Supermarket Smarts

Coupons aren’t the only way to shop smarter at grocery stores. There are a lot of ways to reduce what you spend, and they all have to do with making smart choices.

Here are some of the smart choices you can make to save money on your food bill:

Inventory

Before you go to the stores, have a look through your kitchen and take note of what you really have. You don’t have to detail everything, but you may be surprised to find you already bought the new ketchup you thought you needed to get today. This will save you doubling up on items you don’t need – and also, save you the time and gas money for going out again for anything you forgot you were out of.

You might also get meal and snack ideas from a quick inventory scan.

Track the sales

Check your weekly circulars for what’s on sale. If you see a good sale, think: what dish you make with it? What dinner could it be part of? Come up with some answers, and you’ve got yourself some bargain meals.

Never. Shop. Hungry

I cannot emphasize that enough. Even if you have a list, it’s hard to stick to it when you’re hungry. Your brain comes up with all sorts of excuses because it’s listening to your stomach, not your common sense and good judgment. At least have a little snack before going or taste some samples when you get to the store – even a little something in your stomach will take the edge off those urges to buy everything.

Stretch expensive stuff

It used to be you wanted to stretch meat dishes with veggies and beans and rice and pasta, but nowadays in some parts of the world, meat can be cheaper than the “stretchers.” But whatever you do, when you want to prepare something pricey, you can always stretch it with something else.

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