December 14, 2011

10 Tips for Saving Money at the Grocery Store

Couponing has been a hobby of mine for a few years now. It started when I got my first apartment and I realized how expensive food can be.  Here are some of my top tips for saving money on groceries.

1. Come prepared with a list
To help stop impulse purchases, make a list of the items that you need and stick to it.

2. Shop the sales
Check your weekly grocery ad and buy the items that are on sale that week.

3. Eat local and in season produce
Buy items that are in season like peaches, strawberries, and cherries in the summer. The items that are local and in season are usually quite a bit cheaper than out of season and imported produce.

4. Use coupons
There are tons of coupons that come in the local paper each week. Clip the coupons for items that you normally buy to help save money.

5. Go vegetarian one night a week
Meat is expensive and by eating one vegetarian meal a week, you can save a lot of money. Some great options are black bean tacos or vegetarian lasagna.

6. Avoid purchases at checkout
Not only are the foods at checkout high in fat, sugar, and sodium but they also are overpriced. Items like chips are packaged in small containers and overall cost much more than a larger bag.

7. Stock up on sale items
Do you only eat a certain brand or cereal or soup? When it goes on sale, buy extra so that when it isn’t on sale, you still have enough from last time to get you through until the next sale.

8. Be flexible on brands
Be willing to try the store brand. Often it’s cheaper than the name brand. Did you know that many times, a name brand company makes the store brand product? Try and see if you like it!

9. Peek in your pantry before you grocery shop
Before shopping, look at what you already have to avoid buying doubles of items.

10. Buy whole produce instead of pre-cut
In the grocery store, they now sell pre-cut items like melon, tomatoes, pineapple, etc. These items are much more expensive than the whole ones.

What are some of your favorite ways to save money?
I would love to learn some new tips!

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Comments

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  2. My wife always prepares a grocery list and she's good with sticking to the list. Doing this saves us a lot.

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  3. For saving money at the grocery store, you must know about more of brands, come prepared with list, stock up on sales items etc. Nice tips. Great article.

    ReplyDelete

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