When people ask me for ways to save money, I always tell people that they should first work on lowering their grocery bills, since it's one of the easiest ways to make a change quickly. Here are some ways to lower your grocery bills.
Fortunately, there are many hacks to help you live frugally without compromising your grocery shopping. Sounds too good to be true, right? Continue reading this article to learn how you can save money when shopping for groceries for your household.
Check Online Grocery Stores
The World Wide Web can be your biggest ally when it comes to living frugally. Before you visit grocery stores in your area, check store weekly ads. These ads usually contain information on when huge stores (such as Walmart and Target) will offer discounts or deals.
Schedule your next grocery trip based on when these stores offer discounts. In this way, you’ll be able to get more items without going beyond your budget.
Prepare a Grocery List
Although it might be tempting to shop whenever “you feel like it,” don’t. Making impulsive decisions about your shopping will only cause you to spend more.
Before shopping for your household, prepare a grocery list. This process is simple because all you have to do is enumerate all of the items your household will need in a week. Take all the time you need to create a grocery list, so you won’t end up forgetting something.
When preparing a grocery list, make sure to check the remaining items in your home. For example, if your household regularly consumes milk, check the pantry if there are any left. This can help you limit the amount for the items you’ll buy.
Grow Some Greens at Your Own House
Vegetables are usually expensive. So, if you’re going to buy a lot of greens for your household, expect that your budget will be affected. One way to reduce costs on groceries is to grow some greens at your own house. For instance, instead of buying spinach, lettuces, and tomatoes for your salads, grow them on your property. Vegetables are generally easy to grow and don’t require too much maintenance.
If you have sufficient space in your front or backyard, you can plant your vegetables directly on the ground. If your property is small, you can grow vegetables in a vertical garden.
Don’t Shop When You’re Hungry
How full or hungry you are when shopping can affect your buying behavior. Visiting stores when your stomach is rumbling will likely cause you to buy more products, especially highly processed and high-calorie foods.
To prevent buying too much food, never shop when you’re hungry. Make sure that you eat a full meal at home before grocery shopping. This will minimize unnecessary food spending and make it easier to stick to your grocery list.
Don’t Buy Ready Meals and Mixes
Thanks to ready meals and mixes, preparing a full-course meal for the entire family is easier and faster. However, relying too much on these products can cost you more.
Another shopping tip to follow if you want to save money is to refrain from buying ready meals and mixes. Instead of spending money on a ready-made pancake mix, prepare one from scratch using eggs and bananas. You can also make tofu from scratch by using soy milk, water, and fresh lemon juice.
The process of preparing meals from scratch can be time-consuming but is cheaper and healthier. This also allows you to customize meals based on your dietary requirements.
Leave Kids at Home When Grocery Shopping
Sticking to your grocery list when you’re shopping on your own is hard — much more if you take your kids with you. Kids can easily get distracted with the packaging of the products and will demand you buy something that they find attractive.
Avoid spending money on your kids’ unnecessary demands by leaving them home when you shop for groceries. This will enable you to shop in peace, avoid buying impulsively, and shorten your grocery trips.
Don’t Spend Money on Grocery Bags
If you shop items in bulk, you’ll usually need some bags to carry everything home. And while you can easily buy these bags at the checkout counter, these small purchases can negatively impact your budget.
Always bring your bags when grocery shopping, so you don’t have to buy. This is a simple hack that will help you save tons of money in the long run.
Remain Consistent
Living frugally requires a lot of hard work, so don’t expect that you can immediately save money after following these tips for a week. If you want to reduce costs on grocery shopping, incorporate all of the tips here in your lifestyle and observe them every day. Your consistency can become key in living frugally!