our list for under $30.
3. Price match everything
Price matching is when you show a cashier a flyer for another store advertising a cheaper price for something you’re buying, and they match the price. This is super easy, super effective, and super satisfying. There have been weeks where I’ve saved $20 this way.
Before smartphones were big, I had to wait for all my flyers to come in the mail. I had to read them all, take note of the deals I wanted, and then carry them all the way to the store with me. It was excruciating, and it took a long time. Luckily, this isn’t necessary anymore because there are tons of apps out there that do this for you.
All you need to do is search your grocery item and you’ll get clippings from every flyer in your area, and you can show it to the cashier right on your phone. It’s beautifully convenient. Sometimes I’ll even drop my basket and do this on the go. Because I can. Because technology is amazing.
4. Buy less name-brand items
A lot of dry goods can be bought cheaper if you avoid the name-brands, and they taste exactly the same. Dry pasta is a great example of this.
You can buy a gigantic bag off-brand dry pasta for 99 cents. My dad buys fancy pasta in a box that costs $3 and only contains one meal’s worth of pasta. He says it’s easier this way because he doesn’t have to portion it and he doesn’t have to worry about re-sealing a bag. I like to call this convenience pricing.
There’s a lot of off-brand options that will minimally affect the quality or taste of what you’re eating. Here’s what I usually buy:
- Granola bars
- Frozen and canned vegetables
- Pasta sauce (The cans cost about $1 and it’s really easy to season it yourself)
- Frozen pizza
- Potato chips
- Oatmeal
- Pancake mix & syrup
If you don’t feel great about buying things off-brand, let me leave you with this. Even the exact same name brand items you buy at your high-end grocery store are cheaper at budget ones. They likely sell the exact same items. Life hack.
5. Buy less meat
This one may be controversial, but I don’t care. For the sake of full disclosure, I am a vegetarian. I have nothing against people eating meat, my diet is my choice and I’ll never force it on anyone else. I will say though that being a vegetarian is the main reason my grocery budget is able to stay so low. Here’s a quick cost comparison:
Vegetable Protein weekly buy:
- 1 brick of tofu: $1.99
- 2 cans of beans: $1.75
- 1lb of TVP: $2.99
Meat protein weekly buy:
- Deli meat: $7.51
- BBQ chicken: $4.63
- Ground beef: $4.17
You do not need to give up meat. But if you swap one or two meals per week with a plant-based protein source, your grocery bill will thank you. Meatless recipes can be just as nutritious, and just as delicious, for real. Google it sometime.
If you feel like something essential, like groceries, is growing out of your price range, please fix it. Cutting costs on food is way too easy to not do, and the money you save will almost definitely be more appreciated somewhere else.
