I know food is a major cost for most households. It always hurts when you checkout. So how can we make it better? Let me share a few tricks to lower your grocery bill.
Named Brand vs Budget Brands
Let’s go through a sample shopping list. In the left hand column will be the name brand item. In the right hand column will be the budget brands. All items in the shopping list will be the closest to size and weight as possible. We are going to use Walmart. Just due to how available it is.
| Brand Name | Brand | Budget |
| Mrs Baird’s Large White Bread, 20 | 2.97 | 1.32 |
| Coca-Cola Soda Pop, 12 fl oz, 12 Pack | 7.26 | 3.98 |
| DASANI 16.9 fl oz, 32 Count Bottles | 6.98 | 5.36 |
| Original Cinnamon Toast Crunch 12 OZ Cereal Box | 3.66 | 2.98 |
| Kellogg’s Froot Loops | 4.98 | 2.18 |
| Kraft Singles American Cheese Slices, 16 Ct | 4.28 | 2.48 |
| EGGS Cage Free Large Brown Grade A Eggs, 18 Count | 4.63 | 3.88 |
| Oak Farms Dairy Whole Milk Gallon – 1 Jug | 4.63 | 3.36 |
| Hillshire Farm Sliced Oven Roasted Turkey Breast Deli | 4.50 | 3.96 |
| Hillshire Farm Sliced Honey Ham Deli Lunch Meat, 9 | 4.50 | 3.96 |
| Breyers Classics Ice Cream Homemade Vanilla 48 oz | 4.97 | 2.67 |
| Oscar Mayer Center Cut Original Bacon, 12 oz | 5.98 | 3.72 |
| Tyson All Natural Boneless Chicken Breasts | 4.64/LB | 2.97/LB |
| Prego Pasta Sauce | 2.38 | 1.48 |
| Smucker’s Strawberry Jam | 4.64 | 2.48 |
| Jif Creamy Peanut Butter, 40-Ounce Jar | 6.78 | 3.98 |
| Heinz Tomato Ketchup, 32 oz Bottle | 4.76 | 1.94 |
| French’s Classic Yellow Mustard, 20 oz | 2.72 | 1.12 |
| On the Border Salsa con Queso Cheese Dip | 3.12 | 2.17 |
| Lay’s Classic Potato Chips, Party Size, 13 oz | 4.98 | 1.98 |
| Doritos Nacho Tortilla Chips, Party Size | 5.38 | 2.24 |
| Total | 98.31 | 49.55 |
Now I know this isn’t everyone’s shopping list. This is an example of how much you pay for the brand named items. With buying all brand name items you spend $98.31 compared to budget brand items you spent $49.55. That’s a savings of $48.76 or a 49.5% savings.
Imagine if you could cut your grocery bill by even just 40% a month. How much would it save you? This might make all the difference in the world.
Do I have to buy all Budget Brands?
This is entirely up to you. Myself there are two things I don’t buy budget brands and that’s cheese and toilet paper.
To stay within your planned budget in the grocery category you should buy budget brands as needed. I allot $350 dollars a month for groceries. That’s my Wife, Myself and our child. Granted our child is a baby still and we will adjust our budget as he gets older. Some may say that seems like to little. Your grocery budget should fit your needs. The reason we are able to keep our grocery budget so low has to do with buying budget brands where we can. As well as planning out our meals.
No, not everything has to be a budget brand item.
Shopping Hungry vs Shopping Full
How many times have you wandered around the store just grabbing items off the shelves. That looks good. I think that looks like a great snack! This happens more than you think when you are hungry.
Everyone has heard not to go to the grocery store hungry. That’s for good reason. When you’re hungry you will buy more food than needed. This will cause you to overspend.
The best thing you can do to avoid this is eat before you go grocery shopping.
No Shopping List vs Shopping List.
You have no plan on what to buy. I will figure it out when I get there. I have done this countless times. The money I have spent on these trips is probably double of what I would have spent if I had a shopping list.
The great thing about a shopping list is it means you thought through what you need. Not what you want. This allows you to not to make impulse purchases. By simply knowing what meals you’re making this week and buying the items that are needed you can save drastically.
Conclusion
To be able to lower your grocery bill these few suggestions will go a long way. One, buy budget brands where you can. Two, make sure you’re not hungry when you go grocery shopping. Three, have a shopping list. Four, plan out your meals for the week.
