A lot of people spend more on their weekly groceries than originally planned. Grocery shopping is a significant expense on most families’ budgets. Here are tips where you can save money and still buy everything on your list grocery shopping.
Keep Track Of Your Grocery Spending For a Month
Make a budget for your weekly grocery shopping trips. But before you do that, you should have some idea of what you spend each month, keep all of your receipts and track what you spend. To help keep track of your food expenses, group all of your groceries into separate categories. For example, this could consist of beverages, meats, produce, items for baking, and frozen meals. For this to work, you will need to keep track of every food item that you consume in a 30-day period.
Eat Everything You Buy
You might get tempted to buy an expensive ingredient because it was part of a fancy recipe from a cooking TV show, but avoid these types of purchases. Ensure that everything that you buy will become a part of some family meals during the week, not just for one time use.
Don’t Make Multiple Trips to the Grocery Store Every Week
When you make one trip to your local grocery store a week, you will save a lot of valuable time that could be spent doing something else. Plus, when you limit your grocery shopping trips, you will also save money. Daily and semi-daily shopping trips add up over time, so make a list and plan which day you will go to the grocery store.
Set Your Priorities
When you shop for your family while on a budget, it becomes essential that you set priorities for your purchases. As a shopper, it is important to get the best price on the highest quality items. For many people, that means choosing whole foods and in-season items and not buying unnecessary items.
Go Discount
One place you can go for budget-friendly groceries are discount chains grocery stores. If you shop at organic markets because you believe that the quality is better, the discount grocery stores can often surprise you with their offerings.
Plan Ahead
Buy a larger quantity of certain items so you can have leftovers for lunch or dinner the following day. Leftovers can act as a lifesaver when you come home from work and have to pick your kids up from activities. This will save you valuable time, energy and money.
Stop Eating Out
Ordering Chinese food twice a week because you don’t want to cook will eat a hole in your grocery budget. When it comes to setting priorities, refuse to order pizza from the local parlor because you don’t feel like making a meal. By setting this priority, you will not only save a ton of money every month, you can also make strides towards becoming a healthier family by only eating out on special occasions.
Stock Up On Store Brands
Store brands taste very similar to their name brand counterparts. Depending on the store brand, many shoppers find it hard to tell the difference between the cheaper variety and the national company. You can save a significant amount of money on a large portion of your groceries if you consistently buy store brands.
Start Comparison Shopping
Take a trip to the closest grocery stores in your area and see which items can get you the best deal on. Save money by buying items at the places where you will get the best prices.
