Sunday, August 31, 2008
How to Save Money on Groceries
Going to the grocery store is sometimes the fastest way to blow your budget. And if money is tight, you might even find yourself dreading your next shopping trip. There are actually many ways to save money on your grocery bill though, so we'll look at several of those here.
1. Start cooking. If you don't know how to cook, it's time to learn. If most of what you buy at the grocery store involves frozen meals and prepackaged goods, you are wasting too much money. You get much less food per serving, it's not very healthy for you at all, and you end up spending much more money for it too.
By cooking your own meals, you will find that the food is much more satisfying, and it costs much less money too.
2. Make a list first. Before you go grocery shopping, you need to make a list. The best way to do this is to actually make two lists. The first list should be the meals you plan to eat for the next week. Once you know what food you'll be eating, then you can make your shopping list too. Making the shopping list is actually easy once you have a meal list, because all you have to do is simply list down the ingredients you need for each of your meals.
Keeping to your shopping list might be the hardest part of this step. If you're not used to shopping from a list, you may be tempted to pick up other things that catch your eye while you're at the store. This is a bad habit though, and one which usually breaks your grocery budget quickly.
3. Try store brands. In many cases, the store brand of a food is just as good as the name brand is. The difference in price however is sometimes quite dramatic. You'll want to try store brands a little at a time though, because there are some things you may find that you do not like as well. As you experiment though, you can start making educated decisions as to which food you're willing to spend a little bit more money on to get the quality you prefer.
4. Pay attention to sales. This is quite helpful, particularly when you start shopping from a list. If you look at the sales ads each week while you're making your list, you can make note of things that are reduced in price. Don't add things to your list just because they're on sale though. Only note down those things on sale that you need as part of your regular shopping list.
5. Eat before you shop. If you go to the grocery store when you're hungry, you are almost guaranteed to buy things you don't need, and did not have on your list to begin with. In other words, you will spend much more money if you shop while you're hungry. So make sure you are satiated first, then do your shopping with your head and not your stomach.
1. Start cooking. If you don't know how to cook, it's time to learn. If most of what you buy at the grocery store involves frozen meals and prepackaged goods, you are wasting too much money. You get much less food per serving, it's not very healthy for you at all, and you end up spending much more money for it too.
By cooking your own meals, you will find that the food is much more satisfying, and it costs much less money too.
2. Make a list first. Before you go grocery shopping, you need to make a list. The best way to do this is to actually make two lists. The first list should be the meals you plan to eat for the next week. Once you know what food you'll be eating, then you can make your shopping list too. Making the shopping list is actually easy once you have a meal list, because all you have to do is simply list down the ingredients you need for each of your meals.
Keeping to your shopping list might be the hardest part of this step. If you're not used to shopping from a list, you may be tempted to pick up other things that catch your eye while you're at the store. This is a bad habit though, and one which usually breaks your grocery budget quickly.
3. Try store brands. In many cases, the store brand of a food is just as good as the name brand is. The difference in price however is sometimes quite dramatic. You'll want to try store brands a little at a time though, because there are some things you may find that you do not like as well. As you experiment though, you can start making educated decisions as to which food you're willing to spend a little bit more money on to get the quality you prefer.
4. Pay attention to sales. This is quite helpful, particularly when you start shopping from a list. If you look at the sales ads each week while you're making your list, you can make note of things that are reduced in price. Don't add things to your list just because they're on sale though. Only note down those things on sale that you need as part of your regular shopping list.
5. Eat before you shop. If you go to the grocery store when you're hungry, you are almost guaranteed to buy things you don't need, and did not have on your list to begin with. In other words, you will spend much more money if you shop while you're hungry. So make sure you are satiated first, then do your shopping with your head and not your stomach.
