How to lower your Grocery bill

I have read every method possible on lowering your grocery bill. From apps, to coupons, to watching sales, and honestly nothing worked for me. I tried couponing. I am not very good at it. Or maybe I just don't understand it. I know a lot of people succeed in couponing but I don't need 30 bottles of shampoo just because it was on sale. 

My household consists of myself, my husband, and my 22 month old. A week we were spending $250 - $350 a WEEK at the grocery store. That equals to $1,000- $1,400 a month for groceries. That is insane if you ask me! For the life of me I couldn't figure out what we were buying!

I literally cut our grocery bill in half all by myself! Like I said I read and read and read about all "magical" things that were suppose to help me save money, but nothing seemed to work. I'm sure if I now go back to those strategies I may be able to save even more. But for the time being I am going to stick with this method!

Here's how I cut our grocery bill in half!

1. Make an actual grocery list:
I would end up spending all this money at the store and end up coming home and still need items.

• Place a notepad on your refrigerator. (This way when you run out of an item it immediately gets written on the list)

2. Meal Prep:
By meal prepping I know exactly what lunches & dinners I will make for the week. Every Sunday I meal prep our lunches or snack boxes.

• Add all meal items to grocery list

3. Organize your grocery list:
Make categories so while your going through the isles it is easy to see which items you actually need.

• I use different colors for each category on my list

4. Costco:
I never understood the hype about Costco and BJ's, until I had kids, a husband, and started meal prepping! Once a month we go to Costco to stock up on items for the month. By stocking up on these items we are not buying them weekly, which saves us money every week. Now you still have to contain yourself in Costco. Sometimes If i'm really hungry and try samples I think that we "need" that item then. No you do not. Stick to the list and the meals you are trying to make.

• Once a month they send out a flyer with their sales. I will try to buy items that we use if they are on sale that month.
• Great for stocking up on drinks, baby items, snacks, paper products, laundry detergent, bulk fridge items that you are using that week for meal prep

5. Peapod:
Peapod has changed my life! Peapod is a service through Giant that delivers your groceries to your home. You must spend $60 minimum but can order as many times a week as you want. You get to pick your delivery date and time. The produce and meat is always super fresh because it comes right from their warehouse. Peapod is not available everywhere. You have to live within a certain range. You can find all that information on their website.
When you first sign up you get 60 days free delivery. After that their is a delivery fee. Typically it ranges between $7-$9. Also when you first sign up you get $20 off your first bill. You still receive the sale price if an item is on sale at the store and are able to use coupons! By not actually having to step foot in a store I immediately save.

• Huge time saver! Especially if your family is very busy or your a mom of multiples and want to avoid those meltdowns in the store!
• By shopping online I stick to my list. I'm not wondering every isle just adding items because I'm hungry and they looked good.

By using these methods here is what our weekly and monthly grocery bill is now!

Once a month to Costco: spend roughly $250- $300
Weekly: store trip using Peapod Service: $80-$100

I budget in weekly to send $100 through Peapod. I honestly am always under that $100 mark every week!

So that grocery bill went from $1,000- $1,400 a month to $570- $700!! What a difference!!

Also not allowing my husband to tag along to the store helped us stay on budget as well ;]