Everyone has to eat, so naturally a significant portion of your paycheck probably goes toward the food you eat. Here are some simple ways that you can save money on food.

Shop for Food at the Grocery Store

Purchasing your food from the grocery store, rather than dining out (or eating take out), can really save a lot of money. Dining out at even a moderately priced restaurant can cost a party of two from $50 to $100 after appetizers, drinks, deserts, and the tip. The same amount of money could buy a few days worth of food for two people, rather than just one meal! Of course dining out is nice, but making it a special event for special occasions will really help you save money. Instead of defaulting to ordering take out or going out to eat, decide to plan ahead and purchase food that you can prepare at home for a fraction of the cost of eating out.

Although completely unrelated to my profession, I enjoy cooking as a hobby. I enjoy watching the food network surfing foodnetwork.com and epicurious.com for new recipe ideas, and then preparing them. The other advantage to shopping at the grocery store and developing an interest in cooking is that you can have gourmet meals (or any meal) at a fraction of the restaurant price. Not to mention the added health benefit of being able to control the method of preparation and how much butter and other unhealthy ingredients are used. For example, a regular steak dinner at a restaurant costs about $25. You could prepare the same (but healthier!) dinner at home for say $12 with just as good, if not better, cut of meat from your local grocer.

Buy One Get One Free

Many grocery stores regularly have “buy one, get one free” deals, which means the product is simply 50% off, what a great deal! Two of the regional grocery stores that I regularly shop at in my area, Publix and Kroger, put the same products on buy one get one free every few months. So when I see things that I use frequently, like chicken stock, juices, ground beef, canned soups, cereals, etc., I stock up on them and I usually do not need to purchase them again until the next time they go on sale. This is where you can really save a lot of money.

Coupons Really Save Money

I really was never a fan of coupon cutting because I believed that it could not really save much money at all, and therefore the time it would take was definitely not worth it. But recently, since I have been working on saving as much money as possible in my quest to become debt free, I have started to look for and use coupons. And I now conclude: that when used to purchase items that you would normally buy, they can save you money. I am not saying you should not try a new brand of toothpaste when the coupon is not for your normal brand, but I am saying that you should not buy chips and dip with a coupon if you never eat chips & dip. Also, and quite obviously, if you purchase more expensive brand with a coupon and it’s still more than the price of the product you normally purchase, well you are really not saving any money.

The key with shopping for buy one get one free deals and with coupons as well, is not to purchase things that you really do not need, or would not normally buy. If you stick to the list of things that you know you need and will eat, then stocking up on buy one get one deals and using coupons will help you save money in the long run. But if you just buy extra items that you would not normally use, then they might end up being wasted, and will not actually save you money in the end.

Buy Store Brands

Store brands are cheaper than name brand products because the stores make a higher profit margin on the products and as such can offer them at prices lower than the brand name products. In the past few years I have noticed that they are generally of comparable quality to the brand names. Since I do enjoy cooking, I will purchase name brand items if I feel that the store brand is inferior and will not suffice for the meal I am making. But I am willing to give any store brand item a try, and I am usually quite satisfied with the result. At Publix supermarket, they have even run promotions where if you buy any of their store products and are not satisfied with the quality, they will replace it with the name brand product. That says a lot about their confidence in the quality of their store brand products, and I have not been disappointed with the quality or the price.

In recent months, I have saved 25% off the cost of my grocery totals by stocking up on buy one get one free deals and using coupons, which shows up on my grocery store receipts. In addition I am also saving quite a bit of money from preparing more delicious meals at home and buying store brands when possible. Doing any or all of these things can help you drastically reduce the amount of money you spend on food every month, without sacrificing the quality of food.