Groceries are a fact of life. Unless you are one of a VERY small minority, you do not raise and/or grow all the food you eat. Also I'm sure there are people out there who never cook their own food, but rely on take-out and fast food for daily nutrition. That blows my mind of course, because I find such joy in cooking, creating, and enjoying homemade meals.
There aren't many things more exciting to me than to bring home a big load of groceries for less than I intended to spend. Every time I go grocery shopping, I have a certain number in my head that I am allowing myself to spend. If I get everything I need for the week for less than that number, I am excited. If I go over that number, I just know I need to plan better, or have better impulse control, next time.
My plan of attack when it comes to grocery shopping is always the same. It comes down to:
1. Knowing what you use most often
2. Paying attention to sales & in-season produce
3. Price comparing between a few stores
4. Buying generic or store brands
5. Making a budget and sticking to it
Know what you use most often
To know what you use most often, simply pay attention to what you run out of the most. What types of foods do you and/or your family want to eat often? Do you make a lot of pasta? Maybe cereal disappears within a day. Is there a tradition in the family like Taco Tuesdays? Noticing what you use often will help you plan around sales and stock up on staples. What I use most hasn't changed much over the past few years: rice, canned diced tomatoes, canned beans, frozen mixed vegetables. These things make up the bulk of my weekly diet. I don't know that I've ever gone a week without eating each of those things somehow.
Pay attention to sales & in-season produce
Sprouts Farmers Market is a place I go often because of their amazingly cheap produce. I get weekly salad greens, fresh fruits and vegetables there. Most staple items like bread, tortillas, canned goods, etc, comes from King Sooper or somewhere else. Which reminds me, if there is something or certain kinds of food you need a specialty store for, keep them in your rotation of ads to watch.
All this produce was under $30! And most of that is just their everyday low prices, not bargain sales. However, most grocery stores will greatly discount whatever produce is in season, because they have a lot of it and it needs to sell before it goes bad. Pay attention to what is in season, and maybe try a new fruit or vegetable you've never had that's on sale. You may have found a cheap new favorite!
Price compare between stores
Every
week I get ads from at least seven different stores. I have a few
favorites that I pick out, the others I discard because they are too far
from me or for some other reason I don't shop there. Typically Sprouts Farmers Market, King Soopers, and Albertson's ads get saved and looked through.
I
will sit down and look through each ad quickly, circling items which I
know are a good deal, or which I use often and are on sale. Then I
compare amongst the three which has more deals that week. Sometimes I
will go to all three if the deals are worth it, usually I end up going
to only one or two with the most things I want to buy.
When there is a really good sale, I mean one that you only see once or twice a year, I will stock up. For example Albertson's sometimes has "buy one get two free" sales on meats, or King Soopers often has 10 for $10 sales. I know how quickly I go through my pantry items, so if kidney beans are 50 cents, I will be bringing at least a dozen home. Because they usually are 69 cents, which saves me 19 cents per can. That may not sound like much, but it's little things like that, added up over years, that makes a big difference in bank account balances.
Buy generic or store brands
If you are a loyal brand-centric consumer and you don't trust generics, start small. Try the store brand of flour, or salt, and cook with it. When you can't tell the difference, try some granola bars or oatmeal. Pretty soon you will see what items you can't tell the brand name from generic and which items are really different in quality. By this point, the things I refuse to buy generic I could probably count on one hand, because there just isn't enough of a difference in quality for me to justify the price difference. And that saves me hundreds every year!
Make a budget & stick to it
As mentioned earlier, I look at a budget as a game. It is a number I set in my head, based on how much I think I'll buy, that I try to beat. If I find some deal or coupon that brings down my total, I have a better chance of winning. If I plan and price compare, I have a better chance of winning. The lower the total at the register, the higher the total in my checking account!
You can read more in my earlier article on making a budget & sticking to it, which includes how to add in all the things you spend money on monthly, not just food.
I have read tons of articles that advocate for making a weekly or monthly meal plan, stressing those items on sale that week, and then buying only those things you need to complete the plan. I am not quite that organized to pull that off yet. Instead, I have a rotation of meals that I know I love and can make quickly, which all use the same basic ingredients. Then I add in a few meals I've found recently that I want to try making, or if there is an event coming up, I'll add any items I need for those things to the list.
If I'm feeling extra over-achieving, I will even split the list into types, like "dairy", "carbs", "produce", etc. to make navigating the store easier. But if I don't get around to it, I don't beat myself up. And almost every week for several months, I get more than enough groceries for under $100. I'm sure I could pare that down to half or less, but I also enjoy cooking new and more expensive foods now and then, and experimenting with things for this blog.
Anyhow, if you normally only grocery shop when there's nothing left in the house but a can of spaghetti-os and some green sour cream, try these simple steps. Check around and price compare, make a list before you go, then pick up only those things on the list. Short, sweet, and you can be sure you're saving yourself some cash. You can look over those grocery receipts and smile.
How often do you shop for food?
Labels: budgeting, groceries, grocery, grocery shopping, how to save money, save money on groceries
