40 Cheap Vegan Dinner Recipes

🛒 Money-Saving Grocery Shopping Tips

1. Make a plan. You don't need a whole weekly meal plan, but I do try to have at least four meals in mind for the upcoming week. That helps guide my grocery shopping, so I'm not buying things we don't need. If you need help meal planning, I have a handy weekly meal planner that can help!
2. Check the sales. While I'm figuring out the week's meals, I also see what items my grocery store has on sale and try to base my weekly plan around as many of those as possible. Just remember: sometimes stores mark items up before a sale, so the "sale" price is really regular price. Make sure that discount is a real one before basing your week around it!
3. Make a list. Having a list in hand at the store sounds like a no-brainer, but it's truly game-changing. Otherwise, you're just grabbing whatever and end up with waste. Usually, my list is for the ingredients for those four meals in my plan, plus snacks and staple ingredients, like bread and non-dairy milk.
4. Shop the pantry/freezer/fridge first. As you work on the grocery list, check your fridge, freezer, and pantry to see what you already have on hand. You can base meals around ingredients you have to save money, and you avoid wasting money on duplicate items.
5. Prioritize food that needs eating. When you check the fridge/freezer/pantry for ingredients, move items that are closer to their expiration date to the front, so you'll eat those first. Plan some meals around those foods, if you can.
6. Cook for leftovers. Making a pot of beans? Double it, and freeze the extra. Having components like this on hand will save you money in the long run. I also try to make more dinner than we will eat, so we can have leftovers for lunch. Though with a hungry teen in the house, that plan doesn't always work out.