Save Money at the Grocery Store
A few days back I started a series of posts highlighting ways to save money in the new year. It is a more of a family guide to savings more than a list of unrelated and irrelevant corner cutting techniques.
In the first post I have talked about saving money in your commute/ automobile budget area and if you missed it you can read that post here.
Today I’m gonna cover one of the largest expense that a family budget has – food.
Saving Money on Food
Saving on Groceries:
- Never go to the grocery store without a list. This is the best way to control impulse buying, buying unnecessary things, things you already have or even worst not getting what your family needs.
- Coupons, Coupons and More Coupons. Having a list also allows you to look in the paper for coupons you will needs. Group them together with your list and it will make using coupons and saving money a breeze. Don’t just settle for the coupons you get in your bulk mail, do a search online or visit manufacturer’s websites and see what they have. There is not one time that I have went to Goya’s website (a specialty food manufacturer I tend to buy a lot) and not find a good recipe or a great coupon.
- Look at the price. The most profitable marketing and packaging technique is the price per item rather than per unit. Manufacturers will make a slightly smaller package that their competitor and charge you the same or even more for it. So don’t fall victim of this marketing trick. Look at the price tag on the shelve and look for the unit price. That will let you compare apples to apples when looking for a bargain among manufacturers.
- Buy Generics. Unless you are shopping for dieting items or you have certain medical conditions or you are purchasing organic produce, always go for the generics. Most of the time the generic store brand is made by the same manufacturer as the leading brands just packaged differently and sold in bulk to grocery stores which in turn sell them at a discount. You will be saving a bundle and still enjoy the same taste and quality.
- Buy in non-perishable items in bulk. Sam’s Club and Cosco are great shopping trips for a family. They have everything under the sun under one roof – even couches to sit one while your spouse is browsing the warehouse
. Buy non-perishable items in bulk from those places as the quantity discount you get here will add up to a few hundred dollars a year in savings which largely offsets the membership cost. Also gas is cheaper usually at these places so use this opportunity to gas up.
Saving on Dining Out:
- Cut out Lunching Out if possible. Dining out during lunch is one of the easiest things to cut out of your budget and free up that cash. If you dine out every lunch break you are looking at an expense around $1800.00 a year which is pretty much a family vacation. So get in the habit of bringing to work a doggy bag with leftovers from last night’s dinner or a sandwich you made in the morning. You will not only save money but you will enjoy a healthier diet and lose some weight.
- Do Not Touch That Snack Machine. We all know that vending machines offer unhealthy snacks at on overpriced cost. So why do you use it? Bring from home some carrot sticks or celery or whatever it is you want to snack on and stay away from the vending machine. If unhealthy snacks is what you are craving, bring that from home too and buy it in bulk from Cosco or Sam’s.
- Eat Dinner At Home. Eating dinner at home has many advantages other than saving a good chunk of cash. It allows you to reunite as a family after a day of work and enjoy the bond you have. It also allows for a more nutritious and healthier dinner that what you will get from even the best restaurant. Also you will have something to take to work next day for lunch. Try to eat out only a couple times a week and look for the specials of that day.
- Enough with the bottled water. The use of bottled water has become insanity and there is absolutely a gigantic volume of scientific work showing that bottled water in large is worst that tap water. So quit blowing your money on bottled water and get you a Brita Filter at home. Fill it up with tap water wait for it to filter (about 10 minutes) and fill up a bottle of water or two or ten. Nowadays most refrigerators come with a charcoal filtration system which far exceeds the filtration system used by branded bottled water. Gosh $1.99 for something I can get for free? Crazy…
I hope this guide was useful to many and if you have other money saving ideas please add them to this list. In the next post I will go over ways to save money on Travel and Entertainment and hopefully you will find good information in those posts to help yo with this year summer vacation.
