If you’ve been feeling the squeeze at the grocery store lately, you’re not alone. It seems as though every weekly shop comes with an unwanted price hike, for everything from pantry staples to fresh produce. Over time, those price hikes can really add up.
While we (unfortunately) cannot change the grocery store prices, we can implement strategies to help lessen the blow. Through the years, we’ve shared dozens of suggestions on how to pinch pennies when grocery shopping. From utilizing store-brand products, to looking at unit pricing, there’s plenty of techniques you can utilize to help curb spending when feeding your family—and they don’t all involve clipping coupons.
For years, I’ve used ingredient substitutions to help save money. If the recipe calls for honey, I’ll use maple syrup if it’s what I have on hand. If a recipe calls for red wine vinegar, I won’t buy a bottle if I already have something like apple cider vinegar available. Sometimes these substitutions even make for a more delicious end product!
There’s one substitution I use every week, and it saves me over $200 each year. It’s an easy swap that results in a delicious meal every time. And honestly, now that I’ve made this change for so long, I can hardly tell the difference.
Make a Ground Beef Swap to Save Money
From tasty meaty marinara sauces to hearty and flavorful meatballs, ground beef is a true staple in many American’s diets. But the price of ground beef is not what it used to be. These days, a pound of 80/20 ground beef can sell for nearly $8 and can cost even more with leaner cuts. If your family eats a pound of ground beef even two to three times a week, it can cost nearly $100 a month!
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A few years back, fed up with the rising cost of ground beef, I decided to make a change in my approach to grocery shopping. Instead of buying ground beef to make most recipes, I decided to use ground turkey instead. Ground turkey is almost always less expensive than ground beef, sometimes significantly so.
Instead of paying $8 for a pound of 80/20 ground beef, I usually pay just over $4 for a pound of 85/15 turkey. That’s nearly half of the price. As an Aldi shopper, I save even more—paying only $2.45 a pound. Over time, this saves me a lot of cash.
Of course, ground turkey cannot always serve as a one-to-one substitute for ground beef. For things like burgers or meatloaf, I splurge on ground beef. But most of the time, I use the cheaper option and still have delicious results.
Ground turkey works best as a ground beef substitute when it’s not the “star” of the show. Perfect for meat sauces, chilis, stuffed peppers, herby meatballs and so much more—ground turkey can be just as filling, toothy, meaty, and satisfying as ground beef when used in the right kind of dishes.
If you want to give this money-saving tip a go, start with dishes such as Simple Turkey Chili, these Turkey Cabbage Rolls, this Turkey Tater Tot Hot Dish, or this One-Pan Cheeseburger Rice. The savings (and great taste!) may keep you swapping out ground beef for ground turkey for even more recipes.