|
These are some tips we developed that helped us to cut our grocery bill in more than half.
Several years ago we were having a particularly hard time making ends meet financially. With a family to feed and prices going up, keeping food on the table was a big concern and we were forced to change the way we shopped for groceries. As a matter of survival we came up with a few tips for saving money on grocery shopping.
 | | Commit to only purchase the items on the list. |
The process of saving money on groceries starts at home with a little planning. Take inventory of the grocery stores in your area and locate a grocery store as close as possible to both a dollar store and bulk food or big box store like a Sam’s Club or Costco, preferably within walking distance of each other.
Planning for you grocery Outing
Before heading out grocery shopping, obtain the weekly sale flyer from the grocery store. Many of the items on sale will be “loss leaders” which are items priced at or below store cost these items are promoted to entice customers to shop at the grocery store. Now with this information make a list of the items you need to replenish your pantry. As you make the list commit to only purchase the items on the list. We are going for needs not wants.
Grocery Shopping for Value
- First head over to the dollar store and purchase all the household and grocery items on your shopping list that can be found at the dollar store. We found the savings can as much as 60 percent. Mark these items off the list
- Second go to the big box or bulk food store. Here you purchase the items on your list that you can reasonably purchase in bulk. A couple of words of caution are warranted with this step. Your first trip may actually cost more because of the increased quantity in the packaging. The actual cost per item is usually considerably less than if purchased in smaller quantity. In most cases we found the savings to be as much as 10 to 40 percent less than if purchased in traditional packaging. This brings us to the second caution. Not all prices are cheaper than at the traditional grocery store and a few trips may be necessary to get a real feel for the value shopping here.
- Third on your way home stop by the grocery store to purchase those items remaining on your list. Keep in mind the loss leaders in the sale flyer and try to substitute for them where possible.
Once you begin using these tips you should be pleasantly surprised at the money saved grocery shopping. In our case, although our menu did change slightly, the quality and variety of our meals was consistent. In many instances we even found new favorites for our menu that were more affordable.
** Super Tip: If more than one grocery store is close by or on the way home, combine the weekly sales promotions and purchase the best bargains from each grocery store. We found an additional 10% savings and well worth the extra time and gas.
|
