Frugal Grocery Shopping Tips

Everybody's gotta eat, but groceries don't have to bust your budget. Use these frugal grocery shopping tips to save money every time you go to the store.

• Make a list. Go to the store armed with a list of what you need, and don't stray from your list. A frugal grocery shopping rule to live by: If it's not on the list, you probably don't need it. Without a list, it's easy to get drawn in by impulse buys or sale items.
• Set a budget. Decide how much you can afford to spend before you set foot in the store. It's hard to know if you're achieving your goal of shopping frugally if you don't know what your target is.

• Use coupons. Coupons are free money. And you don't have to spend hours every day doing "extreme couponing" to see results. The Promotion Marketing Association reports that people who spend 20 minutes per week clipping and organizing coupons can save up to $1,000 per year on their grocery bills. See my Free Coupons page to check out the many coupon resources available to shoppers these days, both off and online.
• Don't go hungry. Everything looks good when you're hungry. Trust me - a frugal grocery shopper is not a hungry shopper! Grab a snack before you go so you're less tempted to snap up those items that look SO good on the shelf, but aren't on your list (see the first tip on this page) and probably won't even get touched once they're in your pantry.
• Go alone. The more people in your shopping party, the more likely you are to end up with items in your cart that you didn't intend. If at all possible, leave the kids and other mouths to feed at home. You'll stay more focused, have more control over your cart and, most likely, finish faster.
• Check the sale circulars. You've got your list, your budget, your coupons and you've had a snack. Are you ready to hit the aisles? Not yet! Don't forget to check the store's sale circulars. Buy on sale and you will instantly save money on groceries. Some stores mail sale circulars to your house, and you can check for items on your list before you leave home, but if not, most stores have circulars with their current sales by the store's entrance. Take a minute to look through the current sale items to see if there's anything on your list or if there's a better deal on something that you can substitute on your list. You've got potato chips on your list, but cheese puffs are on sale - consider buying the cheese puffs instead.
• Keep a running tab. Add up items as you shop. If you find that you're going over your budget, you can quickly see which items cost the most so that you can put them back or find a less expensive substitute.
• Buy generic or store brands. While there may be some items for which only a particular brand will do (I personally find NO substitute for a Coca-Cola Classic!), it probably doesn't matter which brand of rice or paper towels you buy, so buy generic or a store brand when you can. Consumer Reports recently found that for most foods, taste testers found store brand items as good as name brand versions. Not convinced? Do your own taste test and see if you really can tell a difference with the name-brand cooking oil and bandages.
• Compare apples to apples. The item with the lowest price on the shelf may not be the best deal. Frugal grocery shopping requires a little math here and there. Compare the per-unit price of brands - the price per ounce, for example. Brand B may more expensive on its face, but you get twice as much as Brand A, making B the better bargain.
• Have a wandering eye. Marketers place the items they most want you to buy at eye level. And they usually want you to buy the more expensive stuff. Frugal grocery shoppers know that bargain versions of those same items are likely to be on the higher or lower shelves. So limber up and do some reaching!
• Buy perishables sparingly. Just because tomatoes are on sale 10 for $1 (they're not - don't send a frantic email asking me where this great sale is), that doesn't mean you have to buy 10. Only buy as much of a perishable item as you can really eat before it goes bad. Otherwise, you're just paying for food that you'll have to throw away.

• Know your total. Remember the running tab you've been keeping? Make sure your total matches what the cashier rings up. If it rings up higher than you think it should be, figure out why before you leave the store. Did the cashier apply all your coupons? Did you forget to write something down as you shopped? Were you over-charged or charged twice for something? If there's been a mistake, it will be much easier to correct before you leave the store.
• Do it yourself. If you don't have an overflowing cart of items, use the self-checkout. A 2006 study by IHL Consulting Group found that impulse buying dropped 50 percent when women used self check-out machines (for men, the drop was about 28 percent). Impulse buying is the arch enemy of frugal grocery shopping.
• Be a bag lady. Some stores have started charging customers for plastic bags provided by the store; others give discounts to customers who use their own bags. Bring your own reusable bags, and not only can you save some money, but you can also do something good for the environment.

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