How I Save $250 to $300 on Food Every Month

Recently, I took a hard look at my family's food budget in an attempt to cut out some expenses. We had started spending over $1,000 each month on food alone, which was taking a toll on our personal finances.

What I started to realize was that we were spending money on certain ingredients that we only used once for a recipe, then stored away until they expired. These were sometimes inexpensive items, like onions, but occasionally could be more pricey, like certain kinds of dairy products. We were also buying a lot of pre-made dinners from Whole Foods and Costco, which could cost between $15 to $30 or more. Finally, when we were too lazy to cook, which happened a few times a week, we ordered takeout.

Neither my wife nor I had time to cook cheap meals from scratch every day, but we needed to find a way to cook more at home. So, we decided to give HelloFresh -- the meal-kit provider -- a go. All in all, we're saving about $250 to $300 a month on groceries alone. Here's how.

How a meal-kit provider could help you save money

First, some numbers.

We spend about $125 weekly on HelloFresh. This gives us six meals for two people, plus one free breakfast item (usually four egg bites). The portions are enough to cover dinner, but not lunch or breakfast (we don't usually have leftovers). To cover those meals, we spend about $200 to $250 at Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, and Costco. All in all, we've now spending about $700 to $750 each month on food -- a much more affordable scenario than spending over $1,000.

Some of this savings comes from reduced spending on groceries. But another portion comes from the fact that we no longer depend on takeout. In fact, we hardly get takeout at all, saving it for special occasions instead.

Better yet, we also use the Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card (see rates and fees) to cover all our grocery bills. This card earns an unlimited 3% cash back on dining and groceries, which also includes HelloFresh (see rates and fees). This gives us about $20 to $22 in cash back monthly, which we apply as a statement credit.

HelloFresh isn't just saving us money

The meal-kit service is also saving us time. Before we started using HelloFresh, we would have to plan out our dinners for the week. Often, this would involve shopping at a grocery store multiple times, getting the ingredients, then cooking everything at home.

HelloFresh has made this process extremely simple. The service picks six recipes for us (you can choose for yourself if you want), then sends us a box with all the ingredients. Each recipe's ingredients are packaged in their own little bag, so you don't have to dig around for them. The steps are super easy to follow and usually don't take more than 40 minutes. The ingredients are also portioned out for you, so you don't have to worry about having extras sitting around in your cupboards or fridge.

As far as the portions go, don't expect a ton of food. While the servings are generous, most people won't have leftovers. If you wanted more food, you could choose four servings instead of two, but it will cost you extra.

Of course, HelloFresh is just one of many meal-kit providers, and it might not be the best for your household. In fact, I would recommend trying different services, especially since many offer huge discounts upfront. Take advantage of a discount, try out the service for a few weeks, and see if it could save you money. It might not save you $300, but who knows -- it could make cooking dinner a little easier.