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Save money at the grocery store without coupons

Save money at the grocery store.

Save on Groceries Without Coupons

Would you like to save money at the grocery store, but don’t want to use coupons?

It is possible. You can save money at the grocery store without using coupons, by following the tips below. In addition, I have a large list of tips in my eBook, Money In Your Pocket, that are guaranteed to save you tons of cash at the grocery store every time you shop.

Make a shopping list and stick to it.

Before hitting the store, check your local sales flyers and write down the best deals. Try to only buy what is on sale (although this is sometimes not possible, I know!). When you go shopping, only purchase what is on your list – nothing more.

Make a weekly menu.

After you have determined what is on sale at the stores, plan your meals around the sale items. Our ground beef and pork chops on sale? You could add burgers and pork chops to your menu. Oatmeal and cereal on sale? There are your breakfasts.

Shop alone.

Bringing your kids or spouse with you will only lead to unnecessary purchases. If you must bring your kids, make sure that they know you have to stick to your shopping list.

Stock up when things go on sale.
Set aside a certain amount in your budget each month for stocking up on sale items. Then, when items you often use go on sale dirt cheap, stock up. Purchase as many as you can afford, store, and use before the item goes bad.

Eat less meat.

Let’s face it, meat can be expensive. Try having at least one meatless meal per week to save money. When you do have meat, try making your other dishes the main course and the meat as the side dish. This will eliminate the need to make a large amount.

Stop buying convenience items.

Grated cheese, chopped garlic, and pre-cut fruits/veggies are all items you should avoid if you want to save money. Spend a bit of time doing those tasks yourself and you will reap the financial rewards.

Buy the store brand.

Store brand items are almost always cheaper than the name brand, so try them out if you want to save money at the grocery store. We use store brand canned tomatoes, nuts, spices, baking supplies, and many other things and they taste just as good (sometimes better) than the name brand.

Shop around the store.

Produce, meats, dairy, and bread are all located around the store. The center aisles are filled with things like chips, pop, cereal, crackers, condiments – and many of those things are not necessary. Shop around the store for the freshest, cheapest foods.

Only buy produce that is in season.

There is always something in season. Check your flyers to see what the cheapest items are (these are usually on the front or back page) – those are the items that are in season. You can also download our free in-season produce guide.

Don’t shop when you’re hungry.

Shopping while you are hungry almost always leads to impulse purchases. Impulse buys will just kill your grocery budget, so eat something filling before you head out to go shopping.

Look high and low.

The most expensive items are always placed at eye level. Look on the top and bottom shelves to find cheaper items (and sometimes you will get lucky and find clearance items).

Compare unit prices.

Figure out which size item has the lowest cost per unit – that’s the one you want to buy. Of course, make sure you are actually going to use the whole thing. Saving money on something you just end up throwing away is not actually saving money at all.

There are many ways to save money at the grocery store without using coupons. This is just a small sample of what you can do.

You never want to pay full price if you don’t have to, so experiment with a few of the tips above and see if they work for you.

How do you save money at the grocery store without using coupons?

Comments

  1. Claudia

    I am a huge advocate of store brand things! Except tomato soup: I haven’t found a store brand that I like as much as the real Campbell’s brand.

  2. Cassie Howard

    yeah there are certain things i wont buy the store brand of. but most of it is just fine 😀

  3. animegirl

    how are these lil known? these are all posted on basically every save money on grocery’ article out there. I really like your blog, but some things you say are incorrect (the shelf life of products like shampoo and laundry soap etc)

  4. Cassie Howard

    i’m sorry you feel that way! i do my best to research everything i post here.

  5. Stella

    Hi Cassie

    I am a huge fan of your website and although I find that some of waht you say may be repetative or common sense I also find that by rereading your comments and ideas there is a bit of something new in every word. I also feel that it is great for those just starting out with coupons. Your information is valid and very helpful. I have a young friend who is not a great shopper and has learned a lot by reading your website.

    so keep up the great work!!!!!!!

  6. Knowledge Is Power

    I had heard this many years ago and it does usually hold true. To buy the best foods that are fresh and have no preservatives and less fattening only shop on the outside perimeters of the store. That is where the baked goods, fresh meat, milk and dairy products all are.

    Once you go up an aisle its all fillers!

  7. Stephanie

    I bought store brand soup once and realized when I got home that there’s even more sodium in it than the Campbell’s soup. Wasn’t worth the savings!

  8. Debbie

    Some store brand things are just NASTY! I will try them and if I don’t like them, go back to the name brand. I will only buy Hellmann’s mayo and Heinz ketchup, though. So, when they are on sale, we stock up.

    I disagree a little with your comment about making your meat a side and the sides the main course. That depends on the sides. If the side is a salad or veggies, that would be fine but if it preprocessed JUNK food you are saving money but sacrificing health.

    Otherwise, completely agree 🙂

  9. Alison

    I agree with Stephanie. You must really watch the nutritional information while shopping. Store brands are sometimes but not always the healthiest choice. When my faves are on sale, I always buy extra.

    I’ll also shop the markdowns for meats and bread that I will use right away or can freeze.

  10. Kitty

    I love stocking up on meat when there’s markdowns (30-50% off b/c it’s close to the use by date). I do also have a Costco membership and sometimes the savings are substantial in there! They sell a huge, 2lb tub of chopped garlic bits and it cost $3.50 or so, and the 312g clamshell of organic spring mix salad for $3.49 as opposed to $8+ at the organic store. I also prefer buying meats at Costco b/c it’s the best quality compared to other stores (told from an independent butcher). I know some people are against buying a membership to shop but I share a membership with my mom (so that’s just 50% of the membership cost), and gas is also cheaper at locations where they do have a gasoline station so I definitely think it’s worth it! The only downside to Costco is they don’t accept manufacturer’s coupons.

    I don’t like store brands much b/c sometimes it really does taste different. Spices and seasoning, I don’t mind. My mayo has to be Hellman’s 🙂 or the Japanese kewpie brand!

  11. Lisa

    Just came across your site and had to comment on the expiration dates – some items actually only have expiration dates so that manufacturers can rotate stock. Shampoo – really, how can it expire? Canned foods… Same thing… Tylenol… Etc… Obviously fresh foods have expiration, but you just have to use common sense. An interesting reference for expiration dates on canned goods http://www.foodreference.com/html/tcannedfoodshelflife.html.

  12. teachermum

    I rarely use coupons for our household as they are generally for products we don’t/can’t use. Any good ones I use for donations to our local food bank ie smelly hygiene items that make me wheeze!

    We eat what is on sale produce-wise and I will buy as much as I think will last before it goes bad. Broccoli .67? I’ll buy 8 and then often go back before the flyers change for 8 more. We easily use 2 for a meal, more if they are small. I can use up 4 or more in my tomato, broccoli, tuna, pasta salad so that goes on the menu that week.

    I stock up on other items when they are on sale ie pasta, sauce, tuna, beans, tomatos, any dry goods we use. I’ve always been a loss-leader shopper with a “stockpile” in the basement. Before we bought beef by the half or quarter I bulk bought what was on sale and packaged it out in the freezer for meals. I still do the same for chicken. If I run out of B/S breasts and it isn’t on sale for $3 or $3.49/lb, we don’t eat chicken until it is!

    My menu is dictated by what is on hand and that is dictated by what is on sale. While there are great websites that print out lovely frugal menus and a grocery list, they don’t work for me because I do it the other way around. There is always plenty of food in the house to come up with something to eat.

    Really, sale shopping will get you a wide enough variety of fruits and veggies, for the most part and you can fill in with things that aren’t as cheap (I aim for under $1/lb) when they do go on sale a bit.

  13. teachermum

    I agree with Lisa, I am certainly not a slave to the dates on products. An appalling amount of unneeded waste is created by them, in my opinion. I’m old. Well, not THAT old, and there never used to be dates on anything! Smell the milk…trust me, you’ll know when it is bad.! It is rather freaky how long you can keep it in the fridge anyhow-long past the date and it is still just fine. I even had some raw milk, after 2 weeks at the back of the fridge it was still perfectly fine.

  14. veronica

    I would just like to make a few comments. First I am a 57 year old widow and raising my 5 & 6 year old granddaughters so shopping and preparing nutritious meals on a small budget is a challenge for me as the 6 year old is a very very fussy eater. I do shop the perimeter of stores, I learned this a long time ago. I also learned they put junk food such as chips, bars, candy etc at the check out so the kids will bug their parents for it while they are in the line up. They also put the most expensive and least nutritional (ie sugared cereals) at eye level as the children are short or sitting in the shopping cart. I do not give in to the girls as far as buying the sugared cereals and chips and cookies, etc. I do find it very difficult to make sure I buy fresh fruits and vegetables to serve them on a limited budget., You can usually get coupons for canned and boxed items but you have to wait for fresh produce to be on sale to get a buy on it. Canned goods I will not keep past the expiration and I am trying to get away from them as much as possible as I recently found out that the cans are coated with BPA to help preserve the contents. This also includes soda cans and other drinks. It is getting to the point we are going to have to grow our own fruit and veggies and raise our own chickens and beef and pork if we want to eat food that is healthy and not full of additives, preservatives and steroids!

  15. christine

    they say to live like a pauper and always eat like a king. you can live a frugal life and be frugal on eating just bought good quality ingredients. We buy many store brands but as many readers said they have certain go to brands. We all know what we like to buy it and enjoy it.

  16. Sylvia

    Thanks Cassie (Cassie) for taking the time to produce such an excellent free resource mostly because it is inspiring and the how-to instructions are really clear to understand. I’ve mentioned your site to others already and will continue to do so.

  17. Christelle

    Cassie,
    I am new to using coupons and have already saved money. Thanks for all your hard work and its awesome to have a website to refer to without having to go to a million sites. Thanks
    It is true email companies they do send you coupons ,my mailbox is getting coupons everyday as I spent 2 hrs last week emailing the list of companies that you posted and I got responses back saying they are mailing me them.

  18. nancy duncan

    oh yes, i buy alot of store brand items, some things i won’t switch for tho, but i always get them on sale. it’s gotta be heinz ketchup and kraft cheese whiz. and i have to have folgers in my cup lol. but other than that, it’s store brands all the way! (unless i have coupons hehehe)

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