Feeding a family can be very costly, how well I know. At the present time we have 4 children still at home. They are all teenagers or adults! It is almost unbelievable how quickly food can vanish from the cupboards and fridge. Here are a few tips that I implement to save on groceries and household items.
I was an avid discount store shopper before our move. Now there is only 1 discount store that I know of within 40 minutes of our home. I have never been a fan of Aldi”s which is good because I would need to travel a ways to shop there, too. My closest stores to purchase groceries and household goods are Weis, Walmart, and Dave’s Super-mart.
So, how do I save on my grocery bill now? Grocery APPS! I have a smartphone and have downloaded a number of apps that I love. Here are my favorite grocery apps that I use all the time and a few other programs I use.
Also, remember that when you go from store to store it does cost you in time, gas, and wear on your vehicle. It may be just as cheap getting all your groceries in one store instead of running across the country to another cheaper store for 1 item. I do not shop at the same store every week but check the special to see where the best buys are.
November 3, 2021…Today I purchased two bags of Swerve Sweetener, four bags of Lily’s Dark Chocolate Chips, Dreamfield Pasta, Laughing Cow Wedges, and Barilla Chickpea Pasta. My total was $41.32 and with grocery apps came down to $15.47. I did this purchase in 2 orders to gain the most points. Swagbucks has Magic Receipts where you get instant cash back when you purchase certain items and upload the receipt. Lily’s Chocolate Chips (selected varieties) are buy two and get $6.00 back. You can redeem two receipts a week. So each week when I go past Walmart I buy 4 bags on two receipts. Use this link to sign up to Swagbucks and start saving on groceries and cleaning supplies.
Ibotta is another app that I love. November 2, 2021….That is where I got the rest of my money back. Swerve was $2.00 back on each bag, Laughing Cow Cheese $2.00, Dreamfield $.50, Barilla, $1.00, I also got $.25 back for buying pasta, $.50 back on a bonus, $.25 for uploading a receipt, and another bonus of $5. Ibotta often has freebies and this week there was quite a number of freebies geared toward Thanksgiving. I redeemed almost all of them and will donate most of it to our local food bank. Since I redeemed so many offers I got another $5 back which brings cost even lower. Some of the offers you can redeem multiple times. If you wish to sign up to Ibotta to begin saving here is a code KPUILCK which gives both you and I a credit.
December 1, 2021..you can get back $1.25 on Whole Earth Sweeteners, $1.00 back on Barilla pasta, $1.50 on Primal Kitchen Ketchup, $2.00 on Primal Mayo, and many more items including laundry soaps, coffees, teas, Bubly, and more. This is my favorite app.
Ibotta
If you wish to sign up with Ibotta use this code KPUILCK which will give both of us a credit. Ibotta has quite a number of THM items, household supplies, and produce on their list as well as any item rebates. You can redeem your rebates on cash cards, to Paypal, etc.
Swagbucks
SWAGBUCKS–This an online rewards site that you can earn points when you purchase online. These points can be redeemed for gift cards or cash. starting at $3.00. I do use this site for items that have free shipping especially now that I do not have quite the selections of stores at my fingertips like I used to. It also saves me time, gas and wear/tear on my vehicle if I don’t have to go pick up the items. Plus it gives me extra points toward gift cards.
November 3, 2021…I love the Magic Receipts that Swagbucks has. Today I bought two Oxi Clean Home and Laundry Sanitizers @ $7.98 and received $4 back on each container. Often when you buy two items you receive a larger amount back. The OxiClean rebates I have redeemed several times already. There are times that the rebate will be more than the purchase price of the items. Use this link to sign up to Swagbucks and start saving on groceries and cleaning supplies.
December 1, 2021…Laughing Cow Cheese you can get up to $6.00 back at certain stores.
COUPONS.COM is an online site I do print coupons for foods, beverages, toiletries and household goods. If you have Swagbucks downloaded as a search bar, you will receive $.02 for each coupon printed and $.25 for each coupon redeemed.
Fetch Rewards–I use this app to scan my receipts. It only takes a few seconds to scan a receipt. You will get points from purchasing items from over 180 partnering grocery brands. I just scan my receipts and let the app do the rest. Each receipt you scan will give you at least 25 points. You can cash out your rewards for various gift cards (Amazon, VIsa, CVS, and many more) starting at $3. My referral code for Fetch Rewards is — R1RGV Note: if your account is inactive for 90 days you will lose your points.
I will collect me rebates, cashbacks, etc and redeem them into Paypal or Visa gift cards to purchase specialty items that I need or add them back into our grocery budget.
We do butcher and process a lot of our own meats which does save from buy in small packages. If I am in town on Wednesdays, I will check the local supermarket for reduced meats to buy with the Wednesday coupon $5. off $25.00 purchase. It does pay to know your local stores specials. Our family is avid hunters. So we usually add quite a few packs of venison to our freezer over the winter. We process all our own meats so that is a tremendous saving as well.
I have a small garden that has paid itself off many times over. From 1 small packet of seeds I have at least 25 Spaghetti Squash and the 4 pack of pickle plants I bought yielded enough for 60+ quarts of pickles. Seconds in tomatoes are plentiful to purchased in some areas and are very easy to can. Check out these blog post–Diced Tomatoes and Tomato Soup. Even planting a few tomato stalk and pepper plants in a flower bed will save you in purchasing those items.
This fall we picked 12 bushels of apples from an abandoned orchard and a friend game me a bushel of Concord Grapes and a huge box of walnuts. I dried a lot of apples, made apple sauce. apple butter, cider, apple juice, and apple pie filling. This fall while the snow flies I plan to shell the walnuts.
Dried beans are much cheaper than canned beans and you can control the sodium when you cook them yourself. I have found baking Sourdough Bread to be very economical and time friendly, too. Flour and Oatmeal can be purchased in 50 pound bags from bulk food stores which is more economical than small bags.
Our family very seldom eats at restaurants, coffee shops, ect because that can ruin a budget in a short time. We do reserve that for special occasions.
I hope this blog post give your ideas where to save on your budget. Food does make up a large part of our family and social life. Since we are living in another area helping with a mission church, I do not always take all THM foods to the social functions. For this simple reason…I prepare large amounts of food every week for our Fellowship meal. I always make sure there is at least 2 dishes that are sugar-free free and on-plan.
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You will find many more recipes in the spiral bound 600+ page Around the Family Table Cookbook. All recipes are sugar-free and label with the correct fuel. We have added more items to our blog store, Sourdough Beginner Kits, and more. Check it out at this link Blog Store.
