If you have teenagers in your family, you've probably noticed that your refrigerator is less of a food storage space and more of a bottomless pit. Food seems to disappear almost as soon as you buy it—so saving money at the checkout is crucial to your budget.
Plan Ahead
Do you ever feel like you're seeing dollar signs in your eyes when you find leftovers or nearly spoiled produce in your fridge? One of the best ways to reduce food waste is to plan ahead.
Creating meal plans helps you buy only the ingredients you need because you've already planned your cooking for the week in advance.
This also ensures you use up all the ingredients you buy—you can even set aside a day to deal with leftovers so you can get rid of any extra lasagna in the freezer before it expires.
Taking advantage of local supermarket promotions can also save you money. Planning meals based on current promotions rather than your family's tastes can significantly reduce your final bill.
Eating seasonal fruits and vegetables can also save you money, as they are usually much cheaper than out-of-season ones (think about the cost of greenhouse cultivation or transportation from warmer or colder climates).
Reduce Shopping Frequency
It's undeniable that the more often we go to the store, the more prone we are to impulse buying (especially when hungry—avoid this!), and these impulse purchases can quickly accumulate.
Reducing shopping frequency helps control your budget and makes you more likely to try using ingredients you already have at home—which helps reduce waste.
Get a Membership Card
Most stores offer free membership cards that automatically entitle you to discounted items. Membership cards usually track your purchasing preferences, making it more likely you'll find useful coupons on your receipts.
Cleverly Combine Coupons and Promotions
Using coupons to buy groceries has become a very popular way to save money, resulting in a plethora of helpful coupon blogs. These websites teach you how to buy groceries at prices well below retail:
Keep a close eye on promotions. Store promotions typically last six weeks, with prices dropping to their lowest point roughly every six weeks.
Many coupon websites will tell you the specific promotion dates, or you can keep an eye out for them yourself. Stock up on non-perishable or frozen foods when prices are at their lowest.
Stack coupons. Most stores allow you to use multiple coupons on the same item, as long as they aren't identical. For example, if you have a $1 cereal coupon and a $0.55 coupon for the same cereal, you can use them together to save $1.55.
Combine coupons with promotions. To get the best price, it's best to use coupons on items that are already discounted.
