With the average family of 4 spending approximately $500 per month on food, the supermarket is definitely a place to seek out ways to save. By mastering a few simple strategies, and learning to avoid common money-traps at the supermarket, you can save your family a significant amount of money every month.
Basic Strategies for Saving
A grocery store manager’s marketing ploys can be genius, and tough to outsmart. Utilize these strategies to better manage your grocery shopping experience.
- A Sense of Purpose: Going to the store with advance of knowledge of exactly what you need, and leaving with only those items is one of the easiest ways to save. It may seem like an obvious tip, but this is an area where so many go astray at the supermarket.
- Stick to the Perimeter: The essentials needed to feed your family (produce, meats, dairy, etc.) tend to be located on the outer edge of the store. Avoid the interior of the store and you also avoid its more costly, pre-packaged items.
- A Blind Eye: That’s precisely what you should be turning to those eye-catching displays placed around the supermarket. Unless the displays feature staple items your family needs, ignore them and enjoy the savings.
- Keep Your Eyes Moving: The more expensive brands tend to be placed at eye-level. Look up and down for generic and lesser-priced brands.
- Shop At All Hours: If you’re fortunate enough to have a 24-hour supermarket near you, try doing your shopping during off hours. These off-peak times are between 10:00am-4:00pm and after 10:00pm. The simplicity of not being in a crowd and being able to take your time can help you make better choices and save money.
- Savings Year-Round: Most grocery stores operate sales on a pattern. For example, ice cream may go on sale the second week of every month. If you can learn the patterns you’ll never be caught paying full retail.
- Sales Patterns in Detail: Many of the patterns cater to holidays, sporting events, and other important annual events. January, for example, tends to offer discounts on low-fat foods to cater to the numerous New Year’s resolutions to lose weight, July is a great time to grab hot dogs, condiments and school supplies at a discount, and September caters to the back-to-school frenzy by placing all kinds of breakfast foods on sale. Remember, the goal of the grocery store is to get you to buy, and what better way to entice a shopper than with a sale?
Shopping-List Tips
- Taking a list and sticking to it is one of the best ways to save at the grocery store. Here’s a few savvy-shopper tips on maximizing the results of a shopping-list.
- Start by keeping scratch paper in an accessible place in your kitchen. As soon as you run out of something, or notice that you’re running low on a staple, add it to the list. Shopping at several stores (truly savvy shoppers do this!) should warrant the use of one list for each store.
- Notice an ad in the newspaper featuring a sale on an item you use? Make a note of it on your list, or cut the entire add out and clip it to your list.
- Organize your shopping list in the same way the store is organized. This tactic will prevent wandering and possible impulse purchases
Courtesy Cards- Your Chance to Cash In
It seems you can’t go anywhere these days without being offered a membership to that particular store. Take advantage of the store’s desire to maintain your loyalty. The cards often offer additional savings on certain items each week. Always be aware of the regular price of an item before jumping into a “special member offer”, but the courtesy card is a valuable weapon in the fight against high food bills.
Coupon Caveats
Coupons can be a savvy shopper’s best friend, but as with many relationships, there are catches involved. Coupons can fool you into buying items you don’t really need just because you believe you’re getting a deal. The trick is to spot the hidden costs of coupons and learn to make coupons work for you.
- Seek out stores that offer to double or triple coupons.
- If any item on your list is on sale be sure to check for a coupon. The combined savings can really add up.
- Coupons offering high-dollar amounts off an item are usually for items that are expensive to begin with. Do your math before grabbing the item off the shelf.
- Check to see if there are any coupons online.
Now that you’re a new expert in the art of food shopping, be sure to try out some of these strategies the next time you make a trip to the supermarket!