SMART GROCERY SHOPPING

HAVE A PLAN AND STICK TO IT!

Meal planning is my number when tip for being smart about grocery shopping. When I seriously began meal planning and creating my grocery list based on that meal plan, I really began saving money on groceries. I no longer purchased items thinking I may make a meal with them. Every item I purchase will be used to cook a meal in the upcoming week. If something else comes up and I have to skip a meal, it gets pushed into the following week so that I am not buying additional items when I already have food on hand for one night.

I use an app called meal plan which has all of my recipes in it so that I can create my shopping list from my plan for the week. You don’t need an app to do this, of course, it can be done on paper too. Before you plan your meals, make sure to check what you already have on hand. These items can be used in your meal plan for the following week allowing you to spend less and use up what you already have. When you create your shopping list make sure to double-check what ingredients you already have. Sometimes we think we don’t have something until we are putting away the groceries and realize we already have something that we just purchased again. Meal planning can help save you even more money if you check the sales and plan your meals around some of those items.

COMPARE PRICES

It’s important to compare prices because often you might not realize you are paying more than you have to. Just because something is on sale does not always mean it is the best price. Sometimes different quantities of the same brand might end up being a better deal. Or sometimes the store brand of the item you are purchasing can still end up being a better deal than the sale item. The savings doesn’t always seem significant when looking at each item individually. When you consider the number of items you purchase a small difference in cost multiplied times many items can really add up each trip and over time.

SUBSTITUTE OR SKIP INGREDIENTS IF YOU CHOOSE TO

A recipe is just something that someone created to make a meal. There is no rule that a recipe must be followed exactly as written. If a recipe calls for a specific ingredient that you know will not get used up, try to see if you can use another ingredient as a substitute. Or if the ingredient does not have that big of an impact on the recipe consider skipping it altogether. If you really must purchase the ingredient, try to search for ways that you can plan to use it up. If you have tacos often, make your own taco meat seasoning.  There are so many recipes online to make your own taco mix.  I go super lazy in this area and just season the meat with seasoned salt and chili powder.  We all think it tastes good, so I’m sticking with that!

YOU DON’T NEED TO ALWAYS GET THE BEST PRICE PER (POUND, OUNCE, WHATEVER)

One thing that I really had trouble with for a long time was purchasing less of something for a higher price per unit. If I saw there was a better deal for buying more of something, I felt the need to do it. If you are really trying to stick to a grocery budget, sometimes it’s ok to pick up the $3 package of cheese, rather than the $10 package because it’s less per ounce. Also, purchasing more than you need can also lead to waste when we are unable to use something before it expires. So, while price per unit is important to look at, it is also important to consider if you will really use up the item you are purchasing.

DON’T COUNTING ON SPENDING MORE THIS WEEK, BUT MAKING IT UP NEXT WEEK

It is very difficult when you go over budget to try to make it up next week. Try to do the best you can to try to stay within your budget amount. If you really need to spend a little more that week, then try to pull from another budget line item, if possible. It’s hard enough to stick within a grocery budget, let alone having to come in even lower to make up for overages from prior weeks.

ORDER ONLINE FOR DELIVERY OR PICK UP

If you find that you struggle with sticking to your list while at the store, and end up making impulse purchases, consider placing your order online. While there are additional charges associated with grocery pick-up, it can really help if you struggle with impulse purchases. Plus you can see your total before you check out. So, you have another option to make adjustments if needed. Delivery is more expensive than pick-up because there are usually additional fees, plus a tip for the driver. With delivery, you can still get the benefit of limiting impulse purchases without the extra costs.

RANDOM TIPS

Keep granular bouillon on hand for broth. Whenever a recipe calls for broth, I pretty much never use anything but bouillon. I can’t stand to waste anything, and so often the amounts of broth called for in a recipe are odd amounts. So, I prefer to just keep bouillon in my cabinet.  If you haven’t used it before, it’s just dehydrated broth basically.  You just add water to it to make the broth for your recipe.

Use up sides or meals during the week and save others to carry into the next week. Just think about which meals to move around so that you use up fresh ingredients, saving frozen items to use in the future. If you have leftover side dishes make sure to take them out to get used up with future meals. Even if they don’t seem to go with another meal, you would be surprised that they will often get eaten. Switch up meals if needed to a lower-cost option. Make sure to use up ingredients that will expire sooner first. If you stock up on something on sale, plan out to use it, don’t let it just sit there.  You bought it to eat it.

Thanks so much for checking in! If you would like to hear the podcast version of this topic check out Lola’s Frugal Life Podcast! Also, be sure to check out my other blog posts on this site!

I would love to have you join my mailing list! Sign up here:

Email address:

Leave this field empty if you’re human: