Studying both Nutrition and Economics in college leads to long trips at the grocery store. I spend a good chunk of time comparing prices and looking for deals, reading nutrition labels (mostly to look at a product’s ingredients), and discovering new brands with eye-catching graphic designs.
Although I am no expert when it comes to grocery shopping, here are a few tips for saving $$ that I have discovered throughout my grocery shopping experience.
**Note: many of these tips include putting in a little more work, so if you are all about convenient and less worried about saving $$, this article may not be for you!
1. Look at coupons before your grocery trip
This might seem like an obvious one to some of you guys, but using coupons is a great way to save money. A lot of times, stores post their coupons and weekly ads online, so you can find coupons right on your phone. It’s as simple as taking a little break from Instagram/Facebook/Snapchat and instead looking for coupons to use during your next trip. I’ll admit it, I actually enjoy scrolling through the coupons on my Target Cartwheel app. Looking at coupons for different grocery stores is a great way to find out which stores have the best deals this week. Don’t be afraid to shop at multiple stores!
2. Buy fresh fruit & freeze it instead of buying frozen fruit
Yesterday when I was grocery shopping, I picked out some frozen pineapple chunks to use in smoothies. There was a 40 oz. bag for $7.99. Then while looking through the fresh produce, I found that pineapples were $1.99 each. So I decided to put back the frozen fruit and pick out two fresh pineapples instead for about half the price! Of course, you still have to cut the pineapple and bag it when you get home, but paying half for the fresh rather than frozen may just be worth it! There may be times when fresh fruit is more expensive or frozen fruit depending on what's on sale and what's in season, but buying your fruit fresh and freezing it yourself could help save some $$. Just spend a little bit of time comparing prices between fresh and frozen.
3. Shred/slice/crumble the cheese yourself
Already shredded, sliced, or crumbled cheese is often more expensive than blocks of cheese, so doing the work yourself can save you some pennies. That being said, be sure to compare the prices in store because there may be a sale on different types of cheese making shredded, sliced, or crumbled cheese a better deal than block cheese. An additional positive of buying block cheese is that you can avoid the additives sometimes found in pre-shredded cheese.
4. Bring your own reusable bags
Many stores (Target, Whole Foods, Trader Joes) give discounts on your purchase if you use reusable bags instead of paper or plastic bags. Plus, you are helping out the environment and cutting down on waste, it’s a win-win!
5. Compare price per ounce
Okay, so this one might turn some of you away because it seems like a lot of math or a bit nit-picky, but for those of you who don’t mind (or actually enjoy!) doing a little math, this could be a good strategy for you. In order to see how much you are paying per ounce, just divide the price by the number of ounces. This is a good way to compare products that are different sizes or brands to see which one gets you the most bang for your buck! Often time buying the larger size of the same product is a better deal than a smaller size, but this is not always the case (once again, depending on what is on sale each week).
WOO! You made it to the end. Thanks for reading :) Now go out and save some money! Have any tips of your own?? I'd love to hear them.