Save Money on Groceries

Articles in this Topic Discussions in this Topic

Sep 1, 2000

Groceries are one of the few flexible items in a family budget, but it can sometimes be challenging to find creative ways to save on regular family food costs. Following are some simple tips for easy reductions in grocery expenses.

Plan ahead whether you're cooking your meals ahead of time to store in the freezer, or just planning your menu and shopping lists in advance.
Set your grocery budget and then make sure your menus and grocery lists fit your budget.
Plan your meals around items you already have on hand, and around the sales flyers from your local grocery stores.
Shop with cash. This is a surprisingly effective means of staying on budget. Writing a check somehow seems less concrete than paying cash.
Keep a running total of how much you're spending at the store. If you find that you're about to spend more than you had budgetted for that trip, put items back and re-shop for better bargains.
Keep a Price Diary. List all regularly purchased items (food, toiletries, paper products, etc.) in a small notebook small enough to slip into your purse or pocket when you go shopping. When you're browsing through store advertisements or doing your actual shopping, write down (in pencil!) the lowest price you see for each item listed in your Price Diary (change the prices when you see lower prices than you've already written in the notebook). This way you'll know for sure if a sale price is low enough to make it worth stocking up.
A simple rule of thumb when you're shopping is: "look high, look low." Stores often place the most expensive items at eye level.
Stores often place their advertised specials at the end of aisles. The advertised special might be a good buy, but will often be displayed with non-sale items to entice you into impulse purchases.
Sometimes a store will offer what's known as Loss Leaders -- those items the store will sell so cheaply, they'll actually take a loss on each sale. They're hoping to entice new customers into the store who will then purchase other items in addition to the sale item. You need to hold strong against impulse purchases in these situations.
Only use coupons for those items and brands that you would normally purchase. Always check the expiration date on your coupons.
Some stores offer double coupons -- check with your favorite store and see if they do. Some stores will even accept competitor's coupons.

Go To Page: 1 2

The copyright of the article Save Money on Groceries in Debt-Free Family is owned by Deborah Taylor-Hough. Permission to republish Save Money on Groceries in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.