Before you go to the store, take your menu plan and recipes, and check your cupboard and refrigerator to see if you need any of the ingredients. Check spices, dressings, sauces, and other condiments. How many times have you been in the store and not known whether or not you have a certain item at home? Not wanting to take a chance, you buy it, only to discover you already have one or more of this item sitting in your cupboard! Worse yet, you forget to write down a key ingredient for one of the recipes and discover later that you don’t have it. This leads to the temptation to revisit the grocery store, and you can end up spending additional money over your budget.
5. Make a List (and stick to it!)
Never go to the grocery store without a list… ever! You should write down everything that you need to prepare the meals on your plan, including ingredients that you found you were lacking when you did your inventory. Use the ads to estimate your total expenditure so that you won’t exceed your budget. Make a vow not to buy anything that is not on the list. This is difficult the first few times out, but becomes habitual with practice. It also saves you time in that you aren’t running all around the store looking for things that you think you might need.
6. Clip Coupons
Once you have your list, look through your coupons or clip them from the paper. Only clip coupons that are for items that you would normally buy and that are on your list. Having a coupon for something that you really don’t need is often a temptation to buy it. If there are coupons for similar items, check the store ad to see if any of them are on sale. Combining coupons with advertised items is an excellent way to save money.
NOTE: Even with coupons, some store brand items are less expensive than name brands. Before you toss the name brand item into your cart, check the store brand of the same item.