11 Grocery Shopping Hacks To Save Money & Time

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Genius grocery shopping hacks to save money at the grocery store!

Tips to eat well and feed your family without breaking your grocery budget!

Spend less on groceries every single time!

Grocery shopping is a must for all people! Whether you hate or love it, we all have to eat. 

For my family of five, there have been times that our monthly grocery bill exceeded our mortgage payment. 

That’s right, we spend MORE money on food than any other bill. 

I had to make a change! I needed to find easy ways to save on groceries without spending my time couponing!

How To Spend Less On Groceries

I am not one of those people that can explain to you how to feed a family of five for $20/week. 

However, I can explain how I cut my grocery bill way down and became a much smarter shopper. 

If you want to spend less on groceries then you must be a smart shopper!

I like to feed my family healthy and preferably organic foods because what we put in our bodies is SO IMPORTANT.

Most of our meals are home-cooked, so I have come up with some handy grocery shopping hacks to save money and time. 

11 Grocery Shopping Hacks To Spend Less On Groceries

1. Know The Dirty Dozen

None of us want to feed our kids foods with pesticide residue.

With all the labels of GMO, organic, and all-natural; you can get a little lost and end up spending way more than you should.

There are certain foods you SHOULD always buy organic because they retain an insane amount of pesticides that aren’t good for any of us. 

The frustrating thing is that organic foods seem to cost way more.

The Dirty Dozen is a list of 12 produce items that should ALWAYS be organic. 

The Dirty Dozen includes:

• apples
• celery
• tomatoes
• strawberries
• bell peppers
• cherries
• grapes
• peaches
• nectarines
• spinach
• potatoes
• kale

So when it comes to organic foods, splurge on these 12 organic items and save your money on everything else! 

There is even a list of foods that never need to be organic because they either don’t need pesticides to grow or they just don’t retain the pesticides. This list is called the Clean Fifteen.

The Clean Fifteen includes:

• avocados
• corn
• pineapples
• frozen peas
• onions
• papayas
• eggplants
• asparagus
• kiwis
• cabbage
• cauliflower
• cantaloupes
• broccoli
• mushrooms
• honeydew melons

So definitely don’t worry about paying the organic prices if you buy of these.

2. Meal Plan

When you meal plan, it saves you from a lot of unnecessary purchases.

Before I started meal planning, I would have good intentions to make meals but many of times the food expired before I got around to it.

That was such a big waste of money. It makes me cringe at how much I wasted!

So on Sundays, I sit down and plan out the week’s meals.

I then make my grocery list around those meals. Nothing gets wasted, and it takes the stress out of dinner time.

Also, I don’t get asked a hundred times a week, “Mom, what’s for dinner?”

Since they already know, because I have a magnetic weekly menu on our refrigerator. 

You can also get a printable meal planner to help you plan out the week.

Not only can you plan meals but you can keep an inventory of your refrigerator, freezer, and pantry!

If you want to save time and have all of your meals already planned out for you then join the $5 Meal Plan. 

For just $5 a month you can have all of your meals: breakfast, lunch, and dinner planned out! That includes shopping lists!

If you don’t want to pay just $5 a month, then still sign up for FREE to get 40 recipes for super cheap meals! 

3. Use Money Saving Apps

Do you clip coupons? I don’t.

I just don’t have the time. Even if I did, it’s one of those things that I know would help save money, but I really just don’t like doing it.

That’s why I use Ibotta. It’s convenient and takes very little time or effort. 

I have saved $100’s of dollars on groceries since I started using Ibotta. It is so simple to use. 

It’s a free money-saving app that you can find in the app store.

Once you have downloaded it,  you just scan offers for the store you are going to go to and then save those offers. 

After you make your purchase, then use the app to scan the bar code on your receipt.

Then POOF! Just like that, you get cashback.

It’s kind of like digital coupons. 

Once your cashback balance is $20 then you can request to get your money. 

It is such an easy way to save money on groceries without much effort!

Sign up today for up to $20 in welcome bonuses!

After you go shopping then scan each receipt with the FREE app CoinOut. 

You may have seen it on ShartTank.

You can scan any and every receipt you have and get cash back.

I use CoinOut all the time and have made $100’s in cash back that you can cash out with Paypal. 

4. Rewards Programs

Always make sure you are signed up for your grocery store rewards programs.

Pretty much most stores have them these days. 

Scanning my rewards card has saved me hundreds of dollars on groceries every month, not to mention gas points. Win-win!

5. Grab From The Back

Yes, I am one of those women grabbing the milk on the very back shelf.

I check the expiration date of EVERYTHING! 

Getting something that stays fresh longer will save you money and time in the long run. 

Not only that, but we all feel so guilty throwing away food!

So save money, save time, and don’t feel guilty by being sure to grab the food in the back with a better expiration date!

6. Just NO to Brand Names

I am here to tell you that many times you are just paying for the name. You know it’s true. 

Let me tell you a little story.

So my daughter had to have this hat from a high-end clothing store in the mall. It cost $40. It was just this plain white hat.

I tried to explain to her that it was way overpriced, but in the end, she ended up buying it with her own money.

The very next day we were in the Dollar Tree, you know the store where EVERYTHING is a dollar.

Guess what we found, the SAME hat. I kid you not, it was exactly the same, it even had the same tag. 

She learned a very valuable lesson that day.

She has been my frugal little detective ever since. 

Brand-name foods are pretty much the same. There are just a couple of food items that I can tell a difference between brand and generic. 

So I say give generic a chance because chances are, you won’t see a difference but your grocery budget sure will!

7. Have A Meatless Monday

If you are vegan, you can skip this.

If you are like me who has a husband that doesn’t feel like a meal is complete without meat then keep reading.

Meat is the most expensive item at the grocery store.

To my husband’s dismay, we have started the Meatless Monday trend. 

So that is one less dinner without meat, and it has saved me money!

Not only that but it’s really good for us and the environment to cut down on meat. 

Don’t worry my husband has even agreed it’s not so bad, and he really can’t tell a difference. So it works out for all of us. 

Here are some great recipes you can try for meatless Mondays.

8. Grab A Rotisserie

I shop at Publix a lot and I LOVE their rotisserie chickens.

I tend to grab one every time I go to the grocery store. 

They are only 4.99 which is cheaper than a pack of chicken breasts that costs around $12. 

So I say save money and save time and grab a rotisserie chicken.

I have a whole list of 25 easy kid-approved recipes using a rotisserie. 

9. Eat Before You Go

Never, I mean NEVER go to the grocery store hungry.

Or even worse than that, NEVER take your kids when they are hungry. 

You will buy so much stuff you don’t need!

Your kids will want EVERYTHING they see. 

10. Order Online

Sometimes I order all my groceries online and just go pick them up.

It is so easy, and there are no impulse purchases. 

The thing is though, I don’t like paying the $5 fee. 

Sometimes though it is worth $5 when you don’t have a lot of time, or just don’t feel like going. 

I can do my grocery shopping in bed in my pajamas.

The digital coupons are already loaded in the app and the sales are right in front of me. 

I admit during cold and flu season I do MOST of my shopping online.

It’s just the smart thing to do. 

Related Post: 50 Money Saving Mom Hacks

11. Don’t Buy Bottled Water

Bottle water is a waste of money!

You know most of that water is made in the same plants. 

Again, paying for brand names. 

Anyway, get a filter for your faucet.

Or get a filtered pitcher to keep cold in your refrigerator and SAVE YOUR MONEY!

Sign up to download the FREE printable grocery shopping list from the Resource Library.

Once you have signed up, the link and password will be emailed to you shortly. 

Grocery Shopping Hacks: How To Save On Groceries

So there are the little grocery shopping hacks I use to save money at the grocery store! They have really cut down my food bill and helped me keep a grocery budget.

I still buy healthy and we eat home-cooked meals, but I no longer spend over $1000 a month on groceries. 

It’s hard to cut spending at the grocery store because the prices just keep going up. If you use all these little tips, then it should help you save money on your next grocery run!

Shop smarter and save money! For More ways to save money be sure to check out 50 Money Saving Mom Hacks!

Don’t stop here, check out the Smart Mom Resources page for MORE time-saving & budget-friendly MOM HACKS!

Plus, you can sign up for new Mom Hacks to be sent to your inbox monthly. That’s right just once a month because we barely have time for anything as is, so spamming your inbox is a guaranteed NO.

Do you have any MOM HACKS that you use to cut corners?  PLEASE let me know in the comments 🙂

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