A Redditor recently posted a desperate plea: “Help,” the post read. “Grocery costs are killing my finances.”
The person explained that with a demanding job and big appetite, they don’t have much time to prepare, cook or plan meals, but they do strive to eat healthy.
Given rising food prices — the Consumer Price Index for fruits and vegetables rose 3.2% over the last 12 months — this poster expressed an increasingly common frustration.
What can consumers do about it? Redditors left lots of money-saving suggestions on the post, including investing more time to plan out meals, mining meal-prep subreddits for ideas and selecting lower-cost produce like cabbage or frozen veggies.
I asked three accredited financial counselors — experts who help people build better money habits — for their advice. Here’s what they suggest.
Rethink where you shop
You may want to trade your traditional store for a lower-cost option, says Adrienne Taylor, an accredited financial counselor and founder of Tailored WealthSaver, a financial consultancy in Houston, Texas.
For example, shopping at discount grocery store chains like Aldi or Lidl could help reduce your food expenses. You can do a test run to compare prices against where you normally shop.
While you’re at the store, check whether it has an app that lets you access additional sales, rewards or other discounts. “Plan meals around the discounts,” Taylor adds.
Meet MoneyNerd, your weekly news decoder
So much news. So little time. NerdWallet's new weekly newsletter makes sense of the headlines that affect your wallet.
Find meal-planning inspiration
As Redditors suggested, subreddits and other social media sites can help you find low-cost recipes that sound appealing.
“I get a lot of meal ideas from TikTok,” says Wanda Belle, an accredited financial counselor and founder of Belle Financial Services in the Atlanta area. She’ll see an idea and simplify the recipe or skip buying expensive sauces. This saves money and also makes the meal healthier.
Sometimes, the inspiration comes from her cupboard. “I shop my pantry first and make a meal list based on what I already have,” she says, which helps reduce her overall costs.
Leverage loyalty programs
Grocery stores are known for their loyalty programs, but it’s easy to overlook them, Belle says.
She recently earned $50 in digital rewards by moving prescriptions from another pharmacy to the one in Kroger. “That’s $50 in savings immediately, so check the services within the grocery store, too,” she adds.
Loyalty programs often offer personalized deals based on your shopping history, she adds.
You just need to be diligent enough to check and use them, like coupon clippers of yore.
Select lower-cost items
Subbing higher-priced cuts of meat for lower-cost alternatives is another smart move. You can also trade a little convenience for real savings.
“I switched a lot of my meals to be chicken,” Taylor says, even though she tends to prefer costlier beef.
Similarly, she purchases whole carrots, celery and onion instead of the pre-cut versions because they cost less, and she can save the extra in her freezer for later. Another frugal move? She’ll buy a whole watermelon to turn into juice, and salad with feta and mint. If there’s extra, she freezes it.
Instead of buying prepackaged trail mix, she purchases her favorite ingredients in bulk, then mixes her own. “It costs less, and you can enjoy the things you like,” she says.
Likewise, Cynthia Hudson, an accredited financial counselor in northwestern Ohio, buys popcorn kernels in bulk and uses an air popper to make gourmet-style popcorn with seasonings. “It’s decadent,” she says, but also low-cost.
Minimize food waste
Planning meals and reusing leftovers helps reduce waste, which ultimately means buying less.
“Look for ways to use up every bit of what we purchase,” Hudson says. That might mean freezing leftovers, turning extra fruit into smoothies or saving bread for French toast.
Taylor, who switched to chicken, skins and debones the thighs she buys and freezes those byproducts for broth later on.
One extra tip? Keep the perishable items, like vegetables and fruit, where you can see them.
“If we can’t see it, it ceases to exist, so the vegetable bin can be a challenge,” Hudson says. Instead of tucking her lettuce and broccoli into the crisper, she keeps them front and center in her fridge.
“We’re all busy, and our brains are not always remembering where we left the carrots,” she says.
Get extra help
Most importantly, make sure to lean on community resources if you need the extra support.
“People deserve to eat, even with the rising costs. If someone is not able to get all their meals, it’s perfectly acceptable to go to a food pantry or get benefits,” Hudson says.
The website 211.org can help you find a nearby food pantry, or you can do a web search for the words “food pantry” and your ZIP code.
You can also lean on community social media pages for additional ideas. “We have folks looking out for each other, sharing where there is a free pantry or offering to drop off groceries,” she adds.
Reddit is an online forum where users share their thoughts in “threads” on various topics. The popular site includes plenty of discussion on financial subjects like food prices, so we sifted through Reddit forums to get a pulse check. People post anonymously, so we cannot confirm their individual experiences or circumstances.
