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When I was married, meal planning came rather easy to me. I never worried about how to save on groceries because I had the system down pat.
When I got divorced and had to figure out how to make dinners for two instead of dinners for three and without a big, hungry man to feed. At first, it was an adjustment but eventually, I found my way.
I cooked this way for years until I moved in with my daughter, son in law and grandson.
All of a sudden my meal planning skills were allusive, and I struggled to find just the right way to feed this family without spending an enormous amount of money every week.
Each week I sat down with the flyer and meal planned, but I was missing a few critical elements. I failed miserably. My first few stabs at it resulted in monthly food expenses totally $1,200 a month for groceries.Yup, you read it right.
You see, gone was my stockpile and I wasn’t getting the newspaper anymore, so I was missing out on needed coupons.
I needed to go back to my old ways and find solutions to save on groceries. It was a recipe for disaster.
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Easy Ways To Save On Groceries
That’s was until I met Erin Chase of $5 Dinners and learned her formula for feeding a family and not breaking the bank.
Now Erin didn’t teach me everything. I did know how to establish a stockpile and where to get coupons, but I hadn’t put any of that into practice after the move.
After meeting her, I quickly realized that I needed to start implementing the money-saving tactics of my past that I knew worked and fast.
What Erin did teach me was how I could spend less than $5 on every meal. An entire meal including sides for only $5 per family! I was blown away!
By implementing some new strategies that Erin taught me we were able to reduce our grocery spending by $500 per month!
If it weren’t for the meal planning breakthrough, I’d likely still be shelling out $1200 per month at the grocery store.
Here’s the thing about cutting your food budget: you can either learn the hard way which is the way I did it. I read the books, took a few classes and checked into websites that helped me to stack grocery coupons with savings. It was time-consuming, to say the least.
Or, you can do it the easy way and save yourself a lot of hassles in the long run.
Right now, Erin has an online course called The Grocery Budget Makeover.
It teaches you a step-by-step easy plan to save on groceries by cutting down your food budget significantly, sometimes up to 50%! This frees up a ton of extra money to pay off debt, build up savings or pay for those big goals.
If you think you spend too much on groceries and you’ve struggled with meal planning, you would be crazy not to get this course.
I don’t want you just to get the course, though; I want you to take it seriously. Watch the weekly lessons, do the assignments and really put your heart and soul into this. I’ve taken the entire class and can’t encourage you enough.
The class will likely pay for itself in the first month (if not the first week!)
Here’s a sneak peak of the topics covered in the class:
• Changing your attitude.
• Getting a basic reference sheet of favorite meals.
• Creating an effective shopping list.
• How to meal plan effectively.
• How to avoid marketing traps.
• How to stockpile for normal people.
• Advanced meal planning.
• Couponing.
• Time-saving kitchen and cooking hacks.
• How to score freebies.
They have several bonuses including cooking tutorials and a whole lesson on saving money when shopping for allergy friendly foods! As a grandmother with a grandson that can’t eat eggs or peanuts, this was a blessing!
There’s a catch (yes, there always is). The class closes next Monday, April 3rd at midnight. You won’t be able to sign up after that until they open the doors again in September.
Erin Chase helped me to ramp up my meal planning and grocery budget skills and took my $1200 monthly food budget and chopped in down to $700 per month. That’s a $6,000 savings per year!
What could you do with that kind of money back in your pocket?
But you likely have some questions so let me address them right now for you:
Is this class right for me?
If you think you spend too much on groceries, you aren’t sure how to coupon quickly and effectively, and you struggle with meal planning, then this class is definitely for you!
You need at least 30 minutes per week for the next 4 weeks to complete the coursework, and you need to commit to actually doing the assignments otherwise, you won’t learn anything, and then what’s the point?
This may not be a good fit for you if you struggle with using a computer because it’s an online class and if you’re already a coupon queen and are really confident that your grocery spending is as low as possible.
For everyone else, I think you’ll love The Grocery Budget Makeover!
I don’t have the money right now, but I think it would help me. What should I do?
First off, don’t buy anything that you can’t afford.
That being said, I can’t see any way that you would lose money by purchasing this course. You’ll make up the cost of the class in the grocery savings. If for some crazy reason you don’t (I can’t see that happening but for the sake of argument) you would just get a refund. She offers a money back guarantee.
The class closes in just a few days, and won’t open their doors again until at least September.
The easiest way to handle it is to take it out of your grocery budget and then eat as cheaply as you can for the remainder of the week.
You can sign up for The Grocery Budget Makeover here.
I’m organic/allergy free/paleo etc. Will this class apply to me?
Yes! Whether you live on Rind Dings and Coke (no judging) or drink organic kale smoothies, this is perfect for you.
She gives you the tools to make this work for whatever your food preferences. She has food allergies in her family, so she created a bonus on food allergies that was worth the cost of the class alone.
Regardless of what you choose to fill your cart with, this course can help you spend less.
Is the class worth it?
I would never in a million years recommend anything to you that I wouldn’t recommend to my own family.
Yes, it’s worth it!
You have to do the work in order to see the results, but there isn’t a doubt in my mind that if you take the class, you’ll see a huge transformation of your grocery spending which gives you extra cash to throw at debt, savings or dreams.
You can sign up for The Grocery Budget Makeover here.
I want the class, but I’m not sure which option to pick- does it matter?
Great question! In almost all circumstances, I think you should get the Express version. That gives the lessons over four weeks. Four weeks is long enough for you to skill build and create habits, but not too long that it’s overwhelming and end up giving up.
After the month, it’s easy to stay motivated as you save money and see the results of your efforts.
You can buy the express version here.
There’s an exception to that recommendation. If you plan on getting into extreme couponing, then you’ll need the Extreme Edition (which also comes with a free meal plan from $5 Dinners).
In closing, I can’t say enough about this course. If you’re struggling with meal planning, not sure how to really cut your grocery bill in half and want and easy way to save on groceries so you can learn the nuts and bolts and start saving, then this course if worth its weight in gold.
You can sign up for The Grocery Budget Makeover here.
MY FAVORITE MONEY-SAVING TOOLS
EBATES: Want to earn cash back when you shop online? Ebates acts as a shopping portal offering coupons and cashback from over 2,000 online stores. I always check on Ebates first whenever I shop online! You can join Ebates for free and get a $10 welcome bonus when you sign up through this link.
DIGIT: Like the idea of saving but need something automatic? Digit is the perfect solution if trying to automate your savings strategy. In essence, what Digit does is use an algorithm to detect spare money and then transfers it to a secure savings account – so you’ll always have something to fall back on. Sign up for free!
GROCERY BUDGET MAKEOVER: Is your grocery budget giving you a serious kick in your families spending plan? Grocery Budget Makeover helped my family slash $6,000 a year from our food bill! Learn more about how Grocery Budget Makeover can help you save money too!
I’m a professional cleaner with over 13 years of hands-on experience cleaning homes, a published writer, certified money specialist, and the founder of A Mess Free Life. After paying off over $50,000 in debt, I dedicated myself to helping others master their homes and their money — proving that a clean, organized, stress-free life is possible no matter where you’re starting from. When I’m not writing, you’ll find me cooking, playing bocce, sipping an extra dirty martini, or enjoying the ocean with my cats nearby. I’m also a proud mom and grandma who cares deeply for my mother at home.
