Even though we live in a time when there is plenty of food out there, groceries are still one of the biggest parts of our monthly budget. If you want to eat healthily, but you don’t want to spend thousands of dollars on food, it can get tricky since the healthier options tend to be more expensive. If you find a way to save money on groceries, the amount of money left in your wallet will surprise you.
If you are looking for ways to tighten up your budget, but still buy healthy and enjoyable foods, read through the list of tips we have prepared for you.
Set a spending limit
To divide your monthly salary in a smart way, you must plan all parts of your spendings right. When it comes to grocery shopping, it can get tricky to limit yourself. When you go to the store without a set budget, you will probably end up buying more than you need. If you set up a monthly grocery budget, you will have no surprises in your bank account after visiting the supermarket.
A more effective way can be if you plan weekly as well. For instance, if you have a family lunch coming up, take that into account. Subtract the amount you plan to spend on that special occasion, and then divide the rest. This way it will be easier to manage those extra expenses.
Use coupons
Every day there are more and more food companies and supermarket chains out there. Everyone is competing for the buyer’s attention and their wallet. You can find different coupons for so many products. Pros on saving money over at www.swagbucks.com/shop/gopuff-coupons explain that coupons can save you so much money and enable you to buy the things you wouldn’t be able to afford normally. So why wouldn’t you take advantage of all those discounts?
If you ever watched shows with extreme couponers, you probably saw that people sometimes save up so much the supermarket ends up giving them some money. Of course, these are some extreme cases, but you get the point. If you do your research and find some good coupons, you could end up saving even hundreds of dollars on a monthly level.
Shop online
The biggest change we have seen since the beginning of 2020. is the number of advantages you can take by shopping online. Since a lot more people started shopping from home, delivery services and supermarkets have started the race of who is going to offer you a better deal. So why not take the advantage of that? Most grocery stores offer online ordering, pick up as well as delivery. It is up to you to choose which option suits you the best.
Besides saving your time, online grocery shopping can help you manage your money better too. When you go to a shop, you don’t know the true value of the things you are buying unless you shop with a calculator. Online shopping lets you know your running total, so you can see if you have gone over your budget. And of course, you are less likely to add tempting items to your cart this way.
Plan your meals in advance
If you are serious about saving money on groceries, it is essential that you plan your meals in advance. Before you go to the store, make sure you know exactly what you need and how much of it do you need. If you just make a rough plan, you will most likely buy more ingredients than you need. If you plan your meals, you will not be throwing away food nor wasting money.
Even though it might be stressful in the beginning, you will start to have fun with it at one point. When you have to plan all your meals for a few days, it encourages you to get creative with it. And the best thing is, you will never encounter one of those days when you are hungry, but you don’t know what to prepare. This way, you will always have at least a couple of options!
Look at lower shelves
A trick that supermarkets will often plan is placing the most expensive products at eye level. A lot of us are often in a rush when we are grocery shopping, so we usually grab the first thing we see. But try to take a few extra seconds to look at lower shelves. As you lower your eyes, you will see that the prices tend to decrease and that the cheapest products are usually placed on the lowest shelf.
Compare prices by weight
Food companies have different marketing and selling strategies. All of them are meant to draw your attention to their product. One of these strategies is lowering the price of a product while lowering the weight too. This way, they have you believe that their product is cheap. Meanwhile, a lot of times you will find a product that is a bit more expensive but weighs two times more.
Take a closer look at the prices of the products you want to buy. Don’t look at the retail price, but at costs per weight. For example, if you want to buy bread, but there are two types priced at $1 and $1.2. The logical thing would be to buy the one that costs $1. However, if you look at the price per weight, you will realize that the cheaper product is a lot lighter, which is why it costs less. Bottom line, look at the price per weight, not price per product to get the most out of your money.
Shop once a week
If you stop by the store every other day, you will tend to spend more than you need. To avoid unnecessary costs, shop only once a week. You will save both money and time. After all, who wouldn’t want to spend less time waiting in front of a cash register?
If you want to embark on the journey of smart grocery shopping, don’t get discouraged if it takes time to figure everything out. There are plenty of things you can try. Start from making a budget, look for discounts and coupons, or any other type of advantage you have around. Keep in mind all the things we have talked about, plan ahead and enjoy all the money you save along the way!