Many years ago, when we decided that I would stay at home with the kids, I made it my mission to cut our budget as much as possible. One area that I spent a lot of focus on was reducing our food budget.

How could I spend less on food without eating beans and rice for dinner everyday? To be fair, though, the kids and I wouldn’t really mind. Anyway …

I’ve tried many things – coupons (they just don’t work for us because we avoid what I like to call “food products”), buying in bulk, menu planning – and figured out what worked for us and what didn’t.

I thought I’d share them with you in case you’re trying to trim the fat. (Pun so intended. You’re welcome).

I began doing this after reading The Complete Tightwad Gazette. I took an inventory of everything in my pantry (and fridge and freezer) and put it on paper. If something got low, I replaced it.

This method is far cheaper than planning your meals based on different recipes you find that sound good and then going to the store to get all the ingredients.

Instead, any meals I plan are based around ingredients already in the pantry so that I don’t need to go buy new stuff, unless it’s something I think should become a regular item.

Which is why I added an Asian sauce section of the pantry a few years ago - we were making Asian-inspired meals all the time so now things like fish sauce and garlic chili sauce are a staple.

Bonus: they’re cheap AF at Grocery Outlet or Chefstore.

I always check grocery store flyers via phone apps and see if what I’m getting low on is on sale somewhere, but I usually know which stores have the cheapest items because I buy the same things over and over.

You can easily incorporate menu planning with this method. I think it makes it simpler. I’m always adding ideas to my menu planning board on Pinterest based on things we always have on hand. Highly recommend doing that.

This initially began with shopping at Costco. Buying in bulk can save you a lot of money, BUT, you need to have a plan. I know many people who tell me they can’t spend less than a couple hundred dollars every time they go there because they buy stuff they don’t need.

If that’s the case, you need to go in with a list and stick to that list or stop shopping at Costco, especially when you’re hungry.

By having a plan when I go in there, I usually spend around $50-125 there once or twice a month, depending on which pantry staples we’ve run through. The savings more than offsets the cost of membership, which I know because I frequently compare prices of the things I buy at Costco with prices at other stores I shop at.

Bulk bins are another favorite of mine. I buy a lot of staples like salt, almond flour, organic oats, spices, nuts and popcorn from bulk food bins. They have a lower cost per ounce and I don’t have a bunch of packaging to deal with, especially when I reuse the bags.

Meat and dairy are the most expensive items on my grocery list. Do I only buy organic and grass-fed? No. It’s just not in my budget and, for me, getting enough protein in my family is really important.

As a nutrition coach, I aim to get everyone at least four ounces of meat protein (a little more for the guys) when I make dinner, but that still doesn’t amount to a whole lot of meat.

I love soups and casseroles. I’m also a big fan of burrito bowls because the beans and cheese add extra protein. The family is a big fan of shepherd’s pie (though I think it’s technically cobbler’s pie.)

Pro tip: Make double of anything you’re making and stick the other one in the freezer. My husband had the genius idea this week of making shepherd’s pie but with au gratin potatoes on top instead of mashed and it was SO GOOD. And since I always make double, I’ve got one in my freezer I get to enjoy again in a couple weeks. Bonus!

The meat I buy needs to go well in lots of dishes, so I mainly stick with whole chicken, chicken breast and ground beef. I’ll cycle in breakfast sausage or bacon on occasion for a special breakfast or brinner. And every once in a while I’ll get a pork butt or shoulder and cook it in the Instant Pot to be shredded, with half of it being turned into carnitas.

I only get steak or other types of beef if it’s a really good sale and if it is, I stock up.

I found that there were some foods that I kept buying because they were on my list but would just go bad because we didn’t really like them or because they went into one recipe that was used very infrequently.

I also realized that there were some ingredients that could be substituted with different ingredients that we were already eating on a regular basis.

This usually was the case with veggies, which are easily substituted for one another, taking me down to a small list of vegetables that we use regularly.

It’s ridiculous how much money you can save on certain items if you learn how to make them yourself. Pancakes and waffles and biscuits from scratch taste so much better. As do soups and sauces. Same with bread and pizza.

(My oldest son bought a jar of Alfredo sauce a few years ago because he figured it couldn’t be that much different than the homemade stuff he grew up on. All the kids tasted it, made a face, and threw the rest away. Homemade makes a BIG difference.)

Buying and roasting a whole chicken and then making your own chicken stock will save you lots of money and provide you with several meals. Homemade yogurt is easy AF and is a great way to add more protein to breakfast.

At this point, I think the only thing I buy pre-made is pasta, but in a pinch I can make it myself, as can at least half my kids and my husband.

Really, learning to make stuff yourself and experiment in the kitchen is one of the best ways to save money and build confidence in your kitchen skills. I learned how to make almost everything by looking it up online or getting books from the library and while there were a few flops, most of the time it was success.

And each success just built my confidence and added another cheap meal to my repertoire.

Next time I’ll share a few shopping habits anyone can train themselves to do to save money. How have you lowered your grocery budget?