Grocery Shopping Tips by Area in the store

Already been pinning grocery shopping tips?

Let us share some tips that made us go from $200 per week to less than $100 per week!

We will break it down by each area of the grocery store.

Center Aisles…I will come back to this more at the end!

Skip the aisle in the center? No way!  This is where you create cheap meals! 

Skip the end cap? No way! Get a great deal on these! Often stores don’t make money off of them! 

Deli/Bistros/Bakery

Skip the deli to save money!

It has the biggest markup! It is where they grow the gross profit for stores!  Also, skip the bakery! It is full of product that grow sales too.

Get our FREE meal planning menu!

This meal planning menu had us go from spending $650 each month to less than $400 each month!

Produce

This is where you can get seasonal SALES!

Stores will put on hot deals to get you into their store!

They usually have 2 ads a month they aren’t making any money off of these items. The store is losing money to get you into their store! It is true!

Like blueberries for $1.99 – this is unreal, but you can find it in season!

Or strawberries for $1.00 – this is also an amazing price that you can find in season!

Another one we love are avocados for .88 cents! YES! 

Buy those up! That is a saving gem!

Peppers, zucchinis and squash for .88 cents – you can find this amazing deal too! And yes, the store is losing money on it! 

Meat

If your spouse is anything like mine this section cannot be skipped no matter what!  My husband always tells me he’s a growing man, and truth be told it was a shock when we first got married because I could each pretty much cereal for dinner or a grilled cheese and be absolutely okay!  I loved breakfast! 

So here are some secrets. 

The service counter items are most of the time marked up.  However, you can find deals when the store has too much on hand or they force out product to get it out of the warehouse!  I love these times because we always use Easy for You at Kroger and there is not a single upcharge, but they will add butter, seasoning, and place it in a bag that you can cook the meat in!

If items are pre-seasoned or precut and packaged, run like run far! Stores do contests on these to grow sales!

Buy things that are a family pack and look at the cents per pound. You will find they are cheaper.  How we get away with using a family pack of chicken or ground beef.  We will choose 3 different meals that are totally different from each other. 

Beef – Beef Tacos, Goulash, and Burgers

Chicken – Chicken, Potato, & Veggie; Chicken Tortellini, White Chicken Chili 

Do your research on what’s around your area!  

You will find you can usually find beef and chicken cheaper if it is frozen too! 

We love using Flipp – this is an awesome app to show comparison between stores.

Dairy/Frozen

These are items that sell and are mostly necessary for you and your family.

Milk, cheese are a major must haves in our home.  Yes, you could make milk to save money with dry milk.  But, I choose not to. 

We cut out coffee creamer and just use milk this saves us about $2.50 per week. 

Small win – easy change!

You can expand your yogurt if you really wanted to too!  I know someone who does this.  I choose not to do this…6 hours in a crockpot. NO thank you!  I am better at cooking my dinners in a crock pot. 

You can find good deals in both departments.  Really buy store brand and only what you are going to use for the week! Unless you find a deal like 

$1.88 Cheese – this is a great deal! 

.99 cent Sour Cream/ Cottage Cheese – good deal!

.99 cent – Butter (you can find this deal, but not often) Usually during the baking season!

.88 cent frozen veggies is also a good deal! ($1.00 is an everyday price but it is an okay deal)

We shy away from things like orange juice and other juices because they are high priced and water from the tap is good.  We do buy them but only for special occasions like Christmas morning, Sunday brunch when we are all together, etc. 

Center Aisles

The aisle everyone tells you to avoid to stay healthy, but I say. You can lose weight by budgeting your meals too and eating on a plan!

Easy cheap meals are found in the center aisles.

Here are some of our easy cheap meals…

• Spaghetti 
• Beef Tacos 
• Korean Beef Bowls
• Chicken, Potato, Veggie
• Chicken Tacos
• Sloppy Joes
• Burgers and veggie
• Tuna Melts

Find a big seasoning of taco seasoning—you will use it a lot on your money journey!

Brown sugar – we use for everything even dinner! We have a sweet tooth!

Sloppy Joes – a can of mix is cheap $1.00 (do not buy the seasoning packet — I did this a few months ago and it is just more complicated and more because you have to buy a can of tomato paste.)

Tuna melts (cheese, mayo, tuna, and bread) Cheap and kid friendly!

Now endcaps (items on the end of each aisle)

• Top sellers and 85% of the time great sale items
• Items to push through aka items that didn’t sell weeks before
  • Stores put a price on it and sell it! Stores sell it at cost or below.

Get used to your store.  Compare to other stores via apps. This is how to get really good at finding the best deal.

Once you do this once or twice you can become a pro!

Now, you are going to make the devil run when you go on your next shopping trip because you are going to be like WOW, I really did save a lot of money with these grocery shopping tips!

Pin this article if you learned something.

Pin it if you got motivation from this article.

Pin it and like it if you love money.

We want you to subscribe to our blog to stay tuned into the journey! I promise we don’t spam you.

Whether it is tiny living with a baby, budgeting to learn to save more/paying off debt, living your best life, and enjoying what God created us for! Life is just beginning!

Join us also on instagram at believe.and.budget!

• WordPress
• Instagram
• Etsy
• Pinterest

We love to make meal planning easier that is why we are giving you a FREE meal planning menu!