Many people overlook the potential of saving in their grocery and food bills. After all, they may not want their families to feel pressured to save in such a staple. But if you look closely at the amount of money spent every month at grocery stores, you may find a significant amount where trimming excess can help your budget significantly.

The first step in cutting back on food expenses is to be aware of your patterns and to try to find where your spending is excessive or wasteful. Eating at home is a big saver as well, but it must be done wisely where you shop for your meal and ensure that you’re getting the most of your meals.

To do so, follow these points.

Find your bad habits

You don’t have to study a six-month activity of shopping to find out your patterns. All you need to do is to write down the common issues that you often notice: Food expiring in your cabinets or refrigerator, miscellaneous items that don’t go together for a meal, frequent trips to the grocery store, eating out unnecessarily, etc. Noting and acknowledging these problems can help you plan your shopping more carefully and avoid waste and spending on take-out and delivery meals.

These issues or bad habits probably are a result of shopping without a plan. It can be because you shop when you’re tired or unprepared. To avoid this situation, you should set a time and plan for your grocery shopping. For example, select a time when shops are not crowded, which can allow you to compare prices and get everything you need. You also will need to make sure that you get everything you need at one trip because frequent shopping trips open the door for impulse purchases.

Be creative

The internet offers a great resource for preparing meals and snacks that are as easy — or as elaborate — as you like. Whatever is your comfort zone when it comes to cooking, you should find something that suits you. The most critical aspect is to get yourself enthused. For example, take a cooking class, invite friends over, take a treat for your coworkers or start a new diet. Being excited about this prospect of cooking your meals can also help you save a bunch by paying additional attention to your spending and your grocery shopping.

Plan your meals

Families know their patterns and if you notice that your meals are so big that leftovers are wasted, or so small that your family members are going hungry and opting for snacking, you need to take a close look at how you calculate portions. As you may know, making a meal that is slightly bigger costs just a fraction of what you’d pay at a run to a fast-food place to complement a small meal.

In addition, if you plan generous dinners, leftovers can be great lunches for working parents on the next day. Or you can find out how to turn leftovers into a new meal that still costs significantly less than eating out.

Repeat meals

Find your family’s most popular meals and don’t think twice about shopping for large quantities of their ingredients. However, if you’re trying something new or exotic, don’t rush to buy loads of ingredients that won’t be used for anything else until you’re sure that everyone has given thumps up. By doing so, you save on both ends. In addition, having the ingredients for the meals you and your family like available means that it will be easier for you to put them together whenever you need without much shopping necessary except for perishables like vegetables.

Have theme nights

To build excitement for your plans to eat at home more often and save, introduce theme nights or specials. Having everyone in your household on board will cut the pressure for regressing to old habits. Remember this is a decision that must have everyone’s cooperation to achieve success.

Rania Oteify a former Gulf News Business Features Editor is a Seattle-based editor.