MONEY SAVING TIPS FROM MEDICAL SCHOOL WIVES

FOOD

Besides rent, this is often the category with the largest allocation of money when it comes to a family or individual’s budget. My biggest saving tip here is to see if you qualify for programs like WIC or SNAP/EBT to help off set the cost of food while in medical school. These programs are there to help people until they can get on their feet and provide for themselves. Then once you are earning money after medical school, you pay it back into the system. If you would like to learn more about WIC, you can read more about our experience with it in the blog post The Woman in the Red Lipstick.

What is your best tip when it comes to saving money for food, groceries shopping, cooking, etc?

YVETTE: Every week I buy a whole chicken, bake it with different veggies, make a couple grain options and set us up to be able to combine them in any way we want to throughout the week. I even use the bones to make bone broth & soups. We try to use everything and get creative.

I also take time to shop at different stores to make sure I get the lower price, check the store apps for coupons and pricing, including checking online for dry goods.

HEATHER: I meal prep as much as I can and LOVE stasher bags that I can fill with soup to stick in the freezer. It ends up cheaper than cans and leaves out all the salt.

I have a rotation of recipes. I don’t plan the menu for the week until I know what veggies are on sale/in stock, that way I can match my menu to the sales. Our store also has a bonus point program for buying the store brand. So, we buy store brand everything and use the reward dollars at the end of the month for diapers/pull ups and usually get them for free if I time the coupon right.

The only reason I was a Beachbody coach for like the first year was so that I could get the shakes for free. I’m working on starting a garden this year as well to save money on produce.

I hated breastfeeding, but I stuck to it because there was no way we could pay for formula for two babies. Ended up going past the one year mark and freezing it for teething pops and extra calories in solid foods.

MORIAH: Shopping at Aldi has saved us a lot of money. We can’t always find everything we need there, but we can easily get groceries for the week for two people for less than $100. Meal prepping has also helped us save money by being prepared for meals to avoid having to eat out every day.

AMANDA: We typically grocery shop from the same store every time, and we pick one that has a rewards system as well as online ordering. We typically use Smiths or Albertsons. Both have order ahead options so if I am short on time, I can simply place an order and select a time for pick up that works best for my schedule. Then, the points program adds up for fuel points so once a month we typically have 0.50-0.75 cents off a gallon for 30 gallons.

We wait to use the points until the accumulate the highest they can be then we get gas at the same time so we can get almost $30 in free gas a month! We obviously get gas more than once a month, but we only use the fuel points once a month for maximum savings.

SAMANTHA: I will be honest, this is an area that we are working really hard on. Our family of three spends about $200 or more/week on groceries – yikes, I know! However, while we are working to save money in this area we also realize it is a priority line item of our budget. We like to spend money on healthy, whole foods – and we have to purchase some special product for food sensitivities in our family. It’s not always an area we can trim back on and we’ve learned to adjust spending in other areas of our budget to accommodate. It’s all about doing what works best for YOUR family.

For example, we rarely, if ever, eat meals out of the home. We don’t have an “eating out budget” we have a “date night budget” so my husband and I may go out to dinner just the two of us once a month – but that’s it.

I do find that creating a list of recipes your family loves and pulling from that list and putting them into rotation when meal planning helps save A LOT of money. You can even categorize your meals by price point – i.e. burger night or pizza night may be cheaper than steak night…so make sure you only have one steak night that week OR if you’re really looking to save money…don’t do a steak night at all! Meal planning and knowing what meals your family loves is important.

Also, grocery shopping with an itemized list is key to keeping on budget. I’ve never been one to use coupons but I do love using CartWheel and other money saving apps. I recently started doing Walmart Grocery Pick-Up and this has been a huge money saver for us too! I also love to grow my own garden in the summer months – tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, lettuce, and herbs…this may not save a ton of money, but it does help!

MICHAELLA: This is something I don’t really compromise on. I firmly believe that you cannot cut corners when it comes to food. Usually though, I would go for deals or things that were generic brand as much as possible. Vegetables, fruits, meat (steak/beef), and seafood were things that I bought fresh and spent a bit of extra money on.

We are Costco members and that has been a LIFE SAVER. Not every place has a Costco, so if there is a Sam’s Club, same thing. Buying certain items in bulk (coffee, canned beans, olives, chicken breast, cereal, etc.) were great. This is also great if you eat a lot of a particular item. For example, eat chicken all the time? Get the large pack from Costco/Sam’s Club. If there is a reward program at said grocery store that will help you save some money, do it. It’s free and every penny counts.

If you’re working, it can be hard to cook every single night. I would choose two or three big meals to cook throughout the week and we would have leftovers for the days following. Sometimes it would be more meals during the week if I wanted to have something else other than a sandwich for lunch.

CASSIDY: Groceries are by far the biggest part of our monthly budget! We both enjoy eating pretty healthy and decided for us personally, that buying good quality food is worth it for us. We also eat out maybe one meal a week, so we have to buy enough to cover us for seven breakfasts, lunches, and dinners.

As far as saving goes, I try and find as many coupons as I can! Our grocery store (Krogers) offers digital coupons if you download their App on your phone, so we tend to save money using that! They also send coupons in the mail if you have a Kroger card (free to sign up for!) I guess my biggest piece of advice in this category is to cook at home as much as possible! Limiting the amount of times you eat out can save so much money!

KRISTEN: Grocery shopping is one of my least favorites responsibilities so I’m not the expert here at all. These are a few tips I apply most of the time I grocery shop. 

• I shop Manager’s special for meat I plan to use that day or freeze.
• Shop meat in bulk, package into smaller portions to freeze for later.
• Seasonal veggies and fruits.
• Use ibotta (cash back) app to take advantage of getting cash back.
• We shop primarily at Sam’s and Aldi when we want to cut our grocery bill by 25%.
• Our local grocery store is more expensive, but I like that I can order online and not drag kids through the store. With two under two and our schedule, I have been shopping more locally for this season. 
• My plan over this summer is to shop our local farmer’s market as well. I love supporting local businesses and farmers.
• I don’t typically spend more than our WIC and EBT/SNAP benefits for groceries. We can also use EBT at Papa Murphy’s near us which takes EBT and is our go-to pizza pickup on crazy days. 
• Using EBT and WIC frees us up to use our grocery budget for eating out and date nights.

TAMELA: Meal plan like it’s nobody’s business! It will save you tons of money. I do have a blog post about this, Basic Meal Planning a Grad Students Guide.

Do you have any money saving tips for food? Share in the comments below!

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