I Saved $100 on Groceries Last Month -- and I Didn't Make a Meal Plan

The trick is making it a challenge, not a chore.

Food costs are over 10% higher than they were a year ago and many households are feeling the pinch. For many people, wages aren't increasing anywhere near as fast as their cost of living, and they're looking for ways to save. The challenge is that many money-saving strategies are also time consuming. Some also demand pretty significant lifestyle changes.

That's why last month I set out to cut my grocery bill in ways that anyone could apply. I love the idea of making a meal plan and sticking to it. But our house just doesn't work that way, and I suspect we're not alone. We rarely know what we're doing a few hours ahead, never mind a few days or more. So I focused on ways to stay flexible and still save money. Here are five of them.

How I shaved $100 off my monthly grocery bill

Our household spends about $300 a month on groceries. We live in Bogota, Colombia where the cost of living is a lot lower than most U.S. cities. However, we also pay a premium for imported goods such as cheese and spices.

1. We made a budget and set a goal

Setting a target is often the biggest step toward making something reality. I live with my partner, so we sat down together to look through our spending from the past few months. We added up what we'd spent and talked about what we could feasibly cut back on. Our idea was to make saving money fun rather than a hardship -- and making it a joint challenge was part of that.

Cutting impulse-buying on chocolate almost every time I stopped at the store looked like an easy win -- I usually shop more than once a week, and at almost $4 a bar, I could save $20 right off the bat. With a few other changes, we decided it would be feasible to cut our grocery bill by two thirds.

2. I switched to online shopping

Online shopping isn't for everyone, and it does mean paying extra for the delivery. However, it is so much easier to control your costs and compare prices when you can see it on screen. Having set a budget for how much we wanted to spend, I wanted to be able to track costs down to the last cent. If you're not a fan of online shopping, that's OK. Try instead to make a list and stick to it -- or find other tricks to avoid impulse purchases.

We also cut back on how often we shopped. Each time you go to the store, even virtually, it's too easy to pick up a few extra bits and pieces, or get tempted by a special offer. Instead of doing a weekly trip, we split our monthly groceries into two trips of $90 each. That left $20 for extra fresh fruit and vegetables, if needed.

One big downside of only shopping online is that you can't take advantage of in-store discounts on things that are close to their expiration date. The upside is that it's much easier to compare prices and manage what you spend. I added things to the cart when I thought of things we needed during the two week period. When it came time to finalize the order, we had to make some cuts and swap for cheaper products to keep under the $90 target.

3. I batch-cooked and froze several meals

If you're making a pasta sauce or a stew or roasting vegetables, double (or triple) up the quantities. You'll often get better prices by buying in bulk, and once you're cooking one meal you might as well cook several at the same time. Especially if you're cooking something that needs to go in the oven -- once it is hot, make the most of it.

We cheated slightly to get our $100 savings by eating several meals that were already in the freezer. If you don't want to make a meal plan, freezing extra food means you can handle even the most unpredictable week without breaking your budget. When you have time to cook, you can stock up the freezer with all kinds of deliciousness.

4. We made a no-waste commitment

Like setting our spending target, the joint decision to not to throw any food away was half the battle. Without it, it's easier to ignore the vegetables wilting in the bottom of the fridge. Or hope someone else will do something about them. With it, we could make an appetizer-type meal of leftovers once a week and consciously avoid waste. Turning leftovers into a decent meal became a challenge rather than a chore.

Since we didn't want to plan out every single meal, instead we stocked up with lots of staples such as canned goods, pasta, and rice. Having plenty of food that keeps for a long time means you can almost always throw together a balanced and low-cost meal -- even if it's tuna pasta with a few frozen vegetables thrown in.

5. I used a rewards credit card

Here in Colombia we don't have a lot of cash back apps that reward you for spending, but I can get some benefits by paying on my credit card. In the U.S., you may be able to combine cash back app rewards with a credit card that pays rewards on groceries or everyday spending. It may not feel like a lot, but those rewards can add up. At least enough to pay for a couple of $4 chocolate bars.

Bottom line

If you can involve the whole household first in setting and then sticking to a food budget, you'd be surprised at how much you can save. Similarly, cutting food waste is easier if everybody's on board. Like a lot of things in life, making the decision to do something is often half the battle.