How to Save Money on Groceries Without Coupons

If you are trying to save money, it is important to grocery shop with a budget in mind. I rarely use coupons and instead have gotten creative in the kitchen.

And if you make simple changes to items you make at home, you can save hundreds if not thousands of dollars per year.

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I used to go grocery shopping a few times a week after work and was spending too much money! Each trip to the grocery store would always cost more than I initially planned on spending.

I want to mention that I rarely use coupons as most are for processed foods and food I normally don’t eat. I do take advantage of cash back apps like Fetch, Ibotta and Rakuten with every receipt.

For the past year I have made a conscious effort to reduce my trips to the grocery store, reduce spending and cut out more processed foods from my family’s diet.

I’ve also started our family’s journey to make more of our own staple items. I am not a great cook by any means, but I have learned basic skills to make our food and save money.

By reducing my weekly grocery shopping, I can’t even begin to tell you how much money I am saving!

I used to go into the grocery store to buy an item or two, and would somehow walk out with more than I planned.

Here are tips to save money on groceries

Get comfortable in your kitchen

This was not easy for me in the beginning, but now I embrace how much I bake and freeze. I was worried that because I am not a food blogger or chef, I would not be good at baking!

While the big sourdough craze introduced me to making my own bread, I’ve taken it a step further with great results.

Foods with flour

Not only do I make my own variations of sourdough bread and sandwich bread, but I love making my own bagels, pizza dough, calzones and tortillas.

Bagels have gone up in price at our grocery store, which lead me to searching for deals at bagel stores. A dozen bagels can range from $13 – $19 in our area, which is too much.

So I started making my own. There are a few different ways to make these and I like being able to add our own ‘flavor’ like blueberries, cheese, sesame seeds and ‘everything but the bagel’ seasoning, etc.

Tortillas

The higher-end store bought tortillas we purchased sell between $8 – $10, while I can make my own for just a couple of dollars, if that.

I had no idea how much good tortillas taste when homemade! The only ingredients needed are flour, butter or olive oil and any seasonings.

Pasta

We recently purchased this pasta maker and now I make our own pasta. We are not big pasta eaters in general (oh, how I love carbs though) but since I started making pasta, we have it more often.

The main ingredients in my pasta is flour, eggs and salt. That’s it!

Noodles

Now I am learning how to make different noodles including my own ravioli.

Once I realized how easy it was to make pasta, I purchased a few pasta stamps to make baking even more fun. Ravioli filling can be cheese, mushrooms, spinach and even pumpkin!

The pasta maker and add-ons are not necessary, you can use a pizza roller or knife to cut your own pasta.

But after experimenting and realizing I could make my own homemade pasta, I’ve purchased a few kitchen items to make it fun.

Crackers

In addition to the above, I also have started making a lot of homemade crackers.

I’m tired of all the processed ingredients in store bought crackers, so again, I make my own with simple ingredients.

Some of the recipes I make are cheez-its, goldfish and regular seasoned crackers.

I do prefer to purchase higher quality ingredients for our flour, but any flour will do. I look for non-GMO products. We do not have any food allergies, so we like to use this French brand as well as King Arthur Flour.

The savings are substantial

In terms of savings, this has been pretty substantial. Something as simple as making our own tortillas saves us around $20 per month, which is $240 a year.

We used to buy bread from the bakery section at the grocery store or locally, which cost $10-$12 per loaf.

I can make a loaf of bread for around $1 – $2, depending if I’m adding extra ingredients. This saves around $40 per month, which is around $480 per year.

Pasta is pretty cheap at the store already, so this isn’t an area where we are really saving. Instead, it’s about higher quality of ingredients and what we put in our bodies.

Crackers is a big savings. A box cost anywhere from $4-$7 depending on the type, and I can make a large batch for very little.

We typically bought a couple boxes of crackers a week at the store for our daughter’s lunches and as snacks, so we are saving about $10 per week, which is over $500 per year.

With these items alone, we are saving about $80 per month on bread, tortillas and crackers.

Make your own coffee, matcha and tea

While this might be obvious, the more you can make at home, the more you will save.

After realizing that we were easily spending a few thousands dollars at coffee shops per year, I knew we needed to make a big change.

We did our research and invested in this coffee machine. It makes hot coffees, lattes, expressos and more. We did the math and it paid for itself in just a few months.

I prefer cold brew, so I purchased this simple device and make all of my own cold brew. I will use old sauce jars and mason jars to make all of my coffee.

All of our coffee comes from a local roaster. On average, I spend around $100 per purchase and grind our own beans. This $100 in coffee beans will typically last us around three months.

When it comes to matcha, I have no problem spending more and purchasing higher quality.

Not only do our drinks taste better, but we are getting better quality of ingredients and saving a lot of money.

One area that I have not explored is making my own syrups. This is on my list of things to learn, like homemade caramel sauce.

When it comes to coffee and making our own drinks, we saved around $3,000 last year, which is about $285 per month.

Make a price list

Look at your local grocery store’s online deals. Make sure you have free rewards account set up at your local grocery stores and big box stores.

I can do this in my head, but you can easily write down product prices in a journal or notepad. Or keep your old receipts and compare them.

We all know how much food has increased in cost, so sometimes shopping around can get you the best deal.

Purchase locally and skip the grocery store

We have really explored purchasing locally for our produce when it’s in season, as well as our meat.

When I compare the cost of chicken or eggs, local farms are similar in cost as the grocery store. I would much rather purchase our meat from our local farmers.

Eggs are still wild in price though. In our area, a dozen fresh eggs can cost $8-$12, but if I drive an hour outside of our town, I can get fresh eggs for just $3.

We joined a co-op last year and picked up fresh vegetables every other week. This allowed us to ditch the grocery store completely.

This only cost us $40 per month and we had such an abundance of vegetables, we were giving them away!

Buy in bulk when the price is right

This is similar to making a price list. When I see a favorite product of mine go on sale, I will purchase in bulk.

I know it will take about a month or so for the items to rotate on sale again at the store and I’d rather have a couple extra in my pantry.

Use a food vacuum sealer

I dread the thought of buying groceries, only to throw them out a week later because we didn’t eat them. It’s such a waste of food!

I use a food sealer vacuum, which helps keep food fresh up to five times longer, compared to using an ordinary storage method. I like to cook a lot of food in batches and then will freeze it.

Use apps

After you finish grocery shopping, you scan your receipt and your groceries to get instant rebates and cashback.

I’ve been using Ibotta for years and it’s like getting instant cashback, which goes into my PayPal account. Click here to get $10 in cash when you sign up!

Another app similar to Ibotta is Fetch, but instead of getting cash back, you get points for each receipt you scan, no matter what you buy.

Create a meal plan

If you’re short on time or have no idea where to start when it comes to planning your meals, I’d highly recommend trying out the $5 Meal Plan.

It’s a $5 monthly subscription plan that sends healthy, affordable meal plans and shopping lists to your inbox weekly.

I love how the $5 Meal Plan has gluten-free and picky eater friendly options for those who love switching up their meals.

Get out the crockpot or instant pot to batch cook

Here are ten ways to save money on groceries without coupons. Here is how I save money each month grocery shopping and reducing my grocery bill.

I love a good crockpot or instant pot because it makes cooking a breeze. I’ve made chili, soups, pot roast and even bread in the instant pot.

I also like to make homemade dog food in the crockpot and freeze meals for our dog!

I like this instant pot because it doubles as a crock pot, steamer and has several other functions.

It is easy to buy a handful of inexpensive items at the grocery store and have meals for days!

Use a pickup or delivery service and avoid the grocery store altogether

One of the best ways I save money is by not going inside the grocery store. I can schedule all my deliveries in advance and can pick a time that’s convenient for me, or use a delivery service.

This has done wonders for my grocery budget. This prevents an temptation to add things to my cart since I can see how much each item costs when adding it to my virtual cart.

Plus I also save time and money by not driving to the grocery store.

I refuse to pay for delivery services, so I look for free trial memberships.

My credit card also offers free membership to sites like Instacart and DoorDash and provide various $10 or $20 monthly credits. I use these wisely!

Look for weekly deals

A couple of my local grocery stores have amazing daily deals each week. I occasionally like to scoop up a freshly made Rotisserie Chicken that is always $5 on Fridays.

I will shred the entire chicken and put it to use in various meals, including giving the dark meat to my dogs as a food topper in their meals.

How to Save Money on Groceries Without Coupons