There are two ways to save more money on your groceries: buy less or pay less. The good news is, there are several ways to do both of these things.
Buying less may sound like you have to cut down on what you’re buying, but this isn’t always true. Spending less always sounds like going into the supermarket with a bag full of coupons. It’s true that these are both ways to cut down on your grocery shopping bills but with a little bit of thought you could probably cut down your spending many other ways as well.
1. Save More Money on Groceries by Using Less.
– Reuse some items more than once like plastic bags and containers.
– Make some items last longer such as diluting fruit juices.
– Be smart with your purchases. Think about all the things that you might be wasting because they’ve gone bad or expired before it gets used. Large quantity items that are perishable and some fruits and vegetables can cause this problem.
– Replace some disposable items with permanent ones. For example: permanent coffee filters, plastic food containers instead of disposable bags, razors for shaving, even water filters. There must be tons of people throwing money away because they buy bottled water instead of using a water filter at home.
2. Save More Money on Groceries by Paying Less.
– Buy the items on sale, buy cheaper brands, or buy in bulk. Often items that are reduced on clearance are perfectly suitable to consume it’s just that the store has to sell them quickly or face throwing them out.
– Avoid impulsive buying. Many people buy impulsively because the products are there on the shelf in front of them. You know what they say, “never go grocery shopping when you’re hungry or without a list.”
– Shop around different stores to find more bargains. You might be surprised by how much you can save. Also, you can inquire whether the store will match prices from other stores which will save on gas from running around.
– Beware of supermarket tricks. Watch for common practices such as raising the price of a popular brand for about two weeks and then ‘”price cutting” to just below the original price to make it look like it’s on special offer.
– Consider the value of the sale. When supermarkets place items as special offers, such as “buy one and get one free” people believe it’s a great deal. It often is, but this may cause you to consume more than you normally do. So to optimize your savings, use your normal amount and save the “one you got free” for the next time you would normally use it.
*The best “two for the price of one” offers are on items that you can only consume at a certain rate like bathroom and cleaning products, another other items such as toothpaste and soap powder.
– Be careful with your coupons. Sure coupons are a great way to save money on groceries, but if you’re buying things you normally wouldn’t buy or twice as much to get the special sale price then you may actually end up spending more. Often times the coupon offers are higher priced items than the store brands.
– Be careful of store brand or value products that are cheaper imitations of the real thing. Buying lower quality can be a money saver if you choose wisely, but if you end up using twice as much and the product lasts half as long, then you might as well enjoy the real thing.
8 Comments
Rebecca
One thing we have found while shopping is that most people have the idea if you buy in bigger quantities that it is cheaper, but if you will notice, most of the time ounce for ounce the smaller containers are more economical.
I do believe years ago that may have been the case, but it is not the case most of the time now.
Another thing that we have become aware of lately is that prices are staying the same on things but the size of the containers are getting smaller.
Example: Juice used to come in gallon jugs and now a lot of them are 3/4 of a gallon but still the same price.
Tuna used to be 7 oz cans but now they are 5.5 oz cans.
*Just an observation*
You have to stay alert in order to shop smart.
Thanks for the tips, I like reading your blog, it is very informative.
Rhonda
Rebecca,
Thanks for sharing your comments. I’ve noticed the same thing on the “shrinkage” of items. Several times I’ve also caught the smaller quantity costing less per ounce than the bigger ones. A few times I’ve also discovered that “family sized items” were not really a savings. I saved buying “two” boxes instead of the family portion. So, yes, these days you really have to stay alert.
Niche Topics
Great tips, Rhonda! Try to avoid sweets etc that are placed near the till; they’re impulse buys and usually more expensive.
Rhonda
You’re right…I find myself stopping to glance there sometimes. I’ve been learning that the deals are not so great…they’re just more of a temptation.
Thanks for taking the time to comment!
Small Footprints
Wonderful tips … and many of the tips you offer are also “green”. That’s a total win-win!
Here’s another one for you … always check the price per ounce, pound, etc. Some manufacturers are now giving us less actual product for the same amount of money (big beautiful packaging with less actual food, etc.) … and if one doesn’t bother to look at the amount in the package, it can end up costing a lot for a little.
Thanks for the wonderful information!
Rhonda
Thanks for stopping by and taking time to share your comment.
I do agree…packaging can be misleading at times! You’ve got to do a lot of comparing products while shopping.
Shirley
We buy beef straight from the cattle farmer, it is free-range, all-natural beef with no antibiotics given and the cattle ranch sends the cattle purchased (you can hand pick it if you want to) straight to the butcher to be butchered. You must purchase a whole steer, but you can divvy it up any way you choose, we divvy it up one steer split between 4 families, so each of us pays 1/4 of the cost for 1/4 of a steer. We all put our individual orders into the butcher as to how we want that meat cut- for example you tell the butcher how many lbs. of ground beef you want, and how many pounds of ground beef you want to be burger patties, how many lbs. of steaks you desire and how many lbs. of chunks (or stew cuts) and how many lbs. of roasts you want cut out of it. When it is done, they specially wrap it in freezer paper and freeze it and you go pick it up.
This costs us around $250/year and another $100 for the butchering, we figured this out to be $1.50/lb. last year. It was a bit higher than the previous year but still way cheaper than the grocery store (especially for the steaks). The meat lasts our family of 4 (and we have dinner guests often) slightly over a year (about 1 year and 3 months-we buy every year in October then have to use up last year’s first and usually is January we are starting on the new meat). And it tastes so much better than the regular grocery store meat b/c it is free range, all-natural. It is really organic b/c no pesticides are used at all, but not certified organic. You can choose certified organic beef elsewhere, but b/c then it must be governmentally regulated and that costs money in fees for the cattle farmers it costs more.
Just a tip, we are looking into buying poultry this way too next year. We don’t eat a lot of pork but you can buy a pig this way too. If you like to can you can buy fruit and veggies like this for a lot cheaper but you should enjoy freezing and canning for it to be worth it for you.
Sometimes time is worth the money and when time is worth your money there is nothing at all wrong with convenience foods, I for one enjoy my Rotisserie Chicken and deli potato and macaroni salad dinners when in a time or energy pinch that’s for sure! And I buy the bagged salads-I love the ease of them to much to give them up.
Rhonda
Shirley,
Not only are you saving money, but you’re also eating meat that is healthier. I’m planning to look here locally what I can do to save money on some fresh meat.
Each year, we’re planning to expand our garden, although we don’t have a whole lot of space right now since we’ve just built a large shed on our lot, so we’re going to have to be wise with our land space.