Grocery shopping has become one of the major eras of contention in many households. With inflation and prices going up left and right, every penny counts when it comes to saving, and so every penny that you can spend better when it comes to food shopping is being accounted for. This can get tiring very quickly, especially if you do not have a plan when you go shopping and you just continue to meander around the isles picking what sounds good.
Now, there are plenty of tips and tricks that can help us reduce our grocery bill, and the first thing is to cut down on the non-essentials like cookies and sodas, but life is hard and sometimes we just want a little treat to make our lives a bit better, so while that is a good first step to cutting down expenses, this is not a long term fix not can it be relied upon as the sole way to lower your bill.
How to do grocery shopping the smart way to save money
Once you have committed to cutting down on the non-essentials, the next important step you should take is to make a list of what you would like to eat in a week. Take stock of your pantry and clean your cupboards, see what you have and how many duplicates there are (and toss them if they are no longer on date) and think through what are the things you usually run out first and what your staple pantry items are so that you can ensure that you prioritize them when you go to the store and you do not end up having to panic buy them at a higher price mid-week.
Once you have the basics, make a list of the ingredients you are missing to eat that week, be it fruit, veg or bread, and when you go to the store, stick to that list as if it were your gospel. Stores have been designed to ensure that you spend as much money as possible, and they are organized to entice you, so put blinders on and keep on walking until you have your list completed. If you want to take this a step further and you have time to waste, you can use the internet to compare pricess of the items on your list between a couple of grocery stores in your area.
While the base price will be similar enough to not matter, there might be a promotion or a coupon going on somewhere that you might want to take advantage of, and if they are within walking distance from your home, making a couple of trips to save a few dollars will likely be worth it, plus, it is good exercise.
Something else that you could do is modify your diet enough that you can save up in ingredients by making he effort to buy some more frozen fruits and vegetables, which are still very nutritionally complete but are a lot cheaper than fresh ones. This will allow you to still eat well but on a tighter budget.
If this is not the strategy for you, the thing that will allow you to fill up your cart with the lesser impact on your wallet is to buy seasonal. Seasonal foods are cheaper and thus can stretch further. If you then pair these seasonal foods with those that have a long shelf life like whole grains, eggs, uncooked canned goods, canned fish and dried meats you will be able to have a very balanced diet that costs a lot less than you think, and you will reap all the health benefits from cutting out ultra processed foods along the way.