"It's A Win-Win": 35 Money-Saving Grocery Shopping Tips Real People Swear By

"Use the 60/30/10 grocery rule."View Entire Post ›

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It's, unfortunately, far too easy to spend one million dollars a week on groceries these days, so I'm always on the lookout for good money-saving ideas. Recently, I was poking around on Quora and came across some grocery shopping tips that are too good not to share. Here are some of the best ones: 2.

"If you have trouble with impulse spending, shop with cash. Going in with only $25 or $50 to spend on the next three days keeps you from buying unnecessary things." — Andrea McCurdy 4.



"My grocery offers delivery. For a modest yearly sum, the delivery is at no additional charge. I buy nearly all my groceries this way.

The prices are the same as in the store. I don’t do any impulse buying, saving quite a bit. I don’t have to spend time grocery shopping, either.

My car doesn’t spend time in a parking lot getting dinged, and I save on gas. Tipping is not permitted. It’s a win-win!" — Wendy M.

6. "Choose one or two stores near you with generally good prices, and use them for most of your shopping. Don’t go all over town.

Space permitting, make fewer, larger trips." — Betsy Megas 8. "Plan ahead.

If you need cream for one dish, find another dish that will use up the rest of the cream within a few days." — Lynn E. 10.

"Partially prepare your meals in advance. Try to do some preparations like marination, chopping the vegetables, mixing the spices required for cooking, and other things that can help you speed up your cooking time. When cooking gets easier and quicker, you are less tempted to buy from outside.

" — Kushal Parsa 12. "I check the cost per ounce. The items on sale aren’t always the cheapest price.

" — Cali A Taylor 14. "At least half of what we buy is on sale! Our local grocer has weekly sales that come out on Wednesday through the following Monday. I’m there on Wednesday, shopping for the stuff that’s just been marked down.

" — Jan Steinman Are you enjoying these money-saving grocery tips? Share this post with your favorite shopping buddy! 16. "In the US, it seems there is a fair amount of produce that is rejected by large grocery stores for aesthetic reasons, e.g.

, a bell pepper that is half green and half red, and this produce is still often sold at small independent grocery stores. In both California and Maryland, I've found Mexican groceries where the produce is half as much as Safeway." — Mark Eichenlaub 18.

"I’ve observed many friends who will purchase bulk items at stores like Costco, Sam’s Clubs, and the like but will buy twice as much as they would normally use. So if an item like a super large bag of broccoli is $5 a bag, but you throw away half of it because it wasn’t used quickly enough because it’s just the two of you. Well, realistically, you paid $10 a bag for what you used.

Poor purchasing habits." — Jim Connolly 20. "Use a rewards card if your store offers them.

By engaging in weekly deals and point bonuses, you can receive anywhere from $5 to $10 in credit toward future purchases. Just be careful with this approach. If you are spending an extra $10+ on items that you don’t need to save $10, then you’re not actually saving money.

Only follow this if you are going to spend that amount anyway or if you are using the bulk buy approach." — Bradley Dalli 22. "If something goes off in a shop, it's their problem; if it goes off in your house, it's yours.

Don't buy food you are going to throw away. It's fairly easy to judge what you ate all of the previous week. For instance, no one throws away bacon or steak, but perishables and impulse buys 'that might be a good idea' do get thrown away.

" — Joe Geronimo Martinez 24. "If you live in a city, go to ethnic neighborhoods and shop in the markets there. A plucked chicken will naturally cost more than one you pluck yourself (I’m not kidding!), but in general, the produce and meat will be MUCH lower-priced than at the big chains.

" — Albert Cornelius Doyle 26. "Fruits and vegetables in season are usually cheaper and fresher than those not in season. Try to plan your meals around seasonal produce.

" — Zarita Lopez 28. "If you see something on sale but the grocer is out of stock, ask for a rain check. They are sometimes good for 30 days.

Rain checks are given out as an incentive for you to return to the store for more purchases." — Howard Hirsch 30. "On Tuesday, I saved over $65 on my grocery bill by using coupons.

The total bill was $253, I paid $185. Totally sold on coupons and using the online system for my favorite grocery store to have additional coupons on their online system and using their frequent customer options." — Susan Zook 32.

"If you eat meat, buy what’s on special this week and freeze it. Then, plan meals around it for next week." — Evelyn Jane Saungikar 34.

"I keep a supply of pantry staples bought in bulk, like several varieties of rice, dried beans, cornmeal, flour, nuts, condiments, and dried fruits. When I make a pot of beans, rice, or polenta, I make enough for three or four meals and freeze in meal-size portions." — Pearl York What do you do to save money on groceries? Share your favorite tip or trick in the comments!.