How to Save Money At The Grocery Store and Still Eat Well
You shouldn't underestimate how much your groceries are costing you on a regular basis. It's important to save money at the grocery store if you're trying to cut down on your spending and improve your budget.
Buying groceries is, of course, a necessary expense to feed your household. However, there are many things you can do to lower the costs of your weekly grocery bill.
Cutting back the costs on your grocery bill could save you an astoundingly large amount of money over the long term. You may find it much easier to accumulate savings after you learn how to save money at the grocery store. Because your grocery bill is a regular expense that you need to pay for week after week, even saving a few dollars on your grocery bill each time you go to the store will really add up over the course of a year. The following are seven things you should try to do if you want to save money at the grocery store:
Buy Generic Products
Have you ever noticed the large price difference between generic and brand name products? There is really a significant difference for many types of products, and buying generic products rather than brand name products could save you thousands of dollars per year in some cases. This is a good solution if you're wondering how to reduce bills. You might want to buy generic if you're looking for ways to save money at the grocery store.
Brand Doesn’t Equal Quality
You usually don't need to spend more money on brand name products. In most cases, you're going to find that buying generic products gives you almost the same thing that paying sometimes twice as much on brand name products gives you. A lot of what you're paying for when you buy a brand name product is simply for the marketing and branding expenses that the company you're buying from needs to pay for.
Don't assume that extra money for a brand name product necessarily means a higher quality product.
With each product you need at the grocery store, consider whether you really benefit from paying more for a brand name. Experiment by trying the brand name product and the generic product for particular items you need to see if there is really a significant difference. If there is not a significant difference, then you should stop paying more. This is a simple yet highly effective way for you to save money at the grocery store.
Make a List And Stick To It
Unfortunately, a lot of consumers get in the bad habit of not taking the time to make a list each and every time they shop for groceries. Making a list is a great way to maximize the effectiveness and efficiency of your grocery store visits. What's more, making a list is also a great way to save money at the grocery store.
Those who don't make a list before they go out shopping for groceries are more likely to shop based on their mood and appetite. In the spur of the moment, they're probably not buying based on what they need. They're more likely to be buying based on their momentary whims. This often leads to bad choices and waste. It also makes it more likely that they will forget needed items and need to go back again to the grocery store sooner than they should have to. Obviously, more grocery store visits means more grocery store spending.
Always make a list of exactly what you need when you go to the grocery store. Try to make your grocery store visits as productive and complete as possible. Even after you've made a list, look over the list you've made and consider whether you've forgotten some important items. The following are three things to do when you make a grocery store list to maximize list effectiveness:
Consult Other Household Members
If you do the grocery shopping for other members of your household, ask them what they want you to include on the list.
Categorize List Items
Arrange items by categories such as dairy or meat. This helps you to make your list more complete and check off your list more quickly at the store.
Cross Off Items as You Put Them in Your Cart
Bring a pen along to the grocery store so you can cross off items once you get them.
Eliminate Pre-Made Meals
If you're working to save money at the grocery store, you need to consider what the most expensive items on your grocery bill usually are. Perhaps you've already noticed that pre-made frozen meals are typically very expensive in comparison to individual ingredients. Making meals from scratch is usually cheaper. That's why it's important to stop buying pre-made meals.
Expensive and Unhealthy
One important thing to think about in addition to cost is quality. Pre-made meals aren't just more expensive than meals that you cook from scratch. They're also not as healthy. The majority of pre-made meals out there contain all kinds of preservatives, colorings, and other non-natural ingredients. These pre-made meals also tend to be high in sodium, fat, and other substances that are unhealthy and that people typically get too much of already.
Cut out pre-made meals entirely if you want to save money at the grocery store. You might think that you need pre-made meals to keep up with your busy schedule because they're so quick and convenient to make. However, there are a lot of recipes out there that are surprisingly easy to throw together using inexpensive, natural, and healthy ingredients. With a bit of research and creativity, you can find from-scratch recipes that won't take you long to prepare.
Cut Back On Meat
In addition to pre-made meals, meat is another item on most people's grocery lists that tends to be on the expensive side. At the same time, meat is known for being less healthy than many vegetarian alternatives. This is especially true when it comes to red meat. Red meat in the form of steaks, for example, is very expensive. It is also known to be unhealthy because of its saturated and trans fat content.
You don't have to go completely vegetarian because you want to save money at the grocery store. You can just cut meat out of two or three meals per week to eat healthier while saving money at the same time. Instead of serving meals with meat, you can try some different recipes that include vegetarian protein sources. Vegetable protein sources like beans are very inexpensive, but they also offer the advantage of including healthy substances like antioxidants and fiber in a meal.
If you must eat meat, you can choose meat types that are less expensive. Rather than buying steak, you may be able to save money on bulk packs of chicken that many grocery stores sell. You also can look out for sale deals when you buy meat to save money on it. Most grocery stores frequently put large packs of meat on sale when they are overstocked for a particular type of meat. You can buy larger packs of meat and freeze some of it so that you have meat available at a less expensive cost for your household.
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Never Throw Away Leftovers
You can stretch your grocery store order by making sure that you never throw anything away. Unfortunately, a lot of households throw a significant quantity of food away each and every week. You may throw food away occasionally because you prepared too much food for a meal or because something you bought at the grocery store was older than its expiration date.
Any time you throw any food away, you get less out of the food you buy and you don't take full advantage of everything you've spent on your grocery bill.
Make Meals that Taste Good Reheated
Try to prepare meals in your home that are good either if they're eaten fresh or if they're reheated the next day and eaten as leftovers. While some meals might age better than others as leftovers, just about any meal can be saved as leftovers.
Avoid Having Leftovers at All
You can also avoid wasting food by throwing away leftovers by learning to prepare the right amount of food at meals so that you don't have anything left over afterward.
Always Check the Expiration Dates
Another thing you can do to avoid throwing away food is to pay close attention to the expiration dates on all the food you buy when you're at the grocery store. Being conscious of expiration dates is important. It's also important that you're aware that you can eat most foods for a little while after their expiration date has passed without any real health threats. Use your judgment and inspect food carefully if it is on or slightly past its expiration date. However, you can go ahead and eat food if it still looks and smells fresh in many cases.
Buy In Bulk
You're probably already aware of the fact that buying larger quantities of food usually results in cost savings. You should take advantage of bulk discounts whenever possible. If you have plenty of pantry space in your home, you can capitalize on it by purchasing larger quantities of standard grocery items at a reduced price.
If you don't yet buy bulk or if there are no bulk products available at your current grocery store, shop around to find bulk deals you may not have known about before. While buying bulk sometimes takes a bit more planning, it can also be highly practical and help you to get all your shopping done for well into the future. This way, you won't have to continually return to the grocery store when you run out of product.
Try buying bulk for ways to cut bills that also make your life more convenient. The following are a few examples of the best items to buy in bulk:
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Toilet paper is one of the best items to buy in bulk. It is constantly needed. It also doesn't go bad over time so you don't have to worry about an expiration date.
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Condiments are a standard item that you'll keep needing over time. They also usually keep for a long time before they are opened.
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Pasta is a kitchen staple you may use in many recipes. It's always convenient to have some pasta on hand along with some meat and vegetables to throw together a meal.
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Cereal is a common breakfast item. Many households go through a lot of cereal on a regular basis. There are many healthy, fortified cereals that are rich in important substances like fiber.
Take Advantage Of Discounts
Of course, another important thing you want to do if you are looking to save money at the grocery store is to take advantage of any discounts that your grocery store offers. Grocery discounts come in many forms. The more effort you put into researching possible discounts, the more money you can save on your grocery bill.
Probably the first source of information to take advantage of when you're searching for discounts is your grocery store cashier.
You can also check any flyers that your grocery store hands out. Regardless of where you do your grocery store shopping, there are a few standard discount types that are commonly offered at grocery stores everywhere.
The following are three key discount possibilities to look at if you want to save money at the grocery store:
Bring Your Own Bags
Many grocery stores offer discounts to customers who supply their own bags. If you bring in your own bags, you benefit the environment while also saving money.
When you bring your own bags, you save the grocery store money because they don't have to supply you with paper or plastic grocery bags. Invest in some sturdy canvas reusable grocery store bags, and these bags will allow you to save money on each grocery bill for years to come.
Use Coupons
Investing time and effort into searching for the right coupons before every shopping trip can save you big money. Coupons are offered by both stores and grocery product manufacturers.
The local Sunday newspaper for your area is probably one of the best sources of coupons. If you get into the habit of browsing through the Sunday coupons, you'll probably find quite a few coupons you can use to lower your grocery bill.
When you arrive at your local grocery store, also check to see if there is a flyer of coupons available at the entryway. A lot of grocery stores make available weekly coupons that you should check out.
Find Sales
You should be keeping your eye out for good sales each and every time you shop. Look at signage that's put up in your store to indicate the best sales of the week that are currently available. There's no need to pay full price for the items you need when you can take advantage of many discounts.
In addition to looking at signage when you're at the store, you should also look at the newspaper. Many stores will publish advertisements regarding their latest deals in local newspapers. Stay informed to get great savings. Wouldn’t it be great if you could keep your monthly grocery savings in one place. In this way, you will have some extra money. Maybe for a new laptop, microwave or whatever you think you need.
Saving on Groceries Helps Your Overall Finances
When you start paying attention to how much you're spending at the grocery store and what you're buying, you can start saving a lot of money. You can also start paying attention to how healthy the food you're buying is. This is a good opportunity to improve your budget and your health at the same time.
When you save money at the grocery store, it benefits your life in so many ways. It benefits your finances. This means you have more money available to do as you please. You're not so limited in terms of what you can afford. You can take advantage of more good opportunities and investments as they come up.
Final Thoughts
One of the first things you want to do if you need to improve your financial health is to start thinking of ways to lower your grocery bills. Cutting costs on your groceries will bring you long term financial benefits. There are so many improvements you can make for both your finances and your health. Challenge yourself to make it easier to handle your budget every month. Once you get started with lowering your grocery spending, you'll be surprised at how easy it is and how many resources are out there for you.