Let’s take an average family of four spending about $250.00 a week on groceries at one of the major supermarkets. That’s a total of $13,000.00 for the year. How can we save and reduce this amount?

Saving money on groceries does not have anything to do with income, it’s to do with knowledge. So let’s get knowledged up!

Buy Generic Brands

Many of the generic brands for staples are no different to use in recipes than the more expensive brands.

In fact you could probably save up to 25% on your grocery bill per year if you changed to buying generic brands. When it comes to staples like sugar, salt, flour, bleach and many other items, for most people there is no discernible difference in quality—only in the price. Consider trying the generic brands of cereals and biscuits – the kids probably wont notice the difference. You can always mix 50/50 to wean them slowly. Shopping at Aldi could also potentially save you an easy 25% off your current shopping bill if you shop at one of the major supermarkets.

Make a Grocery List Before You Go

This is the quintessential way to save money when you go to the grocery shop. Making a list of what you need for a week or month and sticking to that list can save you hundreds of dollars a year, maybe even into the thousands of dollars if you incorporate these other tips.

Online Grocery Stores

The big online grocery players are certainly shaking up the market and offer terrific savings if you have the time to shop with them. You can buy in bulk and you could save up to 80% on items from places such as groceryrun.com.au , catchoftheday.com.au and Kogan Pantry

Fresh Fruit and Vegetables

Eating more fresh fruits and vegetables that are in season can slice up to 20% off your grocery bill. The idea is to replace the frozen and packaged snacks and meals with the fresher options. Taking this further you can shop at the local fresh food markets for further savings.

Shop with Cash Only

If you are going to go to the shops to buy groceries and you have your shopping list ready then why not go one further and only use cash to purchase your items? Much research over the years shows that paying with actual ‘real money’, cash, makes people spend less. And you can only spend what you have so sticking to a budget becomes much easier.

Stock up

When things that you normally buy are on sale why not stock up on them and save some money? This can add up to a substantial saving over the year and if you can skip going to the grocery shop one week a month and create meals with what you have stockpiled you’ll save even more.

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Now if we can combine these six easy money savvy saving strategies to become a normal part of your savings plan then you’ll be well on your way to a better financial life. It’s possible to save over $3000.00 a year using these tips alone and there are plenty of other savvy tips to help you shave even more off your grocery bills through the Money Savvy Mums website.

Here are 5 more tips I think you should know.

Make Meals from Scratch

It’s not as hard as you might think. Making your own meals is one of the biggest and easiest ways you can save money.

Cook Too Much

Cooking more than you need is a quick strategy that can save you time, waste and money. Simply cook too much of the main meal and freeze the leftovers or take them to work for lunch the next day (if you can avoid buying a lunch at work daily you could save $1,800 per year).

Don’t Buy Water

We are lucky enough in Australia to have clean, fresh water basically wherever we go. There is no need to buy water – fill a bottle from the tap and take that.

Don’t Shop Hungry

We’ve all done it! Gone to the shops when we are hungry and ended up buying more food than we should have and spending too much. Make sure you eat before you go, simple..

Shop Alone

Impulse buying is a big money maker for the grocery shops and they will do everything in their power to get you to buy something you don’t need. Kids are targeted at eye level and with fun colours etc so leave them at home to save you the stress. It’s not just the kids, hubby can also throw things into the trolley before you see them at the checkout.

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