15 Frugal Tips To Save You Money At The Grocery Store
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Looking to save money at the grocery store?
Groceries are a big part of any household budget so it’s a good place to learn how to save money.
My family and I live in Canada and according to this article, the cost of groceries for an average family of 4 is $220 CAD per week (or around $172 USD).
I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of families spend more than that.
It comes down to your family dynamics and how hungry the mouths are that you feed 🙂
No matter what, groceries are plain expensive.
When my husband and I decided to live on one income (so I could stay home our daughter and pursue my dream of blogging full time!) we knew we had to pay closer attention to our grocery budget now that we were feeding a family.
We worked toward reducing our spending and making the dollars stretch.
BUT.
I wanted our family to maintain our healthy eating habits despite our efforts to save money at the grocery store.
A lot of times it feels like there’s a premium for eating healthy and that’s JUST not fair.
I’m happy to say the money-saving hacks we use save us money at the grocery store every month and allows our family to maintain a healthy eating habit.
In this post, I’m going to share 15 frugal tips your family can use to save money at the grocery store too.
These money saving tips are simple and can be put into action almost immediately.
It just takes some discipline, organizing and planning. 🙂
RELATED READ: 10 Tips for Living on One Income Successfully
15 Frugal Tips Your Family Can Save Money At The Grocery Store
1. USE COUPONS
I know, I know – every ‘save money at the grocery store’ post tells you to use coupons and, truthfully, there’s no shortage of coupon sites that offer good money saving deals.
It really is sound money saving advice.
The BEST website/app I’ve used is called Checkout 51 and I recommend you use it too.
Here’s why:
✔Sign up to receive cash back on the items you’re already purchasing.
✔Recieve tailored money saving offers that you can purchase at ANY store.
✔Take a pic of your receipt to get your eligible rewards.
✔Once you receive $20 cash back, you can request payout – which means FREE money to help your grocery budget!
It’s truly amazing and so SIMPLE to use.
BONUS MONEY SAVING HACK: When I walk into the grocery store near me, they always have a display of current coupons. I scan to see if there’s anything our family uses and quite often there is.
RELATED READ: Best Frugal Tips for Families
2. SHOP THE SALES
We all know shopping the grocery store sales is just plain smart, but flipping through a million flyers is annoying and time-consuming.
My husband and I were thrilled when we discovered the grocery app called Flipp – goodbye traditional flyers, hello convenience!
Using Flipp, we’re able to:
✔Create weekly grocery shopping lists.
✔See all grocery store sales on items we actually buy.
✔Access weekly flyers that we care to look at.
It’s all right there on our phones. Easy and convenient.
BONUS MONEY SAVING HACK: Some grocery stores offer price matching if you show them a competitors sale price. If you use the Flipp app, just pull out your phone at the checkout and show them the price!
Viola – your family saves money and time. Check out how price matching works at the grocery store you frequent.
3. MEAL PLANNING FOR THE SAVE
I feel SO much more organized now that we meal plan every week.
I consider meal planning part of my self-care routine because it seriously lowers my stress levels! 🙂
It’s almost a bonus that meal planning saves money too! 🙂
You’ll be less tempted to impulse buy (looking at YOU bag of chips! ha!) or buy something you don’t actually need so it sits at the back of your fridge for two weeks until you throw it out.
BONUS MONEY SAVING HACK: Consider shopping the sales BEFORE you plan your family’s meals for the week. That way you can take advantage of more sale items.
4. STOCK UP ON ITEMS YOU ALWAYS BUY WHEN THEY’RE ON SALE
It didn’t take us long to see which items our family consumes on a regular.
They’re the products that ended up in our cart all. the. time.
Those are the products we buy in bulk when they go on sale.
It’s also the kind of items we know the price so a good sale price can be easily identified.
We make sure the items have a good shelf life before stocking up since it makes no sense to stock up to throw out!
For example, my daughter loves the fruit and veggie squeeze pouches that are easy to take on the go. We’re always buying them, so we stock up on all her favorite flavors when they go on sale.
What are those kinds of products for your family?
5. DON’T BUY THE BAGGED SALAD KITS
Buying fresh produce to make a salad is more cost effective than buying a pre-made salad kit.
Generally, you get one meal out of a bagged salad whereas buying the ingredients yields a few meals.
For example, we buy leafy green lettuce as a base and get 3 salads per head. It’s a great side dish for dinner and it’s packed full of veggies 🙂
6. BUY STORE BRAND
Buying store brand over a name brand can save you up to $1.50 or more in some instances depending on the product you’re purchasing.
Our family loves peanut butter so we buy the store brand organic peanut butter and it’s actually cheaper than the non-organic.
Not only do we save money, but we also eat natural peanut butter which is much better for our health.
7. INVEST IN A BRITA WATER FILTER
We were guilty of buying bottled water for a few months (I know terrible), but it didn’t take us long to see that it’s much better for our pocketbook AND the environment to skip this expense.
Using a Brita water filter is dirt cheap and more in line with how we want to live life – not creating needless waste.
Since we were buying bottled water out of convenience we did invest in good, glass water bottles to take on the go instead.
8. MAKE YOUR FOOD STRETCH
I love figuring out ways to make the food we buy “stretch”.
For example, we buy a whole chicken, eat it for a couple of dinners then use the bones to make broth for soups.
Not only do we get two dinners out of the chicken we also save money not buying premade chicken broth.
SIDE NOTE: It’s easier to spot instances you can save money this way if you meal plan. Can you tell I love meal planning, lol?
9. SIGN UP FOR THE REWARDS PROGRAM
Otherwise known as the loyalty program.
Does your grocery store have a points program?
By shopping at one store all the time, you can take advantage of the rewards offered by the store.
We joined the program at our store and saved $75 over the last couple of months by collecting points diligently, buying products with bonus points and then actually using the rewards.
Absolutely, check to see what your local grocery store offers.
10. CHECK THE QUICK SALE AISLE
Most grocery stores usually have a small display of ‘quick sale’ items in the produce and meat departments.
I always check to see what’s available, to see if it matches up with our meal plan for the week. My goal by doing this is to save 50% and cook the items that day or the next.
Saving 50% is a HUGE saving that can add up quickly if you practice this money hack every time you go to the grocery store.
11. FREQUENT THE GROCERY STORE MORE OFTEN
You’re probably surprised at this grocery store money saving hack, right?
Um, visiting the grocery store more often mean you’re spending more money??
I’ve found buying some of my produce items later in the week when I’ll actually be using them has lowered the amount of money we spend on food that we ultimately throw out because it goes bad.
The key to using this money saving hack is to be diligent and disciplined – you’re there to lower food waste, not impulse shop. 😉
12. BUY FROZEN FRUITS AND VEGGIES
I’m a huge advocate for buying frozen fruits and veggies because you eliminate the chance of them spoiling before your family enjoys them.
How much of your grocery dollars are wasted on fresh veggies and fruits going bad in the fridge?
Going frozen is a cheaper yet healthy way to reduce spending AND stretch your dollars.
No fear of losing important nutrients since the produce is frozen at the time of picking.
That’s a win-win for saving money at the grocery store. 🙂
13. CUT UP YOUR OWN PRODUCE
It’s no secret we pay for convenience on most things and the grocery store is no different.
It’s so tempting to scoop up the pre-cut veggies from the produce area so you can quickly cook that stir-fry you’re having for dinner tonight.
But, you’ll pay a premium.
Choose to cut up your own produce or even use the frozen version when it makes sense.
14. EAT LESS MEAT
Meat takes up a BIG portion of your grocery budget when you really start paying attention.
So, we started eating less meat which means our family is consuming more vegetables, grains and other sources of protein.
The meat we do buy comes from Costco so that we can purchase it in bulk and freeze some for future meals. 🙂
15. CHOOSE FRUITS AND VEGGIES WITH A LONGER SHELF LIFE
What are some of your family’s favorite fruits and veggies that have a longer shelf life?
It’s smart to cook recipes using these items instead of produce that perishes quickly.
For example, our family often makes fruit salad for breakfast. We use pears, apples, and grapes often instead of buying berries that go bad quicker and are much more expensive.
RELATED READ: Budgeting Advantages for Families
There you have it – 15 frugal tips to save you and your family money at the grocery store.
I really hope you found these tips helpful and are able to incorporate some (or all!) of them into your family’s grocery shopping routine.
Let me know if you start using Checkout 51 and what you think about it!
We love it! 🙂
Tell me – do you have any other frugal tips for the grocery store?
Share and comment below! 🙂
