Food is one of the biggest items of most household budgets, but it’s also an area where saving possibilities are the greatest.
Here are some tips that will save you big money on your bills:
- Look through your store ads – If you have a store you go to regularly, look through it and find out what the best sale items are.
- Plan your meals based on the best sales – If you find items on sale that can tie into meals you make (or want to make), plan accordingly
- Make a list (and stick to it!)– Don’t just go into the grocery store with a rough idea of what you need. Make a list based on the meals that you plan on making.
- Eat before you go – Don’t shop on an empty stomach or you will surely add more stuff to your cart than you would otherwise.
- Stock up on sale items – If an item has a great price, stock up, but only if it makes sense. Canned goods or freezer items are good candidates, just so long as you have a method not to have the item sit and get forgotten about.
- Clip coupons – Often, you can find coupons for items that are on sale. This is called stacking. Get in the habit of clipping and storing coupons for other items that you may buy as the item can often go on sale before the coupon expires.
- Compare unit prices – Different brands of the same product can come in different size packaging. Make sure to look at the unit price when determining if you’re getting the best price.
- Shop once per week – Don’t go grocery shopping multiple times per week. Not only are you wasting money on gas, as well as your time, you’re also likely going to spend more if you add up your trips versus if you get everything at once.
- Buy smaller if you have a coupon – Usually, buying the larger size gets you the better unit price for most items, but if you have a coupon, you can often get a better deal on a smaller package. For example, if the smaller version of something is $3.50 and contains half as much as the larger size, which is sold for $6.50, the larger size is typically the better ‘deal’. But, if you have a $1/off any size coupon, the smaller size is $2.50 and is a better deal than the larger size ($5.50).
Thank you for reading.