Grocery shopping is a huge pain to a lot of people and it can be especially painful if your food budget gets trashed everytime you set foot in the supermarket. The temptation to buy all these newfangled snacks and frozen convenience foods is so high when shopping in a grocery store; not to mention the lure of the Candy aisles and shelves at the checkout. So coming up with a few rules is a good idea before attempting to get the week’s shopping done. Smart grocery shopping is more than just using a grocery list and coupons. So without further ado here are 10 tips on smarter grocery shopping. I’m sure there are many more than these 10 but these are the 10 that I thought of off the top of my head:

10. Buy It In Bulk

If you’ve got a big wholesale store (read: Costco) closeby, take advantage of the savings you can get with buying things in bulk. Now, a lot of people say that the overall cost savings even out because places like Costco require a Membership Fee on the order of $40-50. So keep that in mind. It can help if you have a relative or friend to go shopping with who has a membership anyway. In addition, keep an eye for bulk deals at most supermarkets. Useful things that are 10 for $10 are interesting if it’s something you will actually use. 10 bottles of ketchup for $10 is not.

9. DON’T Buy It In Bulk

Unless you have a really large family or are planning for a party absolutely do not buy bulk perishable items. Things like 6 packs of lettuce, 5 loaves of bread, or 10 pounds of salmon are a recipe for NOT contributing to Cheap Eats. It’ll almost certainly go bad and/or you’ll get really bored of eating lettuce every meal of the day. But certain perishables like chicken thighs which can be frozen may be good bets.

8. Try Using A Budget

Try setting a certain amount that you will spend on groceries BEFORE you go to the market. In tandem with a strict grocery list this is a good contributor to Cheap Eats. Set an amount of X dollars that needs to be followed and you’ll find yourself putting things back on the shelf in order to meet that amount. Try and estimate how much your cart costs and keep that in mind as you’re going up and down the aisles. And don’t get sidetracked by frozen pizzas!!

7. Concentrate On Non-Perishables

Although you’ll always need fresh things to eat, try be vigilant over which of these perishables you need more and whether you actually need them. Fresh Vegetables and Produce are a particular problem because certain ones will go bad really fast. Try to limit or eliminate those in a recipe and/or make sure to use them up right away.

6. Skip Buying Snacks

Hey, your teeth will thank you for not buying that candy bar! Well, there’s a time for snacks but many of them are not that good for you as well. And they tend to be overpriced proportional to the nutritional value they provide and plus don’t have much Usability factor to them (they can’t be re-used in many different recipes, in fact not hardly any at all!) Whatever you do, don’t make eye contact with the candy shelf that’s at every checkout station. Your wallet will thank you.

5. Use The Supermarket Discount Card If They Have It

I covered this earlier in a post on Supermarket Discount Cards. If the supermarket uses one, use it. If not, don’t worry about it.

4. Use Coupons
I know most people probably hate sitting around cutting coupons. I’m not advocating cutting out a thousand of those things from mailers. But if you happen to glance through and you see non-perishables on sale, it may be worth it to cut out. But that’s ONLY if you were already going to buy it anyway, in other words it was on your grocery list.

3. Don’t Buy What You Don’t Need

So called “on-sale” items are often not very much cheaper and in fact may be either old or something the supermarket is in a hurry to get rid of because no one bought it! In any case, don’t be a sucker for a sale tag. This holds for coupons too. There are good deals to be had at the market but it’s only a good deal if you’ll make good use of what you buy! The more perishable the food is, the more you should be wary of buying food just because it’s a “good deal”. And don’t buy that bottle of capers just because it’s a dollar fifty off…

2. Make A Grocery List - And Stick To It

Don’t control your grocery list when shopping, let it direct you. Sticking to it will seriously guarantee that you buy less things that you don’t actually need. That’s what a grocery list is supposed to be after all, a list of things you NEED from the market. Not a list of things you feel like getting once you’re in the store and surrounded by yummy food. That leads into what I think is one of the most important rules for grocery shopping which is:

1. Don’t Shop On An Empty Stomach!

For the love of god DO NOT go grocery shopping on an empty stomach! I believe this is one of the most important factors of Cheap Eats Grocery Shopping. Many of the above rules can be tied into this one. If you are hungry, you will buy what you don’t need. If you are hungry, you will tend to buy in bulk because you really feel like eating it and lots of it. If you’re hungry you’re going to tend to buy more snack items and especially expensive “instant” things like Corndogs or Frozen Pizza. If you’re hungry, you’re in a hurry so you’ll forget you have coupons. If you’re hungry, you will mentally throw your budget AND grocery list out the window.

So yeah, always eat before you go grocery shopping.