Grocery Shopping can get extremely overwhelming, especially when you have kids and the trip is not a well planned out one. On most day, I don’t generally get out of the house for any grocery shopping, it’s my husband who gets all that’s on the ‘list’. That way we save a decent amount of time, energy and money.
That said, whenever little we do go out, with children mostly, as a family of four, we have learned a bunch of things that we try to implement as much as possible to make the trip a successful one and still be in the budget. I tried put together all the tips and tricks that have helped us so far, in this post, so it comes to your use. I hope you find these as useful as we do.
1. Have a list and stick to it, always:
If you go without a list, you may as well just throw your money away. Better yet, donate it to me — I probably need it more than you. 🙂 Seriously, though, you need to prepare a list of everything you need, pulling from your weekly menu (next tip) and checking to make sure you don’t have it in your pantry, fridge or freezer. Make sure you’re not forgetting anything. Now stick to that list. Have a list and sticking to it can save you time and money.
2. Go on shopping after a meal:
This is a very smart tip, I say and it’s actually true that when you’re hungry, you want to buy all kinds of junk. You’ll end up spending a lot more than what you were expected to. So just don’t plan your trips in a hurry. Eat a good meal first, and you’ll be more likely to stick to your list.
3. Stock up when there’s a sale:
Sale items can be a great deal. If it’s an item you normally use on a regular basis, buy a good bunch of them. Like pasta, flour, sauce, sugar gets those while they are still on sale. You will be glad to use them up every day. Trust me.
4. Avoid trips to corner stores:
Yes, absolutely. Avoid trips to corner stores or the fuel station. These are some of the most expensive stores. Buying items in small quantities from these store will cost you just as much as buying in bulk from a grocery store.
5. Buy whole foods:
Always remember to buy whole foods. The processed kind is lacking in nutrition and will make you fat. Look for things in their least processed form — whole grain instead of white or wheat bread, fresh fruit instead of canned or juice, whole grain cereal or oatmeal instead of all other kinds of cereal. You get the idea.
6. Pack healthy snacks for kids:
Imagine your kids are crying their lungs out for that box of chocolates? Not because they really want to eat those chocolates but simply because they are hungry. Do you really want to fill them up with chocolates? Carry your own snacks instead. Try slices of fresh fruits or some nuts. And make sure you skip the chocolates section. Haha!
7. Check your receipt:
Yes. We always forget to do this. Most of the time, we give it away to our kids to make paper boats out of it or roll it up and keep rolling it until the paper breakdown on it’s own. But I have very clear memories of watching my dad come back home from the grocery store, sit with the bill and tally all the items.
Checking your receipt will help you check if you overspent on anything or if there’s anything you payed for my mistake. So always check your receipt.
Also after having researched quite a bit, I decided to make my very own grocery shopping list printable, which you can download and use anytime you need.
I kept it monochrome and light in terms of designing so you could save some ink while printing. 🙂
Click here To Get Your Free Grocery Shopping List Printable
That’s it. These are my 7 smart tips for grocery shopping on a budget. Do tell me if you enjoyed this post and want me to do more such posts in future. Just leave me a comment below. You might as well sign up for our newsletter, on the top right corner of the page. 🙂
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