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5 easy ways to grocery shop efficiently (While staying on budget)

Efficiently shopping for groceries has become easier as more resources become available to us. The internet has made it easy to compare prices without leaving the comfort of your favorite chair! Here are some easy ways to save money on grocery shopping and to help you stay on budget! If you don't have a budget check out my blog post Here to see how I budget!

Plan what you're going to buy ahead of time.

When it comes to grocery shopping, you MUST think ahead. We have all been there. You go to turn down the chip aisle and it feels like you haven't eaten in what feels like days. Then you impulse buy and end up with $200 worth of junk food. That’s why you should come to the grocery store with a game plan and some recipes in mind. The recipes don’t have to be set in stone, some of the items on your list may not be on sale that week. But if you go in with a plan and think ahead you will more than likely not overspend. 

Shop around (look for those deals!) 

Market Basket, Roche Brothers, Aldi, the list goes on and on. Shop around! It’s not illegal to get some products at different stores. This may be time-consuming, but if you can find grocery stores close to each other it makes shopping a lot easier. For example, we recently found an Aldi’s (which is a super cheap food market) that was in the same plaza as a Market Basket. Score!

Browse Fliers/Sales online or at the store 

Most grocery stores have fliers on their website, or you can receive emails every week. Market Basket has that option and since that's our go-to store for deals I signed up. Checking for sales on items you want is a great way to save money. BUT, be warned that just because some items are buy 2 for $6 doesn’t mean that’s the only option. Usually, the off-brand or in our case Market Basket brand items are cheaper.

Coupon like a crazy person!

Coupons are one of those items where you’re like “do they even make those things anymore?” Yes, they do, and you should use them! I normally will look at the company’s websites to see if there are any coupons. You can either print them out (if you even have a printer) or you should be able to screenshot the coupon and just bring it up at the register. Some companies that have coupons that I’ve used are Green Giant and Pampers. 

Use Ibotta (or something similar) 

After making recipes, looking around at the different grocery stores, looking at fliers for sales and using your freshly clipped coupons, you’re done! But are you? There are apps out there that let you scan your receipt to get money back on certain products you buy. We use Ibotta and have cashed in a good amount from food shopping and other purchases. We have cashed out $40 in the past few months of scanning receipts. If you don’t have an account yet sign up here: https://ibotta.com/register?friend=gxqxrqg 

By doing all these steps, we don’t spend more than $50 a week for a vegetarian family of three. Some weeks are more than others because of bad sales or emergency items for the baby (like diapers and wipes). Are any of these steps new to you? Tweet me @DitchinDebt and let me know!

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