Today I’d like to share seven quick grocery shopping tips with you. Oh, I guess I should mention that this is yet another guest post by Susanne Myers – The Hillbilly Housewife. I’m on the road, touring from blog to blog this October to spread the word about frugal living, meal planning and breast cancer research. But let’s get back to the grocery shopping tips…

I don’t know about you, but I don’t really like grocery shopping. That’s one of the reasons I started to meal plan… it allowed me to shop less often.

Here are just a few of my favorite tips and shortcuts:

1. Don’t shop hungry – you’ll end up buying more and more things you really don’t need, especially junk and convenience food. Have a little snack before you leave home. You’ll also be able to concentrate better which will make your shopping experience faster and more enjoyable.
2. Go by yourself if you can – having the kids or husband join you adds lots of distractions. You’ll end up forgetting to get some crucial items. Kids and spouses can also talk you into buying things you don’t really need. Go by yourself when you can and get the shopping done more quickly.
3. Look at the sales flyer before you go – circle the items you really want to get on sale and add them to your list as well. I often plan my meals around what’s on sale that week and then put together my shopping list. Don’t forget to bring any coupons you may need to get the best deal.
4. Look for store brand – I always look to see if there’s a store brand version available. Most of the time they are just as good as the original at a fraction of the cost.
5. Shop the perimeter of the store – skip the middle rows unless there is something in particular that you need. They are full of convenience foods, candy etc. Stick to the whole foods available on the perimeter of the store (i.e. produce, meat, etc.)
6. Keep a price book – I have a little notebook that I carry in my purse that has the prices of all the items I buy most often in it. At a glance I can decide if something really is a good deal.
7. Make a list and stick to it – Take the time to sit down and write out your grocery list. Unless it is something very essential (think diapers), make yourself stick to the list. It’ll keep you from giving into impulse buys. Christine does a wonderful job creating categorized shopping lists for all her meal plans.

That’s it for today. I’ll be back with another blog post tomorrow. Leave me some comments and share some of your own grocery tips.  Christine and I will put all commenters in a drawing and give away a subscription to her Meal Planning Service and one to the Hillbilly Housewife Club.

Susanne Myers – The Hillbilly Housewife
HillbillyHousewife.com

P.S. Love recipes? Take a moment to browse through my collection of frugal recipes. I’m sure you’ll find some new family favorites.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 30th, 2009 at 9:33 am and is filed under Shopping Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.