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For some, a weekly or monthly trip to the grocery store is a daunting task. In between picking and choosing the foods and various sundry items you need, you try and find ways to make it easier on the wallet. While some grocery stores offer special shopper cards that allow you to receive lower prices on a variety of items, oftentimes the savings are meager, amounting to more than then dollars or so on a $75 grocery bill. This article will highlight several ways in which your trip to the grocery store can have a positive impact on your wallet.

A common mistake among many grocery shoppers is not making a proper list. Many just hop in the car and walk up and down the aisles, and this can lead to overspending via purchasing items you really don’t need. Before heading out to the store, go through your cabinets and refrigerator and make a list of all the items you need to purchase for the week or month (depending on the frequency of your shopping). When combined with only going down the aisles that feature these items, you’re significantly reducing the chances of purchasing extraneous items that you simply do not need. Of course, impulse buys will always rear their ugly heads, so one must exercise a modicum of self-discipline to ensure you don’t end up with five bags of potato chips because they were on sale for $1.50.

So you have your list and you’re ready to shop, right? Wrong. Although knowing precisely what you’re going to purchase can save you oodles of money, this can always be combined with the one-two punch of seeking out deals in weekly circulars and the age old tradition of coupon clipping. When making your list, plan your purchases around what’s on sale at your regular grocery store and even other stores you don’t normally frequent. Combine these purchases with the coupons found in Sunday circulars, which can be doubled or tripled at some stores. For die-hard coupon clippers, several additional manufacturer’s coupons and store coupons, which can be combined with sales to provide huge discounts, can be downloaded and printed online.

Once you’ve worked out a plan of attack, it’s time to hit the stores. While many of the coupons you have found offer great savings, you should be sure to keep an eye out for generic brands of the same type of item that end up being cheaper than even the discounted major brand. Plus, keep an eye out for items that have coupons attached to them, as well as those little coupon dispensers found throughout most aisles of several grocery store chains. Finally, once you’ve made your purchases, keep your eye on the receipt, as many times they include discounts known as Catalinas. These can be applied to future purchases as well.

With a little ingenuity and patience, saving big bucks at grocery stores need not be a difficult task. Over time, coupons and rebates can add up. Just ask the woman whose $92 grocery bill cost her less than $5 after utilizing rebates and coupons.

Writer and content producer for Associated Content.

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The kitchen is the center of every home.  It is where our nurturing meals are prepared, the meals that bring us together.  Yet keeping the kitchen stocked and organized can be such chaos that we dread grocery shopping day.  In order to make your week a little bit more pleasant, I will share with you some of my tricks for a smooth and simple grocery shopping and weekly menu experience.

The biggest help to making this errand more pleasant is preparation.  I find that if I just try to make a grocery list, it does not get any easier.  I actually have to prepare to prepare comes a list of meals for the week before I plan the grocery list.  I usually plan for five dinners, which allows for leftovers to be consumed and some meals to be ad-libbed.  I personally enjoy the freedom to be creative some nights, but would be overwhelmed if each day I had to think about what I had in my pantry and how I could use those ingredients to create a meal.  What’s the trick to make it simple to pick dinners for the week?  I keep a running list of meals that my family enjoys.  The day before we go shopping, we sit down and brainstorm which meals we’d enjoy.

Once you have a list of meals, it is much easier to make a shopping list.  Some recipes will call for the same ingredients, so make sure you write how much of each thing you will need.  When making your list from recipes you can write on your grocery list precisely how much of something you will need.  I have learned to make detailed lists stating that I need 7 onions and 2 packages of mushrooms (for example) to prevent wasting food.  When this method is the backbone of your shopping, the rest of the experience is much smoother.  Want to make it even easier?  Use a narrow list notebook.  On the left page, make your list of meals and the list of ingredients that you will be purchasing on the right.  That way you can look at them both with ease.

Keeping a regular routine about your shopping will make it much easier as well.  In my family, grocery shopping is something we all do together.  We treat it like a weekly scheduled appointment: it always happens the same day of the week at the same time, immediately following my yoga lesson.  I am sure that just like us, if you have the time blocked out it will take away some of the hassle of finding the time.  I suggest you also set aside fifteen minutes or so for the list-making.

As we all know, not all items are weekly purchases.  If you keep that notebook accessible throughout the week, then as you get low on pantry staples you can add them to the list.  During the 15 minutes you’ve set aside for making your list, do not forget to consider whether you need household items: cleaners, shampoos, soaps, etc.  Life is much simpler if you pick these up during the same trip.

I have one last major hint to make your voyage more streamlined: rewrite your list.  It might sound like extra work, but I know that if I didn’t rewrite my list each week it would lose my mind.  If you’re like us, you stop at more than one store in order to make the most of your money.  In order to simplify each stop, I separate the list not only into which store the purchase will be made, but group items so that following my list takes us on one trip through the store: dairy items are listed together, as are produce items, baking items, etc.  Believe it or not, this can cut our shopping time by about 60%!

So as you get ready to go shopping, keep these ideas in mind.  Remember, they are just suggestions.  You should only implement the ones that actually assist you, although I do strongly suggest giving them all a try.  You have nothing to lose by taking some of the frustration out of food, and we can always use more time to spend together relaxing.  Use that time to create a meal as a family.  Our new favorite is pizza night: I make the dough while my husband is at work and when he gets home we all get together to do the toppings.  Pizza night works well with a movie. Togetherness is vital to happiness.

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Do you think it’s possible to live off of $25 worth of groceries per week? It may be possible, but it sure isn’t fun. But when desperate times call for desperate measures, there certainly are ways to economize-at-the-grocery-store. If you would rather spend your money on aftermarket auto parts and pay all of your bills on time, then you should stick to these tips for being thrifty at the supermarket.

1. Stick to the basics. Bread, milk, and eggs are necessities that don’t really break the bank, and are crucial for many other dishes. Create a weekly theme to abide to that you’ll embellish on. For example, you can get mayonnaise for sandwich week, cheese for grilled cheese week, or oats for breakfast week. Have a poached egg on toast, create a mini croquet monsieur or mix up some egg salad, the possibilities can be ever-changing.

2. Buy what you need. If you only need a ¼ cup of walnuts, don’t get the 2 pound bag, go to a store that will sell nuts individually or weigh it by the bulk. It will be cheaper and reduce all the unneeded waste.

3. Avoid buying snacks. Any products that come in bulk, in a bag, a box, or wrapped in boxes will likely be more expensive than getting some 89 cent bananas and eating them all week.

4. Look what’s on sale and get coupons. Checking out that mailer sent to you every week can really help you decide which stores are best for you and where the best deals out there can be found.

5. Visit the local farmer’s market. This is the season of abundance, meaning everything is on super sale. Plus the foods are fresher and more authentic.

6. If you buy too much, use your freezer. If bread happens to be on sale at 50 cents a pop, you might as well grab a good four loaves and store it up for hungry times.

7. Buy cheaper products that taste the same. Coffee is a big one, you don’t need Folgers, other brands taste just as good. The same things go for organic eggs and pricey fruit drinks. Buy regular eggs, frozen juices, or mix up your own fruit drinks at home.

There are plenty of ways to live off of your paycheck and still have a little left over for the movies and popcorn. Just stick to the basics, use your head, and do it yourself at home for a more friendly bank account. You’ll be less stressed and more motivated for change.

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