Comments on: Tips for Grocery Shopping on a Budget

By: Jack

Jack — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 23:24:49 +0000

I agree with all these tips.
I use cash to pay and only take a certain amount with me so I don’t go over. One thing I think is important is to TAKE A CALCULATOR with you! Keep track of how much you’re spending so you don’t over spend. My 4yr old goes with me when not in school, and we make it fun. We stop at Mcdonald’s for Breakfast first (which I include in the grocery exspense) and he brings a book to read while mommy shops. :}

By: Zoie

Zoie — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 19:16:14 +0000

My Husband and I shop together and tend to leave our shopping cart at the ends of the isle in order to cut down on placing items in the cart, that we do not need. We know what items are down an isle and then go down the isle for that item. We only allow ourselves the things we can carry back to the cart at the end of the isles. This also cuts down on going down isles like chips cookies and soda things we do not need. If one sticks to the outer edges to the store you will find most of the items you need with few trips down the middle for costly items you do not need.

By: The Homemaking Helper

The Homemaking Helper — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 15:34:53 +0000

Amen to not going to the store hungry! This is the number one budget breaker for me.

Thanks for the great ideas! I’m going to start using cash from now on. This way I’ll be FORCED to stay within my budget.

By: emilie

emilie — Tue, 05 May 2009 14:50:48 +0000

Every 4-8 weeks I have a trick I do in the kitchen the night before grocery shopping day. I’m a single mom, it’s just me and my daughter, which presents some interesting challenges in not buying too much food. Also, I grew up with my Depression-era-raised grandmother, who believed in having fridge, cupboards, freezer, and extra freezer filled to the gills!

I do a full inventory of my kitchen. I call this my “empty refrigerator method.” The goal is to operate with stuff in the fridge that is for eating this week, and little else (obviously, condiments, etc. carry over). The first time takes a bit longer, but it is also a nice opportunity to organize things. I make a list of everything I have on hand – brown rice, risotto, pasta, beans, — everything! Freezer too–fish sticks, meat, pizzas. (First time it took me about 20 minutes, now I’m down to 10.)

I then use this list as I craft my meal list for the week. My stuff usually falls into two categories: stuff I bought on sale, or stuff I have forgotten about. Then as I make my meal plan, I gravitate toward recipes that call for garbanzo beans, or canned roasted red peppers, or whatever. Or I replace what the recipe calls for with what I have. I consider each inventory item and ask myself, Why did I buy a frozen pizza three weeks ago if I wasn’t planning on eating it?

Obviously, I need fresh things each week or so. But when I take one week a month to use what’s on hand, I have found I have saved on meat, on canned goods, on everything! I also tend to seem to have “rainy day” meals on hand… but living in Florida we rarely have rainy days. So once a week, we try to have a “rainy day” meal to use this supply up. Mac & cheese, frozen things, or just a quick pasta with jar sauce fit the bill well. (With a toddler in the house, these things are aplenty.)

Each time I do this, I find that I save a huge amount of $ on that week’s grocery trip and also feel like a champ!

By: Sheri

Sheri — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 17:07:19 +0000

I can see your point, small towns offer very few opportunities to use coupons because you don’t have larger stores. I do have to disagree that it can’t help a lot of other people. Yes sometimes store brands are cheaper even with the coupon but every week I do deals on name brand items and get them for pennies rather than dollars.

For example Knorr pasta sides, we love these and use them all the time, I got a ton of them for $.12 each. They were buy one get one free and I used two coupons to get them dirt cheap. That is the kind of sale I stock up on. I think I bought about 20, now we are set for quite a while and I spent a whole $2.50. Target had a deal a few weeks ago where Sutton & Dodge steaks were abour $4 a pack of 2-4 steaks, there was a $2 off coupon, I bought a ton of steaks for practically nothing. Now we are set for steaks. You don’t break your budget stockpiling you work within your budget.

By stocking up you don’t need as much when you do go to the store, so you end up savings a lot over a period of time. Of course it does take about 4 months to get to that point, but it is worth it!

By: aurora5us

aurora5us — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 19:56:24 +0000

If you are on a budget weekly or not, there is no way that you can spend the extra money on stockpiling, regardless of the good price. You cannot eat toilet paper that is a good deal.
That money is already allotted to meat or fruit, etc.
Some smaller towns do not have coupon specials, such as double days, etc. We do not within 20 miles from my town, and the coupons only save if you have that item on sale that week. I saved about $27 in one trip and still paid $75 without meat or fruit.
Was it worth it? No, we spent over the budget to have fruit and dairy for the week because of the ‘good deals’ of coupons and sales.
Not realistic in most small communities to use coupons on name-brand items anyway when store brands are much cheaper even without a coupon.

By: Sheri

Sheri — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 13:20:35 +0000

WOW I can’t believe I didn’t see “coupon” used anywhere in this article or the comments. That is the single biggest way to save money at the grocery store. I cut our grocery bill from $700 a month to under $150 a month and our house if fully stocked! Using coupons to combine with sales will score you a lot of items for super cheap or free at grocery stores. It does take about an hour of work a week but isn’t one hour of work worth a $100 to $200 a week savings?

Another big savings tip I didn’t see is to stockpile. When you find something super cheap or free, don’t buy one buy 20, especially if it is something you know your family is going to use. It’s better to buy a bunch when they are dirt cheap than to have to pay full price when you run out!

There are a ton of blogs out there that do weekly matchups on grocery sales. They do all the work for you. They will match the sales to the available coupons to get the best deals available. If you have never visited this world you should…you will be amazed how much more money you can be saving!!!

By: Patrick

Patrick — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:56:16 +0000

Great article. I agree completely with buying sale items. I don’t get it when people spend so much money on items not on sale, when they are usually on sale every few weeks. Just buy a large quantity if you plan on eating it on a regular basis. I also like the idea of writing out a list. It is so easy to just pick up an item on the spot and think you may need it.

By: Matt Fyffe

Matt Fyffe — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 00:20:19 +0000

Building a list of your groceries is crucial. By doing this, I avoid a lot of whim purchases that rank up the bill. To ensure I still get to be creative, I’ll add some spaces on my list for “fun items” which will get crossed off when I add things to my cart that weren’t on my list.

I like to take my time shopping and look at everything so it’s good to keep my wallet tight!

By: Karen

Karen — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 23:55:52 +0000

I know not everyone has time or energy for this, but I like to have a ‘power shopping’ trip once in a while. I have 5 stores within 3 miles of my house. I get the sale flyers from all of them, circle what is on sale in each store and shop at all of them. Sometimes I’ll find specials that aren’t in the papers, and I stock up. If I do this once a month, I save a lot, and it makes it worth my time. It takes an entire morning or afternoon to do this.

By: Todd @ GloombergNews

Todd @ GloombergNews — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 22:52:07 +0000

I agree that budgeting at the grocery store can be extremely useful but I feel that when it comes down to kroger/giant brand discounted products…there are simply some things that can’t be replaced…example, old el paso taco kit versus knockoff…go with the name brand and spend the extra 80 cents.

By: MJ

MJ — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 22:20:39 +0000

We don’t use cash, but rather a cash back credit card for most of our purchases. We plan meals for the month, make a list, buy the sale brand, stockpile & use coupons. We never have gone over budget. It’s the frivolous not-on-the-list items that cause one to go over budget, not the method of payment.

By: Michael Cannon

Michael Cannon — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 21:07:11 +0000

Aldi Foods prices can’t be beat. Check out their website for store locations near you. We feed our family of 5 from Aldi and Costco with a rare trip to a typical grocery store.

By: Charlie-paylessforfood.com

Charlie-paylessforfood.com — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 20:31:51 +0000

One thing that can dramatically cut your food expenses is shopping at an Aldi’s supermarket. This is a no frills grocery store that cuts costs to the bone and passes the savings on the consumer.

Its estimated that people save 40-50% off on groceries shopping here compared to name brand stores.

By: The Personal Finance Playbook

The Personal Finance Playbook — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 19:36:17 +0000

I would add that it’s important to plan your trips wisely. Plan to get enough food to last as long as possible without it going bad. You don’t want to make extra trips to the store, because you’ll invariably waste money as well as energy. Going to the store less is better for both the environment and your pocketbook. Planning well = less waste.