Times are tough; the economy is in recovery, food prices have skyrocketed, living in general has become more expensive. If you’re like most people however, your pay check has remained the same. Contrary to common belief, the quantity and quality of the food you purchase does not necessarily have to diminish in order to meet your grocery budget. In actuality, if you employ several basic strategies in planning your trip to the grocery store, you will save a significant amount of money while still maintaining a healthy diet.
Before stepping foot into the grocery store, it’s crucial that you plan adequately for the trip. Firstly, make a grocery list of everything you need to purchase and only purchase the items on your list. It’s important to create a list because it prevents you from spending money on items that you don’t really need. Next, search through local grocery flyers that are either delivered straight to your home, or viewable online from your grocer’s website. These flyers will advertise their best deals of the week. Look for the items on the list you created in the flyers, this will ensure you get the best prices on the groceries you need. Don’t worry about travelling to several different stores to take advantage of great deals, most grocery stores have a price match policy. Stores with the price match policy will reduce the price of their own products to match their competitor’s price!
Another crucial step to saving money involves some research. Look for manufacture coupons online. These coupons are accepted at any store that sells that product and will save you a significant amount of money over time. Also, some grocery stores will have store coupons available in their flyers or even on a bulletin board in the store. Be sure to cut out the store coupons that will save you money on items on your list! Don’t buy an item simply because it’s cheap, especially if you don’t need it! Store coupons are different from manufactures coupons in that they can only be used within specific grocery stores.
Look for unadvertised reduced items in store. Sometimes the company will purchase too much stock. Rather than letting the product go to waste, they will mark down the item up to 50% off! Look for these markdown stickers on perishable foods. Sometimes, the company may have an area designated specifically for marked down foods. Search for any reduced products that are on your grocery list.
The simplest thing you can do to save money is to purchase generic brand foods. Generic brand foods are cheaper and are of identical quality to the more expensive brand name foods.
While managing to maintain a reasonable grocery budget continues to get more difficult as time passes, with a little planning prior to your trip to the grocers, you can lower your grocery expenses significantly while still maintaining the quality of food you and your family are accustomed to.1