Stretch your dollar

This post is all about how to make the most of your food budget dollars.
There are several ways to help stretch your dollar, here are my favourite.

Freezing:
Buying certain items in bulk that are either on sale or in season and freezing them is one of my favourite ways to help stretch my budget for food. Not only are you getting a good deal, but you have more options in your freezer for ingredients for a meal which means maybe saving trips to the grocery store in the future. A lot of things freeze really well that are found on sale regularly that I like buying in bulk including:
Bread
Cheese (Shred it first and pop it into a zip bag)
Chicken
Pork Chops

A lot of vegetables are easily frozen as well, for a list of which take well to freezing and methods of doing so, visit this article.

Coupons:
While I personally don't use coupons, it's a great way to save money on items you're going to purchase anyway. I tried to get into couponing last year, but I found with my full-time job, it was just too time consuming. I might try it again. Some good places to look for coupons are newspaper inserts (such as BrandSaver and Redplum) and on rip pads right in the stores. Make sure you look at the store's coupon policies to make sure your coupons are valid and how many you can use at once. A great resource for anyone who is looking to find more information on how to use coupons is Mrs. January, she has a lot of good articles on how to pinch pennies and getting the most bang for your buck.

Reward programs:
A lot of stores now offer reward programs or cards. I mostly shop at Safeway and Shoppers Drug Mart, and one of the first things I did at each store was apply for their free rewards cards. At Safeway, I get discounted prices on items I'm purchasing and at Shoppers Drug Mart, I earn points on certain items which I can redeem for items or money off my purchase. I have so far been able to redeem my points once and got $10 off a purchase. Shoppers Drug mart also often has events for those with their rewards cards to earn extra points on certain items. Search stores you shop at often online to see if they offer special rewards to shoppers, it's an easy way to save money.

Cooking and planning ahead:
I found myself spending a lot of my food budget on coffee at the coffee shop and lunches out during the work week because it was easy to just go out and buy a sandwich or something quick. Not only was this expensive, but it wasn't very nutritious. I started packing my own lunches, which has been a lot nicer on my wallet and on my health. I started skipping my usual stop at the coffee shop every morning for a coffee and muffin. I was eating better and eating things I actually liked instead of quickly running into the gas station for ramen. I find that if you're making your own food, you'll make things you really love eating. Common sense right? It just means more money left over in the budget for wine and that's always a good thing.


Making lists:
I told myself when I moved out years ago that I would NEVER sacrifice on groceries as eating healthy is something that I find very important. You are what you eat right? What this means is I just have to plan a bit more and make lists before going grocery shopping. I don't ALWAYS get around to doing this, but I have had a lot of success with it. I've tried a few different ways. I have tried planning every day, and every meal of every day, down to when I was going to eat leftovers. I have also gone through flyers and decided that way what I was going to purchase then bring it home and piece together a meal plan. I suggest you try different ways and find what works for you.

Using cash:
There are a lot of people who tell you using your credit card to build up your credit is a good idea when making purchases but personally I prefer using cold, hard cash for groceries. I'm already building my credit with my rent, phone bill and other bills, so for every day spending, I find cash is just easier to keep track of. I also feel like I don't spend as much because handing over cash makes me really think of how hard I worked to earn that money and makes me rethink if what I'm purchasing is really a NECESSITY.


These are a few of my favourite ways to stay within budget. What are yours?