24 Incredible Ways to Spend Less Money on Food

Plan menus based on ads or what’s in your pantry

It’s easy to say you should avoid processed foods and cook from scratch, but whole foods aren’t always cheap.

Pull a random menu plan out of a cooking magazine, and you may have to pick your jaw up off the ground when you see the total in the checkout lane. It’s a mistake I’ve made. The cost of all those strange cuts of meat and fresh herbs adds up.

A better way to make your menu plan is to look at the ads and what’s in your cupboard already. If chicken is on sale, and you have rice in the pantry, then it looks like you’re having chicken and rice for dinner one night this week.