In this day and age of staying within budget, one of the biggest expenses for most American is the cost of food.   The average grocery bill for 1 person is about 100-142 dollars a week (Source:  Fox Business).  This doesn’t even include eating out sadly.    There are a numbers of reasons why this is the case but I’ve narrowed it down to the following conclusions:

For the record, I’m not by any means stating that you should avoid pre-made meals or going out to eat.   However, it should be done as only sparingly rather than with every meal.   The consequences are not just in the financial realm but also in overall health.   Pre-Made meals and take out food usually contains a high amount of fat, sodium, cholesterol and an excessive amount of calories that well exceeds your daily allowance.   This article is a revision to one that I wrote for a nutritional website from 2013 in which I explained how to spend only 20 dollars a month on groceries.  Of course, it’s 2020 and this is no longer feasible however I still spend on average about 30-40 dollars a month on groceries.  The action plan that I use is no different than my methods on investing in commodities which is purchasing long term bulk foods with a significant shelf life in addition to simply preparing my own meals for either immediate sustenance or placing the content in a plastic or glass container for future use.   This is all about getting back to the basics.  By redefining the way you plan your meals, you can save up to  6000 dollars in food cost over the course of a year.   The following below is my personal list of items that I keep in my kitchen to reduce the monthly cost of buying groceries.  This is only a sample of items and some examples of what can be prepared with these foods so if you wish to have more variety then I would get yourself a cookbook.  Lets Begin!!!