10 tips for frugal grocery shopping

Groceries can represent a significant portion of your budget, but there are a number ways to control your costs when you grocery shop. 

1. Go into the store with a list of what you’re there to buy, and stick to it. It’s tempting to make impulse buys when you see items not on your list, particularly if they’re on sale, but if you don’t really need them, it’s just extra money that you’re spending.
2. Don’t go shopping when you’re hungry. When you’re hungry, everything looks good, and you’re more likely to make impulse buys.
3. Go in with a budget of how much you can spend, and keep a running tab of how the items in your cart are adding up. If you start to go over your budget, put items back or see if there are less expensive versions of some items.
4. Use coupons. If you get a Sunday newspaper, you’re already getting a lot of great coupons delivered right to your door, and it doesn’t take that long to clip the ones you want. But some grocery stores also give away coupons in the store. HEB has kiosks with tons of great coupons at the entrances.
5. Check the sale circulars. There may be items on your list that are on sale, and you’ll want to look for the brand that’s on sale. Or there may be items on sale that you can substitute for something on your list. If you have apples on your list, but kiwis are on sale, consider buying kiwis instead.
6. Buy generic. You may have certain items where a particular brand matters, but if it doesn’t matter what kind of rice, butter or flour you use, save money buy not buying the most expensive, most recognizable brand.
7. Do the math. If several brands of an item are on the shelf, but the brands are in different sizes, the lowest cost brand might not be the best bargain. Divide the price by the number of ounces to get the unit cost and figure out which brand actually gives you the most product for your money.
8. Don’t overbuy perishable items. If you can’t actually eat 10 bananas in the next few days, don’t buy that many. If you do, you’re paying for items that you’ll just end up throwing away.
9. If you’ve kept a running total as you shopped, you should have an idea what your total will be. If the total rings up higher than you expected, check your receipt to figure out why. Did all of your coupons get counted? Did you forget to keep track of some items? Were you double-charged for something? If the cashier made a mistake, get it corrected before you leave the store.
10. Bring your own reusable bags. Not only is it good for the environment to limit the number of plastic bags you use, but some stores, such as Sun Harvest, even give a discount if you have your own bags or don’t use a bag if you just have a few items.

For more info:
HEB - www.heb.com
Sun Harvest - www.sun-harvest.com