Even though it keeps on varying every month, grocery bill takes up almost half of your monthly budget. You don’t understand how to squeeze all your needs into your budget. What you need to know is you can surely cut down your grocery bill without compromising your lifestyle. All you need is knowledge of few facts and changes in your shopping pattern like:
1. Shop by list: Shopping by a list saves you not only a lot of money but time too. You are saved from picking up random items and pick only the ones that you need. Using a master list is also a good idea. You can even create your own master list for the entire house and add more items to it throughout the month. Make sure you estimate the quantities of all basic items like sugar, tea, coffee, flour, and rice. Take this list every time with you while shopping and ensure a hassle-free shopping.
2. Go through local advertisements: Local groceries run several promotional offers for their customers. Use can purchase some of the non-perishable items like rice or sugar which are on sale for future use also and save some money. You may also look for certain coupons that can help you get a number of items in your list for a very good bargain.
3. Buy seasonal fruits and vegetables: Seasonal fruits and vegetables are not only healthy but are normally on sale too. Fruits like apples and oranges and vegetables like potatoes and peas can be stored very easily for a number of days. Try to avoid frozen foods if you can.
4. Planning right meals: Planning your meals in a certain way will surely cut down your food bill. For example, you can try to have a chicken meal every week as it is quite cheap and nutritious too when properly prepared. You can also cut down on convenience food which is quite expensive. Canned fruits and veggies, salad dressings, meat helpers are some of the food items that can easily be omitted from your grocery list.
5. Saving money on drinks: Packaged drinks take a lot of space in your bill. You can replace the packaged drinks or cola for fresh lemon water which is as refreshing and much less expensive. In fact, you can get yourself a powdered sugarless drink mix from the market which is not only healthy but quite easy on your pocket too.
6. Not wasting food: Instead of throwing away the leftovers, you can get creative and make new meals from them. Store the left-over food in casseroles and use it the next day for making interesting sandwiches or soups for your family.
7. Reducing the number of grocery shopping trips: Cut the number of your monthly grocery shopping trips to exactly half. Try to keep a stock of some basic necessities at your home. The logic behind this is when you go shopping very often; you pick up things which you actually don’t want. Cookies and chips are the perfect examples of such food items, and the reduced fuel bills are an added advantage.
Reducing the grocery bills doesn’t mean that you compromise on the standard of your living. But it means that you shop smartly.
