- Eat before you go. Every food product looks good when you are hungry, especially those totally bad-for-you-and-won’t-fill-you-up-anyway foods.
- Plan what meals you will be making for the next week or two. Brilliant. Once I know what meals I am planning to make, I can move on to the next way...
- Write out a list of items that you want. This list makes for no aimless wondering in the aisles. Get in, get what you need, and get out!
- I like to leave room for one item that was not on my list. I call it my list+1. That way, I can stick to my list, but have something that I may not have planned for. Sometimes this means cookies, sometimes it means tortillas.
- Bring a calculator to see what is the best price. Sometimes more doesn’t make for a better deal. I calculate what the price should be for different quantities. Some stores have the price per unit marked on the pricetag, which is super helpful.
- I start out my grocery shopping trip at Aldi. I get as much as I can get on my list there and then go to Target for anything else I need. I did a price comparison (yes, I’m somewhat of a nerd) and I paid 1/3 less at Aldi than I would have for the same items (different brands sometimes) at another store.
- Since I really am a pretty big nerd, I wrote down prices per unit of items from Aldi and Target and kept the list in my purse. Then when I was at a different store, I always knew what my best price was for an item.
Other ideas that work for some as well:
- Use a cash budgeting system, like the Dave Ramsey way. I don’t love to have to go get cash and I’m pretty stingy with my spending, so I just use my debit card.
- Sticking to the outsides of stores. A lot of grocery stores are set up that the refrigerated items (like milk) are in the way back so that you will hopefully walk through the rest of the store and grab something on impulse.
- Sometimes the big bulk stores (like Sam’s Club and Costco) have better deals. I don’t have a membership, so I can’t say that for sure.
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