Ways to spend less on food, from the grocery store to takeout
People tend to spend money on food in three main categories: the grocery store, restaurants, and takeout or delivery. Spending less means paying less at the store, making more meals at home instead of buying them prepared, and not throwing away food you already bought. This page covers each of these and links to the guides with more detail.
Sometimes doing all that is still not enough. Therefore, when the money still does not cover the month, free food programs can help.
Spending less at the grocery store
For most households, groceries are the biggest share of the food budget, so the store is the first place to look. Planning the trip, paying less for each item, and getting money back after checkout is a big enough subject that it has its own page. The guide to saving money on grocery shopping covers the whole trip from the list to the register, so this page will not repeat it.
Restaurant, drive-through, and delivery meals
The rest of the cost of food often goes to meals someone else makes. A meal from a restaurant, a drive-through, or a delivery app costs more (sometimes several times) what the same food costs to make at home, and delivery adds fees and a tip on top. Replacing even a few of those meals each week with meals from your own kitchen lowers food spending more than almost anything else on this page. The cost comparison of eating in versus eating out goes through the actual costs, and it is honest about the times when eating out makes sense.
Cooking at home saves the most when the meals themselves are cheap. That means building dinners around low-cost basics, cooking extra so tomorrow's meal is already made, and keeping a few quick meals in the house for nights when no one has the energy to cook. The NHPB guide to saving money on home cooked meals page covers how to do this.
Lunch during the work week is takeout spending too, and it is the easiest kind to cut. Buying lunch near work up to five days a week costs far more over a month than bringing food from home. The guide to saving by brown bagging lunch covers how to pack lunches you will actually want to eat, so the habit lasts past the first week.
One warning about meal kit boxes. They are advertised as a way to save money. Compared to restaurant delivery, they can cost less. Compared to cooking from your own grocery list, they cost more. The NHPB review of meal subscription boxes for low income families goes through the cost per serving and who they actually make sense for.
Wasting less of the groceries you paid for
When food gets thrown away, the money that paid for it is gone too. Produce goes bad before anyone eats it. Leftovers sit in the refrigerator until they have to be tossed. This happens in almost every household, and fixing it costs nothing.
Plan meals around what is already in the refrigerator before buying more. Store fruits and vegetables the right way so they last longer. Freeze food you will not get to in time. The NHPB guide to reducing food waste covers these habits, and the EPA's guide to preventing wasted food at home at https://www.epa.gov/recycle/preventing-wasted-food-home has storage charts and meal planning tools you can print and use.
Eating healthy on a small food budget
Spending less does not have to mean living on junk food. Beans, rice, eggs, oats, frozen vegetables, and in-season produce cost little and are better for you than most packaged food. The NHPB guide to healthy eating on a limited budget shows how to plan a week of real meals around them.
If cooking is the hard part — you never learned, you are out of practice, or your kids refuse anything new — there are free classes that teach cooking and shopping on a small budget, and most send you home with a bag of groceries after each session. The guide to the Cooking Matters program explains what the classes cover and how to find one through local organizations.
Free food when the budget is not enough
Some months, no amount of careful shopping makes the money allocated to food cover the month. Free food programs exist for exactly that, and they are used every day by working families, seniors, and people between jobs. You do not have to prove a crisis, and there is nothing to be embarrassed about.
A free box of groceries from a pantry means your cash can go to rent or the electric bill instead. The page on how food banks and pantries operate explains what happens on a first visit and what they usually give out. Free meal programs help in the same way — churches, charities, and community centers in most areas serve free breakfasts, lunches, or dinners to anyone who comes, and the soup kitchens and free meal sites directory page explains how to find one.
If the amount of money dedicated to food runs out before the end of the month, every month, look into SNAP. That is the situation the program was built for. The NHPB guide to accessing SNAP food stamps covers who qualifies and how to apply in your state, where the program may go by a different name.
Community discussion
Readers also share what is working for them — store deals, cheap meals kids will eat, pantry experiences — on the community forum thread about saving money on food. There you will find real life experiences, tips and suggestions from people across the country.
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