Save at the Grocery Store
When you first think about how to save money at the grocery store you think of sitting around for hours cutting out coupons and bringing a stack to the store with a calculator pulled up on your phone right? Wrong its much easier trust me!
Did you know that there’s now more digital coupons then paper coupons even some grocery stores have reward programs now with digital coupons attached to your account either by phone number or with a card. Always check digital coupons rewards and apps. I know of numerous stores with a app Walmart, Target, Dollar General just to name a few. There’s also sites that have printable coupons for you to help limit the cutting such as crazy coupon lady and couppon.com as well as P and G coupons. The P and G sometimes come in the mail depending on where you live.
When at the grocery store, pay attention to the red tag price per unit and buy based on that. The item may be more now but can save you down the road and overall will be cheaper. I also buy a lot of the same items so with dry goods I keep a mini stockpile in the pantry. I don’t have a huge pile of dry goods I do 2 months’ stockpile max. How much of a pile is up to you. Please note that it is best to grow your stockpile over time I didn’t start with a 2 month stockpile. I use the mindset if its on sale one for now and 1-2 for later mindset. I budget an amount for the extras and that’s how I decide on how and when to stock up on certain items. If you watch the sale flyers for long enough you will eventually see a pattern of certain items going on sale at the same time of y and I will usually plan around that. For example, where I am now in April laundry supplies go on sale next.
When planning your trip to the grocery store consider not getting everything all at one store. Yes, consider the distance to and from but if they are close to each other or you can do a pick up at one and run into the other one to save money on your groceries then split your list based on who has the better deals on your items. Most often you will find one store has better deals on produce and one is better on pantry staples. Always write your list in the order of aisles you will walk through and, base it on how your store is laid out. This not only will help you get in and out but also help prevent going down aisles you don’t need to go through. Also always eat even if it’s just a snack if you’re full your less likely to go oh this looks good too many times and toss it in the cart. I do allow an amount of the budget for one or 2 new meals each month because it’s good to add variety and change things up on occasion. But really if you stick to your list of 50 meals (link to other grocery post) then you get enough variety then adding an additional 1 or 2 recipes here and there your family will be surprised every time they go to the table.
I also suggest using fetch rewards, through this not only do you get points that turn into git cards you can visually see where you shop more and how much your spending.
When at the grocery store outside of a few items (due to allergies and knowing that sometimes there just worth the money) I dont pay attention to brands. Ill go for whichever is cheaper because outside of a few items there really all the same. You’d be surprised by how much you save just by doing this one simple thing. Its also worth mentioning that when buying based on the whole month you will spend more at once but now all you have to go back for throughout the month is your non perishables. This helps limit how many times your at the grocery store and how much time you spend in general on grocery shopping and meal prep. Now your ready to take your list and coupons and head to the store! (link for after store meal prep post)