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Shopping for groceries can take up most of your monthly income. Thus, you need to find ways to cut back on the shopping and get the most bang for your buck:
1) Implement a weekly meal plan
Grocery shopping usually involves buying food. But how can you make sure that you only buy what you can afford and what you need? Even if you may have enough money, you might buy products that you never eat and will only end up in the trash. To cut down on waste and achieve your nutrition goals on a shoestring budget, you need to come up with a meal plan.
A meal plan basically involves the food you will have on each day of the week (breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner). With a meal plan, you can easily identify the ingredients you need to buy. This will limit your spending only to these ingredients. A meal plan will also include the maximum number of servings you can prepare per day, given your limited budget.
Your meal plan’s menu should include affordable, nutritious, and long-lasting food that you can preserve and ration for the next few days. Account for your family members’ eating habits and nutrition needs as some members of your family may require multiple servings. A meal plan will allow you to buy from the grocery store less frequently, helping you save time and money.
2) Prepare yourself before shopping
With your meal plan and budget requirements as a guide, put together a list of the things that you need to buy. Use that list to stick to your budget and meal plan. Check your cupboards and containers if you still have enough ingredients so that you don’t have to buy these things. If your kids tend to “help” you with your shopping, you can involve them in putting together the list before shopping. Make them understand why they can’t have everything they want and why they have to follow your shopping list. You and your kids should eat before you go shopping. Shopping on a full stomach will help you resist the temptation to buy extra food items that are not on your grocery list. Don’t forget to bring a calculator when you go to the store.
3) Get your timing right
To save money on groceries, you need to time your shopping right. A meal plan will enable you to set a regular shopping schedule where you can buy everything you need in one go. Shopping once a week is enough. The less frequently you go to the store, the less money you’ll spend.
Never go to the grocery store if you’re in a hurry or at a date and time outside of the schedule set in your meal plan. That’s what the meal plan is for, so you will have a pre-set schedule to follow. This will ensure that your mind is in the right condition go to the store. You should shop when you’re well-rested and full so that you can focus on making wise choices while you’re there.
4) Use your calculator
Only buy what you need and what you can afford. Prioritize purchasing the items that are in the shopping list you prepared earlier. Add the prices up with your calculator as you put each item in your cart. Return any merchandise if the sum on your calculator exceeds your budget. If you have your kids with you, let them do the adding of prices to make them more involved and willing to stick to your shopping list and spending plan. If you find extra room in your budget for other items that weren’t on your list, you can consider buying those goods.
Compare prices and net weights between brands. Use the calculator you bought to weigh the cost per unit weight of some ingredients. For example, brand A of coffee sells for $4.00 per 30-gram pack, while brand B has a price of $3.50 for 20 grams. Which should you buy, given your budget restrictions? When you divide the price by the weight, you will find that Brand A is actually cheaper per unit weight at 13 cents per gram, compared to Brand B, which is 18 cents per gram. Therefore, even as brand A has a higher price tag, it is wiser to opt for that brand instead of the other one since you’ll actually get more coffee for less unit price.
5) Take advantage of discounts and sales packs
Sometimes, your local store may put up goods for discounted prices or packs of “buy one, take two” for sale. If these packaged or discounted goods are on your shopping list, nothing is stopping you from taking advantage of these clearance sales gimmicks. Discounts and product packs can help you buy more for less. If you have discount coupons, use them.
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