G rocery shopping can be quite a hassle, especially if you are living in a post COVID-19 world. A lot of people don't know how to do groceries on a budget to save their wallet. It can either be because we have insufficient income or because a proper livable source of income is not available to us at the moment. The average grocery shopping cost for an American is around 386 dollars, which is way too much. Today, we are going to tell you how you can be cheaper than the average shopper without compromising on your core needs.
A lot of the reasons why your groceries are expensive is because a lot of these items get heavily taxed, which ends up inflating their prices. A way around that is buying non-perishable items such as canned fruits or dry fruits online through Amazon. You will not have to pay taxes for that and shipping is free under Amazon, so it would save you a ton of money.
A common mistake is that people buy perishable food items in bulk. The problem is that perishable items will rot within a week of buying. Hence, it is best to buy only according to what your particular needs are. Estimate how many vegetables you will consume within a week and buy accordingly. Going for fruits and vegetable shopping every week is better than buying in bulk and wasting them all away. That not only is a waste of food but also of your precious money. Another way around this is buying less perishable foods that last longer, such as the same foods you buy fresh can be bought canned under the same quality.
If you go to buy some meat, try to buy it in the most unprocessed form as you can. The value of the meat increases if it is cut up by the butcher. Take the meat home and cut it up yourself. The same goes for something like cereal. If you are a fan of oatmeal, buy the unprocessed ones in bulk. Packeted oatmeal has the cost of packaging, sugar, and other additives added to it. You would be surprised by how much money you can save when you start avoiding processed food.
People tend to buy groceries very impulsively. The instinct of the average shopper is to walk into a store and just buy whatever they need. The problem with this sort of thinking is that every store has varying price grocery items. What you need to do is prepare a list of groceries that you might need weekly and compare the prices store by store. This may seem pretty petty but who has time to recheck the price of noodles everywhere. However, comparing your entire grocery list can and will save you a lot of money that is normally wasted.
Never let your leftover food go to waste. There are limitless possibilities that are only limited by your creativity of what you can create with your leftovers. You can find a lot of recipes on the internet that will tell you what you can cook with the limited range of products you have in your fridge.
Searching for the best deals using coupons can be a very draining task, but ultimately, it is very rewarding. There are services out there that give you a set of coupons for a small amount of subscription fee. If you download something like Honey (which is free!), you can browse through a retail store website and easily navigate all the deals and discounts they may offer.
Buying bread fresh from a bakery can prove to be at least 50% cheaper than buying it from the average retail store. This is because these products are sold as they are produced. Retail stores act as middlemen, and they take a cut in the profits which increases the price of the product. Trying making some items at home too!
Yes, we know these measures require a lot of precautions and sacrifices to be made, but we live in tough times and in these times, sacrifices are necessary in order to survive. However, we easily assure you that if you follow these guidelines, you will know how to buy groceries on a budget.
