The Daily Dish Recipes

Face it, groceries are a necessity. We need them to survive. With the rising costs of everything around us (including food), it gets harder and harder to stay on a budget or feel like you are saving money on anything. Here are five tips to help you save money while grocery shopping.

1. Shop Sales, Use Coupons. Sounds easy enough, but if you spend a little time on this, you can truly rack of the savings. Watch weekly store fliers for what is on sale that week. Once you know that, plan meals around those items, locate any coupons you might have for double savings on individual items and stock up if you can.
2. Meal Plan and List Shop. Shopping with a list can only save you money if you use it and avoid buying anything not on the list. If you plan your meals ahead of time, you can take the list with you and wind up with only the food your family will be eating.
3. Purchase in Bulk.Buying in bulk is a typically frugal practice, but only if you are sure you will use the items before the expire. Small families have less success with bulk buying because it is more difficult to use up items. Also, purchasing in bulk allows you to stretch an item far beyond a normal grocery store size would provide.
4. Avoid Convenience Foods.I hate to break it to you, but when you are buying those individual packets of crackers, cookies, cheese, canned fruits and veggies and other items, what you are paying for is the packaging and the convenience. You can purchase large packages of cookies and then break them down into individual servings by placing them in cheap plastic baggies for school or snacks. Grate your own cheese. It might take a few extra minutes but it costs considerably less; you can even slice whole blocks of cheese for slices on sandwiches. Never purchase fruit or vegetable or any other type of food that is already on platters. You are paying for their time to prepare the meal for you. You can do the same thing for a lot less. I recently priced a fruit platter for $12.99. I was able to purchase all the fruit that was on the platter individually for $7.98. After I cut it up I wound up with twice as much fruit as I would have received had I purchased the platter. So it was a savings of $18.00!
5. Visit Local Farmer’s Market or Fruit Stand.I try to avoid buying my fresh fruit and vegetables at the grocery store unless they are drastically on sale. Support your local farmer’s market by purchasing the items there. You can usually purchase double the amount of items for the same cost for only one of those items at the grocery store. It’s almost like getting a buy one get one (BOGO) free deal.

I have hundreds of more ideas where those came from, and hope to share them with you in the future. In the meantime, if you aren’t practicing these tips, try them out. See if they can help to save you a little extra money each week.

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