As we slowly learned to conserve
our monetary resources, I became much better at practicing my frugality at the
grocery. I would love to share my tips of how to save money at the grocery with
you.
First of all, I rarely, if ever,
enter the store without a list. My list may contain 2 items, or it may contain
40. Whatever the case may be, write a list. I add to mine all week long. This
list will help guide you through the store quickly and efficiently.
Never just stroll through the
store. Know which areas of the store you need to visit, visit them, collect
what you need, and leave. The longer you stay in the grocery, the more you will
spend.
Try to have your menus planned in
advanced. It is never a good idea to walk into a grocery without a menu of some
sort planned in your head.
Use the local grocery circulars
to look for sales. I briefly scan the sale ads every week. Even in my tiny
rural community, I will find sales. These sales encourage me to maybe have
fried chicken instead of roast beef for Sunday dinner. Shop the sales and you
will save money.
Do not be afraid to stock up. If
you know that your family really loves pork chops and they are having an
awesome sale on them at the local grocery, grab a few extra packs to put in the
freezer.
Check out the mark down areas of
your local grocery. We have multiple
areas: produce, frozen foods, canned goods, refrigerated foods, and meats. I
have found our mark downs to have great deals on foods that may be close to the
sell-by date, have been part of a case that was dropped, etc. Many a time I
have found large hams in the mark down that I took home and popped in the
freezer. Those hams that I bought for $5, later became three nice meals for my
family.
Shop the outskirts of the
grocery. Try to stay away from the aisles. The aisles are mostly filled with
processed foods, making them more expensive and less healthy choices.
The outer edges usually have the
produce, meat, deli, and dairy sections. These sections house the fresh foods
that are usually the healthier options. If you watch the sales, you will be
able to get great deals in these sections of the store.
Leave the junk food and treats on
your list for last. If you have extra money left in your budgeted allotment for
groceries after getting the healthy food that is needed for your meals, go
ahead and get a few of those items.
I rarely use coupons. I know some
people are very good at getting great deals using coupons. However, I have
found that in my life, a coupon usually pressures me into buying something I
don’t need. Very few coupons actually save me much money. While I am happy for
those that are excellent at using them, I have chosen not to invest time in
them.
This is an “In a nutshell”
description of how I shop at a grocery. Be looking for posts on
buying meat in bulk and visiting
scratch and dent stores in order to stretch the food budget even more!
As Samuel Taylor Coleridge
said, “The happiness of life is made up
of minute fractions—the little soon-forgotten charities of a kiss, a smile, a
kind look, a heartfelt compliment in the disguise of a playful raillery, and
the countless other infinitesimal of pleasurable thought and genial feeling.”
~Annie
I agree with your feeling about coupons. Case in point, I take allergy medicine (over-the-counter) in the spring for allergies. There was a $2.00 coupon for Claritin-D that I clipped, but the Walgreens brand for the same drug, same dosage, same amount, was cheaper than the Claritin with the coupon.
ReplyDelete