Looking for tips on how to save money on groceries? These are 8, never failing tips to help you lower that grocery bill!
With the high price of EVERYTHING today, I know I am not the only homemaker searching for ways to lower my grocery bill. Even the smallest of actions can help you to save money on your groceries. I am going to provide my 8 best tips on how to save money on groceries.
From shopping in your pantry to shopping the sales, you will be given easy tips to save on groceries.
These tips will help you think differently about grocery shopping, and will ultimately save you money!
This post is all about how to save money on groceries.
Taking The Time It Deserves
As these tips are easy, some of them are a bit time consuming. However, as a homemaker, I view one of my jobs to be financial management. This includes budgeting and searching for ways to save money on everyday items. One of the biggest and most frequent expenses can be groceries. Taking the time and extra steps to take action with these 8 tips will help you sustain a better budget in the long run. For 5 years now, I have been purchasing my own groceries (after I moved out of my parents’ house for college), and have learned some valuable tips on how to save money on groceries. As some of these tips may cost some time, it will definitely save money!
8 Easy Tips
1. Shop In Your Pantry/Fridge/Freezer
If you’re anything like me, you have a healthy stock of food already within your home! Every week when I go to the store, I grab extra items or items I feel may be useful in the future. Every couple of weeks, I pull all of this extra food out, and see what I can create with these random items! Although I already spent money to initially purchase these items, using them now will prevent me from wasting money in the present on food I may already have. Shopping in your pantry/fridge/freezer will remind you about items that you may have forgotten about, which saves it from being throw away in the future when the expiration date creeps up. Using the food already within your home is a good practice for reducing waste and saving money.
2. Coupons
The chain of store that I shop in has an app that allows you to digitally clip coupons and use them at checkout. It connects my phone number to my “clipped” coupons at checkout, and also gives me rewards for shopping certain brands. This app automatically scans the appropriate coupons when I enter my phone number in, which is super helpful! As the coupons vary throughout the weeks, I can save anywhere from $5 to $25 a week. Even though looking through these coupons and planning around them takes time, they add up and do make a long term impact. Be sure to check your local chain store for a rewards/coupon program. If you don’t want to do it digitally, clip coupons out of your weekly newspaper!
3. Shop The Sales
Although different from couponing, shopping the sales can also produce positive results. Each week, I look at the flyers provided by my grocery store (they get uploaded onto my app), and determine what products I could integrate into my weekly meal plan. The weekly sales I focus on are for meat and produce. Pairing these sales with other coupons can really add up, and you can get more more food for less. Finding meat that is on sale can always be frozen and stored away for another week. I like to do this because it means I can save money on it while not having to use it the week it is on sale. Thinking ahead can really help to save money on more expensive items such as meat.
4. Shop In Season Fruit
In my household, we eat fruit daily. Living in New England, we have very short seasons for fresh fruit. For most of the year, produce has to be shipped to us from warm, far away lands. This means higher costs, and lower quality! As frozen fruit can be a good alternative during these off seasons, I have found that this just does not satisfy my fruit cravings. I have learned to shop in season fruit, which means ditching the $10 sour strawberries. In the winter, I shop for fruits such as tangerines, apples, bananas, cantaloupe, and grapes. I save the berries for the spring/summer months, and find them much better quality, and lower priced.
5. Buy In Bulk
Although much more expensive upfront, buying in bulk can be a great way to save money in the long-run. Places like Sam’s Club and Costco are the best places to do this. There is such a variety of items, and you’re able to freeze extra for the future. Buying in bulk can be a great way to save money on groceries, as long as you have the room to store it all!
6. Shop Off Brands
When it comes down to it, a lot of off brands very closely mimic name brand products. In a lot of cases, you can’t even tell the difference, especially when you get used to the off brand. When grocery shopping, it is easy to become a creature of habit and reach for the name brand product. But when comparing these prices with off brand prices, they sometimes cost dollars more, for a very comparable quality. With items like cheeses, condiments, and frozen products, choosing the off brand will not alter the way your meal tastes. This tip is guaranteed to lower your grocery bill.
7. Meal Plan
A great way to save money is to meal plan for the week. Read my blog post, Beginner’s Guide: Meal Planning For The Week to see how I meal plan! Meal planning for the week allows you to pre-plan what to purchase, saving you from aimlessly walking around the grocery store. This also allows you to take full advantage of the weekly sales and coupons. Meal planning helps reduce waste, because every item bought has a solid plan for its use!
8. Make A List… & Stick To It!
Creating a list to guide you through the grocery store will keep you from making unnecessary purchases. Rather than going in with no list and buying items you THINK you’ll use, going in with a list will help you purchase things you KNOW you’ll use. This also avoids forgetting key items and having to go back! When you have a pre-made list based off of your meal plan, it is easy to only shop for those items.
Sometimes, when you don’t have a list, your eyes tend to wander more. This means more things in the cart! Having a list keeps you focused as you walk up and down the aisles searching for the next needed item. When you see less goodies, you buy less goodies which ends up saving you money! And, let’s be honest… our impulse purchases are rarely ever healthy or cheap. They’re always the most processed and expensive junk available! Both your body and bank account will thank you for shopping with a list.
Saving money on groceries is not all that hard, but it takes thought, planning, and time. After reading these tips, hopefully you can integrate a few of them into your grocery shopping routine.
This post was all about how to save money on groceries.