Grocery Shopping for a Huge Family on a Tiny Budget

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If you have a huge family chances are your most hated chore, and the one you do the most often, is grocery
shopping. The larger your family, the steeper your shopping bill. It may have gotten to the point where
it’s half your monthly budget, and you don’t see a way out. It’s a numbers game. The more happy people
housed under your roof, the more hungry mouths you need to fill. But not all meals or shopping trips are
created equal. There are a ton of ways you can cut your grocery shopping bill without sacrificing the health
and happiness of your family. Here is a quick peek at a couple ideas you can use right away to slash this
month’s shopping bill and rescue a budget on life support.

Try to do the bulk of your grocery shopping at one store, and familiarize yourself with their sale schedule.
Grocery store circulars come out every week, with a new string of promotions roughly every three weeks.
So make note of when your staples hit the sales circular, and buy in bulk your most common household
purchases. If you can pick up all the cereal, meat, juice and fruit your family goes through in three-week
chunks, you’ll realize the highest discounts. Get to know the people that work in the meat department in
your supermarket, and find out when they mark down their short date stock. Each store will have a certain
time of day when they switch out the marked down meats, and by waiting until then to purchase, you’ll be
able to save huge on the best cuts of meat.

Consider what you purchase a bit more carefully. Coupons are fantastic, and can save big on your
monthly food budget. So take the time to clip them, and buy what’s on sale if it is something you need.
The important part of that sentence is ‘need’. Coupons will end up costing you money if you buy things
just because they are on sale. Only use coupons on your regular purchases, and avoid impulse buys just
because something is marked down. Think about the types of food you purchase as well. Prepared snacks
and food may make your life easier with the hungry mob at home, but they will undoubtedly elevate your
food budget. Anything you can buy pre-prepared you can also make from scratch, and much much cheaper.
An additional bonus is the better health of your family. Prepared foods are notoriously higher in calories,
sugars and fats, all of which are unnecessary, and contribute to obesity. The extra time spent in the kitchen
will be worth it with your reduced grocery bill.
Game plan for optimal shopping. If you write a food menu for your family, you’ll end up wasting a lot
less food. Try to plan out your meals at least a week in advance, and as much as a month if possible.
You’ll notice more creativity in your meals (which the family will love), but you’ll also be able to take
stock of the food you have in the house and only buy what you need. Less food will go bad, meaning less
replacement purchases at the store. Once you have your plan, think about what you can buy in bulk. Those
big warehouse stores are fantastic places for large families to realize savings. If you have the storage space,
buy all of your kitchen and bathroom stock in bulk, and even much of your dry goods. But know what
you’re heading to these stores for in advance. They can be pretty overwhelming, so hitting the bulk mega-
market without a grocery list is a sure way to buy more than is required.