Slash Grocery Bills Quickly
If you aren’t aware of the frenzy coupons have created lately, reality television isn’t your thing. Couponing has turned into a huge hobby. However, despite the amount of money that coupons save, clipping coupons takes a lot of time and work, but you don’t have to clip coupons to slash grocery bills quickly.
There are many other tricks to help feed your family that will not require endless hours of clipping coupons. Put these to work and start saving money on your grocery bill.
Meal Planning
Grocery shopping without a menu is tough. If you don’t know what you are going to prepare for dinner at least half of the month or more, you will be buying supplies that you hope you can pull together for a meal. You may not buy enough of some items and have to go back to the grocer. Solving this is easy.
it down and plan your meals for the period of time you are shopping. Make menus that include the main meal of the day as well as breakfast items and lunch. Once you have these, put a grocery list together and only spend the money it takes to make these meals. You can find many tools on the Internet that will help you plan meals and your grocery list.
Think Outside the Supermarket
You don’t have to buy all of your groceries in the supermarket. You can find many canned items, spices and other groceries in local dollar stores. Discount dollar stores help slash grocery bills quickly with much lower prices on many items.
Follow the Trends
Grocery retailers have a pricing schedule that is fairly routine. If you learn to watch for the cycle, you will know what is going to be on sale and when. Most stores have a six-week cycle on sale prices. This means when you find the rock-bottom price on an item you should buy enough to last six weeks.
The easiest way to find the rock-bottom price is to check the sales advertisements and keep a list of the lowest prices on each item. Buying staples when they are at their rock bottom and buying enough to last until the next sale can save a lot of money on grocery bills.
Generic Brands
You probably grew up with certain brands of products that you have continued to purchase regardless of cost. However, many items can be purchased in the generic version without sacrificing quality.
In fact, many supermarket chains have a rebranding agreement with large manufacturers, and consumers get the same product without the fancy label. Cereal, staples like flour and sugar, peanut butter and canned goods can be purchased in generic brands. On the other hand, paper goods and meat are usually not the same quality when generics are purchased. Compare generics and brand names to find out which products you are willing to sacrifice name brands for and purchase those.
It’s not hard to slash grocery bills without spending hours cutting coupons and trying to match them up to get the best deals. Put these tips into action to save a lot of money on groceries.
Sharon Chapmanis a contributor to Money Examiners.com
Who are the Money Examiners?
The Money Examiners are a team of journalists, and experts in stocks, bonds, real estate, money management, personal finance, and banking dedicating to helping consumers better navigate the dangerous world of finance.