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The HBHW Recommends
Frugal Grocery Shopping
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Prices for anything from groceries to gas have been soaring the past few ones and our hard-earned dollars are challenged to stretch further. Now, we may be able to ride a bicycle around town if we can’t put gas in our cars. But, we have to eat. There’s no getting around that. So, we have to find ways to spend less on groceries while still getting the things that we need to feed ourselves and our families. Here are six money saving tips to try the next time you go grocery shopping.
1. Clip coupons. They put those in the newspaper for a reason. If there are new items you want to try, use a coupon to get it at a discount. If you like it, you have saved some money. On the other hand, if you don’t take a liking to it, you didn’t pay full price. For me, coupons save an average of ten or more dollars per visit. That’s money in my pocket that I can put towards gas for the car.
2. Buy more staples than prepared foods. It is easier to buy a box of macaroni and cheese, but is it more economical? A large box of macaroni and a block of cheese will make more servings for your family than one box of prepared macaroni and cheese. The next time you go shopping and pick up a box or bag of an already prepared item, ask yourself if you can make that at home for less. If you can, then put that item back in favor of less expensive staples.
3. Buy in bulk. Consider the food items that you use most often. Cereals, meats, vegetables, condiments, juices, and paper products can be bought in bulk usually at a lower price at food warehouses like Costco, BJ’s, and Wal-Mart. If you have a coupon, you’ll save even more money.
4. Don’t shop when you are hungry. This is a definite no-no. Shopping on an empty stomach means that you will pick up more things than you need. You are more likely to pick up that bag of chocolate chip cookies or that box of donuts when the growling gets underway.
5. Take a grocery list with you. This is another protection against picking up things that are too costly. Check your cabinets and the fridge to see what you need and write them down. Remember, the goal is to stick to the list as much as possible.
6. Shop at the same stores. This is more of a frustration reliever. In a new store, you spend most of your time looking for things and walking up and down every aisle, which oftentimes leads to forgetting an item or two. Going to the same store each time makes you more familiar with the prices so you can estimate your bill as you write your grocery list.
Rising prices don’t have to mean a lean dinner table. There are ways to make your food dollar go further and if you take the time to implement the ideas listed above as well as others of your own, you’ll see savings each and every time you shop.
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2 Responses to “Frugal Grocery Shopping”
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Website & Graphics by ccd
April 28th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
Another frugal shopping tip; Plan your attack!
Organize your shopping list by the layout of your grocery store(s). What does this look like? We’ll most stores actually have a chart or map of the aisles and what is located where. Then as you are making up your list put the items in the order that you would logically go through the store. For example, I always go to the frozen food area last, milk and meat just before that so that nothing thaws out or gets into the food safety danger zone. I also will jot down the aisle number on my list so that Inever go down and aisle I’m not getting anything from. I use a relatively static shopping list that I created based upon a rotating menu system. This lets me keep the list pretty much the same and just circle (or check) the items I want or need to buy based on what’s on sale, what I have coupons for, what’s been specially requested, etc.
What this means is that you can move through the store faster, because as you go down your list, you’ll be at the right aisle or area to buy exactly what you need. You aren’t going to be going down aisles where there isn’t something on your list. If you are focused on your list you aren’t going to fall prey to the lure of the impulse purchase, or the attractive end-cap. You also won’t be going back through the same aisle multiple times getting the one thing you forgot/missed. The less time you spend going up and down the same aisle the more and more tempting that one impulse item will appear.
The major benefit - less time shopping and more time living with your family.
August 5th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
While I am not a housewife, I do most of the shopping for the house and cook for a living.
One tip I have not seen on your site is when you get your grocery ads, find the items you want and that are on sale at each store. Then take the ads and go to Wal-Mart. They will match the ad prices and you do not have to spend the time or gas to go to four or five different stores. This will not work on buy one get one free items. It also has to be an exact match-if a store advertises a 5# bag of chicken breasts and Wal-Mart has them in a 4# bag, they will not match. They will match a store brand to their brand in most cases.
They do take coupons unless it is specific to the store and they do not double.