3 Ways to Adjust Your Meal Menu to Adjust to Inflation and a Higher Cost of Living.

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Most people have only been hit by one of these items, but if you are like us.  We moved from the east coast to the west coast this year.  We have been hit by both inflation and a higher cost of living, but I am not allowing it to affect my attitude.  Okay, maybe for about two months and then I realized I am going back to what I know and getting the best deals I know how from my real experience from working in grocery retail for 10 + years.

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[Meal planning on each month!]

Use Foods that Inflation has not Hit

Most common food currently as of 2022 is produce and mainly fresh veggies their true inflation was at 2.4% unlike meat where that is at +18% to +10% inflation.  

With beef in particular that has hit +18% inflation, we change up our meal menu.  Instead of my famous lasagna with ground beef.  I have been cooking the same meal with yellow squash and zucchini. 

Why?

It is on sale for .88 cents a pound at Kroger.  We can get our great tasting lasagna for a better prices per serving plus we always have left overs so it is a great meal to have on the menu. 

Another one we have switched up is chicken meals.  Since chicken parts are up +11.5% inflation. We have had less chicken meals, so what have we been substituting instead of that?

Breakfast for dinner. I was never a believer in this, but eggs have been on sale every single week at a grocery store.  One week they were as cheap as .79 cents for 18 count! We loaded up!  We made a quiche and a breakfast casserole. Guess what?  They both had veggies in them too, but had enough protein that my husband was satisfied. 

Shop Sales Ad Hard

What to buy on the sales ad? The items on the front page are the items that the store is losing money on that are bringing you into the stores.  If it is a holiday, look about 4 to 3 weeks ahead and that is usually when you will find the best deals. Kroger is known for this to get you thinking about buying at there store, but then the week of they put all the prices back to normal price and place them in the middle of their ad for you to think they are on sale. 

I have been learning how to shop at a new store with there ad.  Hello Albertson’s!  I am actually getting really good at it, though the first couple of times I failed hard core.  We budgeted $100, and we spent $150+.  I used to only spend $70 a week on groceries. Hey, but I like to share my weaknesses with you all because I am only as strong as them too. 

When I am weak, God is strong for me. 

But hey, Albertson’s had half galloon milk for .97 cents!  We were not planning on doing our full shopping there this week but it was on the way to Kroger.  We bought it to save money!

Plus we bought these other loss items from Albertsons:

Yogurt .17 cents

Oatmeal $1.47 for name brand

Life cereal $1.47

This will all last us a couple of weeks for breakfast for our family of 3. All less than $10!

Get a job at the grocery store for an additional discount

As mentioned in point two when we budget, we track our spending. Our main focus in 2019 was paying cash for a wedding and then came Ember in early 2020. So then our focus was saving up for Ember to have her without any hospital bills. Our 2021 goal was to pay off our our home. We successfully have had a great 3 years of accomplishing goals with this tip!  I highly suggest it if you do not do it. 

We always knew we received grocery discounts because my husband and I both worked for Kroger for so long.  We received 10% off Kroger brand items. 

While we traveled across the country though, we lost the discount because we quit our jobs like the Lord told us to.  He wanted us to rely fully on him more and less on ourselves.  He wanted us to sacrifice and know that he would provide for our family.  (Which he did and did even more than we could have imagined!)

My husband, however, was ready to get back to work when we hit Utah for 6 months.  He got a job at Albertsons while we are here in Utah to receive 10% off Albertsons brand and 5% off of national brands.  This little bit does help!  Once I learned how to really shop their ad too! 

And if you do not want to work at a grocery store, if you have a kid who is 16, have them work at a grocery store!  My mom and dad both took advantage of my Kroger discount while I worked at Kroger in high school, college, and past college!  They are my immediate family who get the benefit!

Hope these 3 tips helps you during this crazy time of grocery inflation.  Remember you are not alone in this situation and if you even want us to help you with your grocery budget we can do that too!  We mostly help with your entire budget, but we can break it down to just your grocery budget to help you!  You matter and the food you provide for your family matters. 

Like if you learned how to adjust your food budget. 

Like if you are going to shop differently next week. 

Pin to share with someone else you know who’s being affected by inflation.