A very important part of being Frugal is learning how to save money with groceries. Buying groceries is something you need to do each week or two. So if you do not know how shop for groceries, you will end up losing a lot of money. Here are some grocery saving tips that I have learned.
Buy only fruits and vegetables that are in season. This is because if the produce is out of season, you will end up paying a premium for them and they might not taste as good. A good tip is to buy frozen vegetables and fruits when they are out of season; the frozen produce is cheaper, tastes good, and is almost as healthy. Not only do I buy frozen produce, but I also buy canned vegetables. Canned tomatoes are extremely tasty and very healthy for you. For those of you who think that canned things are as bad as sin, think again; Italian restaurants use canned tomatoes for almost all their tomato based dishes.
Buy meats that are on sale. Why? Because you can always stock up on the meat and then freeze it. Then build all your dishes around the meats that you have.
Keep your meals simple. The goal is not to cook a complicated dish – something that requires 10 or more ingredients. If you ever watch anything on Food network, you know what I am talking about. In reality you are looking for meals that are tasty, yet really simple and quick to make. I personally do not have much time on the weekdays to make anything that needs a lot of prep work; my usual meals only take around 30 minutes to an hour to make. Because not only do you have to cook the meal, you have to think about cleaning up afterwards. And the more complex the dish is, you better believe the more hassle dish washing is going to get.
Never go to the grocery store hungry: You will end up buying up the whole store, because you will think everything is tasty. Before I even cared about being frugal, I used to go to the grocery store each week and spend $100+ dollars. I did that because A) I did not care much about saving money and B) I would only go to the grocery store whenever I was starving. I was a stupid kid.
Do you guys have any grocery shopping tips?
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Supermarkets often have recurring specials on a number if items, mostly staples. For example, my closest supermarket has a recurring ad coupon special on a particular brand of bread, about once a month. This makes it easy to save money on bread by anticipating these specials and buying only when it is on sale. I buy a few loaves and freeze all but one, then take out the others as needed.
Most specials have longer cycles, such as 8 weeks or 12 weeks between sales, but if you keep track you’ll be able to anticipate upcoming sale prices and shop accordingly.
Also, not all specials are created equal. On the same item, there are extreme specials and not-so-extreme specials, buit that’s another post.
Great tip RB. I do the same thing with flour; whenever it is on sale I end up buying tons of it and stocking up.
Here’s a couple ideas I use.
1. Look HIGH and LOW (not MIDDLE). They always stick their most tempting and pricier stuff (e.g., microwave brownies) at eye level. Remember that they market to kids, too and a kid’s eye level is different than yours. So the Count Chocula will be lower than the Honey Bunches of Oats.
2. Steer clear of the ends of aisles. They usually hold “featured” items, not necessarily “best deal” items.
“Before I even cared about being frugal, I used to go to the grocery store each week and spend $100+ dollars.”
Just curious, how much are you spending/saving now??
Definitely buy stuff that is on sale and work around that! ..and if you are buying fresh produce, make sure they are really fresh. If you’re buying produce that is going bad, you have less days to use it up and may end up throwing it out if you don’t get to it (eating it) in time.
“Keep your meals simple.” AGREED! Also, I usually tend to prep and work off my cutting board. No extra bowls to use and wash. Just chop make room for other things to chop and straight to the pan.
..and this may sound silly, but when I cook for just my boyfriend and I at home, we eat off of ONE plate. HE’s NOT doing the dishes! ;P ..but it also saves on energy/water/etc. of doing extra dishes.
First off, thanks for all those comments! I really appreciate the feedback.
I generally spend around $150 a month now. It really helps knowing what to get and not wasting your time buying things that you don’t even eat. It also helps my food budget that I often get free dinners at work.
Eating off one plate is pretty smart. Especially if you have one of those huge plates.
Wow! That is a big difference in budget!
I forgot to mention – sign up for those member cards! They have them in most of the big chain supermarkets. The one I go to, you use your card for sales AND they give you points for each dollar you spend and will give you a coupon for a dollar amount after you reach a certain amount of points. They also give you additional coupons (that I don’t really use) as a member as well.