The price of food is becoming a strain on most family budgets. Luckily, there are ways you can reduce the amount you spend and it isn’t as painful as you might expect! Even if you already clip coupons, you can benefit from some of these tips that you may not be doing on a regular basis:

Look High and Low

Do you know that grocery stores know a thing or two about marketing and impulse shoppers?  They very expertly place the brand named, more expensive items on the shelves at the optimum height: between your knees and shoulders.  Your eyes are automatically drawn to these middle shelves, and so this is where you’ll find the more expensive brands.  Don’t believe me?  Pay attention the next time you are shopping and see for yourself. 

Save money by purchasing the items that are on the higher shelves or along the floor – this is where store brands and the less expensive brands of items are stocked.

Take A Walk Around the Perimeter

The fresh produce, meats, and dairy products are typically stored along the outside edges of grocery stores.  Start your shopping excursion by walking around the store, in a circle and skip the inner aisles.  The inner aisles of grocery stores contained the prepared and packaged foods, which are more expensive because the price reflects the convenience factor.  Once you’ve shopped the perimeter of the store, finish by adding whatever you need from the other aisles and you’re likely to purchase less.

You’re Grocery Shopping, Step Away From the Other “Stuff”

It’s rare to find a grocery store that doesn’t offer other items, like pharmacy supplies, batteries, or outdoor products.  The stores try to give you a little of everything so that you can do a ‘one-stop” shop, and pick up everything you need in one place.  The trouble is, grocery stores don’t have the lowest prices on non-grocery items, and at times you’ll pay double for those non-grocery items for the convenience of picking it up at the grocery store.  Chances are, the pharmacy or Wal-mart are located near by your grocery store, and you could save several dollars by purchasing your non-grocery goods at the appropriate store for only a few minutes more of your time.

More isn’t Always Cheaper

At one time, you could buy a family pack or a “bulk” item and know that the price per unit would be less than the price per unit on smaller packages of the same item.  This isn’t necessarily true, anymore.  Take a calculator along with you and figure out the price per unit on the family or bulk packages- you might be surprised to learn that you’re not paying less per item than if you bought 2 smaller packages instead of the larger one!

Tips You Probably Already Know

  • Avoid shopping when you are hungry, as you are more likely to buy more
  • Leave the kids somewhere else if possible, they almost always cause you to buy more or at the very least, pay less attention to the prices of the items you pick out because you’re in a hurry to get out of the store!
  • Shop early in the morning or later at night, when the store won’t be as busy and you can get done faster and avoid waiting behind lines of people (more time to add things to your cart)
  • Use coupons in combination with sales for the best deals
  • Request price matching
  • Stock up on staple items when you find sale prices
  • Purchase vegetables and fruits at farmer’s markets for freshest produce and lowest prices (or plant a garden)