How to save money on Groceries
#1 Sales Ad- I ALWAYS plan my purchases around what is on sale that week.
#2 Stock Up- When I see an item that is cheap and has a long shelf life I buy enough that I can hopefully not have to purchase anymore until that item is on sale again.
#3 Know your Price Points- Price points just let you know what a good price for that item is. Anything you regularly buy you should get to know a good sale price for that item and what price you personally don't want to pay above for it e.g. I don't like paying more than $2.50 for raspberries, and prefer finding them on sale for $2.
#4 Shop At the Right Time I always try to shop Tuesdays or Wednesdays around 12-2, many articles say those are the best days of the week to save money grocery shopping. For the best time for your store/area you can always call/ask departments when they do markdowns.
#5 Savings Center- If you shop at Kroger you absolutely SHOULD have a Kroger card, you should also enroll online. Kroger.com has a feature savings center which has a section called "deals for you" and will show you sales (advertised and unadvertised) based on things you have purchased in the past.
#6 Online Coupons- Couponing can take time and some find it embarrassing. Online coupons are easy to use. With Kroger.com you just sign in and load them on your card then when you scan your Kroger card the sales and coupon savings come off. Kroger also does an online coupon every Friday for a free item!
#7 Markdowns this ties in with number 4, but this is the BEST way to save. Don't be afraid to buy markdowns, many of the items are still good for a while after the "sell by" or "best by" dates... in fact I expect my purchases to be good for several days after the "sell by" day, because if the store can sell it until that day then they shouldn't expect the consumer to go home and eat it THAT day, that is ridiculous.
Some of my shopping trips I have saved over 50% with these techniques, and the prep (#2, #5, #6) takes less than 10 minutes.
