This is Part 6 in a series on saving money on groceries that even a very beginner can master this month. Whether or not you are trying to eat healthier,  feed your family more nutritious meals, or just get that paycheck to stretch until the next paycheck we could all save a little money on groceries. My hope is that after you have learned and implemented my tips into your grocery shopping plan you will not think that eating healthy is too expensive and will be able to feed your family more nutritious meals at less than the cost of what you have in the past.

I’ve found that groceries can be a HUGE chunk out of your family’s monthly income, but with a few strategies up your sleeve you can greatly reduce that monthly cost.

In case this is the first time you have came to my blog my name is Shannah Holt and I’m a mom of 8 kids (and 8 furbabies; we had 9 up until a few months ago and unfortunately lost one). I’m also a SAHM that has homeschooled for about 15 years now, so living on one income and sometimes less than that with a large family I’ve had to learn the hard way how to stretch that paycheck to survive. I just want to share my tips so you don’t have to go through as much struggle as I have.

The video explains this tip really good so it would be better if you can just watch, but I will include the main points below.

So what do you think of this title? Do you think that stores trick you into buying things?
I’m going to start with a Bonus tip today that relates to Saving Money on Groceries Part 2 in my series.

#Bonus Tip: When a store has a sale on a particular item they most of the time purposely don’t have enough in stock. See they usually take a cut on these sales items to draw you into their store to purchase the other higher priced items so they can make the profit back. But what you can do if they are out is go to the customer service desk and ask for a raincheck. This will give you that sales price next week or weeks to come when they are stocked back up.

#1 Product Placement-Stores design their shelves in a way that draws you to their higher priced version of items. You will find the items they want you to buy at eye level while the generic of that item is on higher or lower shelves. Also they set up entrance and end of aisle displays of those items as well. Even the candy at the check out line is placed there for you to grab (or your children to want) when you can get that item at a much better price in a package of more than one in an aisle.

#2 Do you think it is coincidence that they are cooking hot fresh chicken at the 5-7 pm time? No they know people are running in to pick up things for dinner and the smell of that chicken will make you second guess your dinner plans. Same with drawing you to the bakery for fresh baked bread.

#3 I talked about sales cycles in Part 2 but not only do they advertise sales every week at a different price, but sometimes that sale price is the same or higher than their normal regular price. For example have you ever seen their soups that are regular priced at 89c be in their 10 for $10 sale?

#4 Grocery stores make tons of prepared foods and put them in places you can’t miss especially right in the front so you can run in and grab it. Skip those pre-cut, pre-cooked, and pre-prepared foods when you need to save money instead of time. You can buy all the items to make 4 salads for the price of a pre-made package of salad. They sell sliced mushrooms and pepper for almost $1 more than the un-cut packages. Even down the aisles you can buy seasoning packets that you may think 99c isn’t too bad of a price until you start making your own taco, chili, or ranch seasoning and find our you can not just save money but also take in less of those added chemicals and MSGs.

#5 Buying in bulk is NOT always cheaper. Be sure to read labels for unit prices.

For example a Big package of toilet paper at Sam’s Club with 45 rolls, 265 sheets per roll=1414 sq ft for $20 which when doing the math ($20 divided by 1414=.014c per unit

A smaller package at Aldi’s of 12 rolls with 242 sheets per roll=323 sq ft which comes out to be .015c unit.

That isn’t enough of a difference to buy the huge pack even if you buy a year’s work you are only saving about 12c.

But think about meat like chicken breasts. A small package will be $3 per pound which may only be $4-$5, but a family pack will be less than $2 a pound and you will get 5 pounds for less than $10 a much better deal over the long term.

So look for the unit price on the package and take the cost and divide it by how many units. Walmart and many other stores do the work for you and put it on the label with the price under the item on the shelf or on the package of meat.