Three Principles to Saving Money at the Grocery Store

Three Principles to Saving Money at the Grocery Store

The First is Plan Ahead

Take the time to look at whats on sale and make a list of items that you will be saving at least 40% on. This is really where most of your savings come from.

Use this list to make a Menu Plan. I try every 2 weeks to make a menu plan. I don't always stick to it and really as long as I have enough meals planned out then we interchange them as we feel like it. I try to have at least half of the meals be something that is a quick fix, (Tacos, Spaghetti, Hot dogs Mac & Cheese, Salads, Crockpot dinners) Also don't forget lunches and breakfasts. Generally I don't make a meal plan for these I just have easy access food on hand.

The Second is Coupons

To really get the most savings possible use coupons. There are tons of coupons out the just waiting to be redeemed. Some store will double your coupons to save you even more. When you combine the sales and coupons you will see something crazy happen. You start paying pennies for things you used to spend dollars on.

The Third is Stockpiling

This can be the most daunting for most people. To me it sounds like you are setting up your bomb shelter or something. Really its not as bad as it may seem. It simply means stocking up one certain items that you will use in four weeks. An example is my family will have some sort of pasta at least 8 times in 4 to 6 weeks. So if I see pasta that is at my lowest price then I will buy 8-10 packages.

Grocery store run a 4 to 6 week cycle of sales. Which means one week they will have a killer sale on cereal. Then the next week meat or fish and by the 4 or 6 week its cereal again. There are many ways you can determine your lowest price. I keep it in my head others like a list. (You can easily make one on excel. I will put up an example in a later post.)

I hope this helps you get your savings started and really if you do nothing else but the first step you are saving at least 40%. Good luck and have fun!