Over the past year, a mom of four has taken her weekly grocery bill from $325 to $175 and is now sharing her tips with other families on how she was able to achieve this.
“A year ago, I found myself with a pantry and refrigerator full of groceries,“ Florida-based, Kristina Reed told The Epoch Times. ”But 6 p.m. would roll around, and one of my four boys would ask what’s for dinner, and I would have no clue.”
Her anxiety around cooking would lead her to pop on another pizza for the third night in a row or resort to takeout for dinner. As a family of six, the Reed family was spending $425 to $450 a week between groceries and takeout.
After wasting so much food each week and not spending enough time with her family, she realized that “no plan at all is a plan to fail.”
Tips to Save on Grocery Bills
Her solution? Meal planning. After settling on a list of recipes for the week, she decided to make a grocery list and “shop at home” first, before visiting a store. As it turned out, some of the items on her list were already in her pantry.To avoid impulsive buying, she stuck to her list while buying groceries and began to use grocery store pickup as an option.
She also stayed flexible when purchasing ingredients, choosing substitutes when they were on sale. She not only stayed flexible with her list but also with her schedule.
“I usually shop on either Tuesdays or Wednesdays, right when [the stores] open up in the morning, just because I find it to be less busy,” she said.
After gathering her ingredients, she spends one hour a week meal-prepping. She washes and cuts vegetables, prepares the meat, and gets her ingredients ready for the upcoming week. Since she devotes this hour to meal prep, she only needs to spend around 15 minutes each night cooking dinner.
For the Reed family, most weeks include a “Must-Go Monday,” a night where the family eats leftovers for dinner. Must-Go Mondays have also contributed to cutting down on food waste.
‘We Are Becoming a Stronger Family’
At first, Ms. Reed hesitated about letting her children, aged between 3 and 15, get involved in the kitchen. As time went by, her sons began helping her cook. At least once a week, the kids help pick a meal and are excited about making it. This has helped the family try new foods and vegetables that they wouldn’t have tried earlier.
“We have some great conversations in the kitchen now,” she said. She is hopeful that these skills will help her kids when they head to college or start their own families in the future.
The family has also begun spending dinner time together with lively conversations, laughter, and good food around the table. By incorporating conversational starters with creative questions, their mealtime conversations now range beyond just each other’s days.
This journey has opened Ms. Reed’s eyes to the importance of enjoying a family meal.
“The more that I read about kids getting better grades at school and kids making better decisions, it’s all because it’s a time where families can communicate over the dinner table,” she said. “I think we are becoming a stronger family.”
‘Once You’re in a Routine, It’s Easy to Stay in a Routine’
For other young families who are looking to save money on their grocery bills, Ms. Reed recommends meal planning. After learning to plan meals, parents can begin “shopping at home” and slowly get into meal prepping.“The more that you get into the routine ... it’s easy to stay in a routine,” Ms. Reed said. “It’s just sometimes hard to get into the routine because it feels overwhelming.”
“I’ve gotten a lot of feedback [from] people that have continued to meal plan on their own once they went through this plan,” Ms. Reed said.
Ultimately, she advises taking baby steps when it comes to meal planning.
“You don’t have to change everything overnight,” she said.
With the success she’s had, Ms. Reed hopes to inspire other families on their own paths to saving on food expenses. It was only last year that Ms. Reed herself was struggling to cook for her family and was disappointed with their food waste.
But now, she said: “I am a pretty good cook, and food makes sense to me.”
