Ways to cut your grocery bill.

Simple ways to cut your grocery bill

1. It's hard to believe, but one study says that we spend 1/3 of our grocery bills on drinks.  Cut the pop or soda oit completely.  It's not even good for you.  We should all be drinking water unless you have medical issues.  Put a pitcher of water in the fridge.   It will taste better because it's cold and because the chlorine will dissipate. When my daughter was small, the nutritionist told me to give her an apple instead of apple juice.   Apple juice is especially bad for children in tippie cups.   Iced tea is cheap and there are all kinds of herbal teas out there.   They still cost pennies a bag.   No need to drink kool aid.    Don't be a coffee snob.  Use the cheapest  you can find.   
2. Don't waste food.   Portion control.   Read packages, they are a good source for portions.   A half cup is a portion for cereal.   Oatmeal or cream of wheat is better than cold cereal , especially sugar loaded cold cereal.  Give a child a small portion of something and give them more within reason if they are still hungry.    
3. Eat foods  high in protein.   I learned at diabetic school that foods high in sugar or starch are processed by your body fast, and leave you hungry. Eat protein with your carbs,  the protein is digested more slowly and you are fuller longer.    
4. Fix  plates in the kitchen.   Or cook with portion control in mind,  it takes 20 minutes for your brain to figure out you are full.   If you eat until you are full, you are probably  over eating. Some teen or pre teen boys will make a game out of how much they can eat.   Don't allow it.   It's not good.   Yes, I do know that growing boys , especially active   ones need more calories.  They don't need to eat a two pound roast!   
5. Use all of your food.   Another study says we throw out 1/2 of our food.   Not so in our house.   If you have leftover meat, go to a website ( Betty Crocker on  line  cookbook is one ) and insert the item in the search box,   Recipes using that item will pop up.    Think outside the box.   Leftover chilli can be chilli dogs .   It's important to have a meal plan; and just as important to deviate the meal plan to use up leftovers.   Lunch the next day.   A lot of husbands don't like leftovers.   Our home Ec teacher called them planned overs.   Give the food a new face. 
6. When you do your kitchen management. Take note of what's left.   Incorporate it into the next weeks meals.  Think vegetable soup, or chicken vegetable soup.   
7. Of your kids don't eat the crusts if their sandwich, cut the crusts off and place them on a sheet pan with a rack or in the food processor so they dry out for bread crumbs or croutons.   
8. Use an 8 inch plate.   You can easily get 4 ounces of meat, 4 ounces of a vegetable, and a starch on an 8 inch plate.   We feel that we have to fill our plates just as we feel we need to fill the grocery carts,   That's why grocers have bigger and bigger carts.   Have you really looked at the size of Costco's Carts! That's why you can't get out of there for less than 100.00.   The size of the carts and the size of the packages is the reason.  A lot of things are close to ten dollars.    Same with your plate.   Phycologically , we fill our plates.    Force portion control.   Your waist line will love you, as well as the waste reduction.  
9. Meal plan to use up whatever's in the fridge.  Have a list of go to meals written down.   As well as a list of snacks.   As for snacks, growing up, we didn't get any.  None of us were fat.   
10. Give children a portion controlled healthy snack.  Apple slices, maybe with peanut butter.  Crackers and hummus,  make muffins ( muffins can be really cheaply made) they are huge and cost a dollar a piece at the store often.   Air popped  popcorn is a good, healthy snack and really cheap in the bulk bins at Winco.   ( about fifty cents a pound ) the bulk at Costco , I believe is better, but it's 1.50  a pound. )  Oatmeal in anything is good.