In today’s economy, it is hard to make money stretch to match your budget. As a mother of two growing children, I’ve learned the hard way how to do just that. Here are some tips that I’ve learned along the way.

Planning Your Budget

This is the hardest part of frugal living. Looking in the grocery ads can cause a wave of despair and worry that you won’t have enough money. Here are a few tips on planning your grocery budget that may help you stretch your dime into a dollar:

1. Calculations - Get a rough estimate of the cost to feed each person in your household. Throughout the years, I’ve found that it takes approximately $30 - $37 dollars a week to feed one person - it may be more or less, depending on how much your family eats and where you live. Here is a simple formula to figure out your weekly grocery budget:

(number of family members) x $34 (average) = (weekly grocery budget)

For example, since there are four people in my home; I have $136 allotted for the week. With any luck I will save more with grocery coupons and store sales.

2. Plan your meals for the week and write them down. Keep them simple: meat, vegetable, carbohydrates. If possible, plan to use the same type of meat twice in one week; you can buy in bulk, which is generally cheaper than buying in small amounts. Hamburger, for example, is a good meat to use twice. One day you can make hamburgers; two days later, you can make tater tot casserole.

3. With your menus planned make a list and put the price next to each item. You can easily get this amount from the sales ads and estimate the other staples on your list. If you are like me and buy the same staples often then you probably have a good idea of the cost.

Round up. When you are figuring the cost of food go ahead and round up to the nearest dollar on everything. This will insure that you stay within your budget with extra to spare.

5. Add up the totals as you shop. Since you are rounding up you can probably keep a running total in your head. Once you have reached that total, stop and check your meal plan. If you’re at the amount that you allotted yourself for and only have three meals covered, you need to reassess your menus.

Although every household has different eating habits, this is a good start for budgeting groceries. You may have to adjust things to fit your situation.

Eating Healthy on a Budget

Sometimes it feels like healthy foods are just too expensive. If your supermarket has a health food section you know what I mean. However, being on a tight budget doesn’t mean that you can’t get the healthy grains vegetables, fruits, etc. you need. The next time you make a grocery list, keep the following in mind:

Not all vegetables are created equally - meaning that fresh isn’t the same as frozen, and frozen isn’t the same as canned. Buy frozen if you can’t afford fresh. The juice in canned vegetables is where most of your vitamins are. Not so with frozen vegetables; the vitamins are still in the food itself. Buying frozen vegetables generally gives you more for your money as well.

Buy potatoes, noodles or rice, but use them sparingly. Give larger amounts of vegetables, with the starches as a side dish.

Cut up carrots for kids to snack on. You can buy a large bag, peel them and then cut them up. Not only do they get vitamins this way, but they’re also low calorie. This is a great way to get in one of their veggies servings each day.

Buy in Bulk

Whenever you can - and if you have the freezer room - buy your meats and vegetables in bulk. You can save a lot of money this way. Meat is usually cheaper by the pound when you buy the big packs.

You can do many things to cut costs at the grocery store; these are just a few tips. However, the biggest thing is to look at cost vs. amount. While generic foods may look like a better deal, the contents of the container may weigh much less than name brands. Do your research - though it may take more time, you will end up saving more money.