Grocery Store Solutions for a Tight Budget

There are many ideas on how to save money at the grocery store and on your food budget. But there are a few key rules that should be followed whether you’re on a tight budget or not.

Make a list of the things that your family regularly eats.

Make a list of the recipes that you use to prepare meals for your family.

Make a list of the non-grocery items that your family uses (personal hygiene, laundry, kitchen, etc.)

Create a food pantry or simple food storage area and stock it with the essentials.

Review the weekly sales for the grocery and drug stores in your area. Grocery store ads generally offer savings on meat, produce and non-grocery items. Many grocery shoppers will use a online grocery search engine like GroceryGuide.com or keep a Price Book to track the price cycles of products. Learn the grocery sales cycles.

Plan your meals for the week. It may sound like a lot but if you have created the recipe list referred to above its easy. Studies have shown that daily grocery shopping results in 25-40% increases in your grocery spending.

Figure out which recipes you could stretch into a second meal, make some extra, label it, date it, freeze it and schedule it for a later date.

Make a shopping list and stick to it. The only exceptions should be for In-Store or Managers specials that you can add to the pantry. Avoid the extra "impulse" grocery purchases.

If you use coupons, gather the ones that match your items on the shopping list. For maximum savings use the coupons to purchase items that are on sale. Some grocery stores offer double or triple coupons on certain days, doubling or tripling the savings on your grocery bill. Using the coupons to purchase smaller sizes of a sale product will generally create further savings.

Use a Freezer. When meats go on sale, stock up! This is one of the more costly areas of the grocery bill. Watch for sales on frozen vegetables and fruit and add a little extra to the shopping list.

And of course eat something before you go to the grocery store.

Following these simple steps will result in significant savings in time and money. Money savings vary by family but can easily exceed over $3000 per year!