My grocery bill is steadily climbing and I am not sure what to do. I make too much for SNAP. Any tips or tricks? It’s just me in my household, so would buying in bulk be worth it?
Edit: I want to thank everyone for their responses. I have a lot to think about.
Step No. 1 is find the lowest cost grocery store in your area. Stores like Lidl and Aldi are usually substantially cheaper than other big name alternatives, even Walmart.
Step No 2. Especially if you’re talking about actual food insecurity, is shaping what you eat. A pound of spaghetti and red sauce will feed 4 people for less than $5. Actual sacks of rice and orzo are extremely cost effective. If you have an honest to goodness local meat butchers around (these aren’t so common so you may have to go looking), they will often have bulk deals in meat you can buy and freeze. This is much more cost effective than $8-$12 a pound refrigerated ground beef in your local grocery store.
Step No 3. Is something to approach with caution, but certain credit cards often have good cash back rates on grocery stores. If you use them exclusively for grocery and gas purchases, and only use them to pre-spend the money in your checking account so you’re never carrying a balance or paying any interest, they can save you some money. American Express for example has a no-fee rewards card that gives you 3% back on groceries, and a higher tier one that was a $100 annual fee that gives you 6% back on groceries and 3% on gas. Make it your dedicated gas and groceries card, don’t spend more on it than you have money to pay for, and you get a nice little break on two of the most expensive costs of living right now. Something else that might work in this arena is to join a bulk membership store like BJs, Sam’s Club, or Costco and they might have a rewards credit card or even just a store card that puts a little money back into your pocket when you use it.
I know BJs has a program too where if you spend a certain amount on groceries you get a discount on gas if you fill up that day at one of their gas stations, which are usually already cheaper than regular gas stations.
If things are very dicey you can always visit a food pantry. Some Christian churches also do weekly/monthly free meals no questions asked. I know Episcopal churches are usually big on this.