How To Save Money On Your Grocery Budget
Okay, so if you’re like me, you’re looking for information on how to save money on your grocery budget. Am I correct? Well, I’ve tried a lot of things over the years to save a buck or two. Not all have worked for me. That’s not to say they won’t work for you, because they just might. No two families are the same and no two women shop the same for their families!
So here are a few things I’ve tried in the past or things I currently do to save money on my grocery bill.
Shop the Warehouse Clubs
I’m going to admit it, I love Sam’s Club! Oh my gosh, who would have thought an average stay at home Mom like me could buy a huge bag of Pinto beans? Or two huge bottles of Heinz Ketchup for the price of a regular size one in my local Supermarket?
Warehouse clubs will help you if you use them the way they were designed to be used. And that’s buying some things in bulk that you use a lot of. Around my house, we use a lot of Paper towels so we buy in bulk from Sam’s.
But for the life of me, every time I go in there, I see people buying a few small things, just like they were in a convenience store! What’s up with that? Why would someone go to the hassle of buying a few low cost items in a Warehouse Club when they could save time, and probably money, by buying it at their local Supermarket?
Which leads me to another thing. You want to know what the items you buy a lot of cost and then break down the cost per unit. You’ll find that some Supermarkets actually have lower prices than the Warehouse clubs! But you have to put a little time and effort into your grocery budget to know whether or not your really saving money or just stocking your house with 30 pound bags of rice you’ll never get around to using!
Shop Once A Month
There was a time that I would run to the grocery store every other day for an item or two that I had let run out at the house. Not any longer.
I try and make one trip to a Warehouse store each month and one to a Supermarket each month. This means you’ll need to learn how to put up groceries properly. Especially meat and fresh vegetables. Now when they’re in season, I do visit a Farmer’s Market on Thursday afternoons or Saturday mornings for fresh produce. But other times of the year, it’s canned or frozen veggies most of the time (the imported produce that was picked green and shipped from out of the country or across the country, just doesn’t have the flavor or nutrients that fresh frozen food does!)
You’ll find that if you limit your visits to the store, you won’t be spending as much. That’s because most of us can’t discipline ourselves to buy just what we need. We seem to always see something else we think we need..or a few other things we think we need!
Prepare To Buy On Sales
The only exception to going weekly to the grocery store is when they have a really good, and I mean a REALLY GOOD sale on produce or meats. My family are meat eaters so whenever one of the stores locally has a huge meat sale, we try and stock up. Just be prepared to vacuum seal the meat so it will last longer.
Every once in a while, a local store will have a big sale on canned goods. That’s when I try and stock up on the food we eat the most. If I can’t get it at a good price here, I’ll just wait until my next trip to Sam’s
Why not Coupons?
To be honest, I’ve been trying to get away from coupons. I just don’t seem to get as good as coupons as I once did. Plus, I can’t use most of them at Sam’s and if the local Supermarket is having a sale, they don’t accept coupons on sale items. So you see, although I still use them from time to time, they’re just not as big of money saver as they used to be. Shopping once a month saves me more money that coupons ever did. This is one way to save money on your grocery bill!
