We are in some bizarre times right now. With everything that’s going on in the world, hopefully your wallets isn’t getting smaller while your groceries budget is getting larger.
As many people are required to stay home for their personal safety, this is causing many families to eat more. What happens when they eat more? That typically equates to them spending more.
But even during a worldwide pandemic, you can still shop for groceries while sticking to budget. Your spending strategy starts before you leave your home to buy groceries along with a clear plan of attack.
Spending too much time in the supermarket, right now, is not only unsafe for your health but also for your bank account. Being smart with your plan will help you in more ways than one.
Let’s go over several tips for grocery shopping to help keep you and your family safer, under budget, and under control during this special pandemic time.
Table Of Contents
- Before Heading Out The Door
- Create A Grocery List Before You Leave Home
- Delivery May Be An Option
- On The Way To The Grocery Store
- Don’t Shop While Hungry
- Try Shopping Off-Peak Hours
- Stick To The Perimeter
- Extra Tips To Keep In Mind
- Buy Generic
- Shop Solo
- Shop Once Every Two Weeks
- Conclusion
Before Heading Out The Door
There are some important tips to keep in mind prior to buying groceries. Being prepared is key if you want to stick to your budget while lessening your chance of being exposed to the coronavirus.
Create A Grocery List Before You Leave Home
Shopping for items you actually need becomes simpler with a list to follow. The importance of making a grocery list before heading to the grocery store is to avoid those impulse purchases while you’re there.
Small purchases add up pretty quickly and before you know it, your grocery budget could be jeopardized. Your financial situation could be exponentially improved from simply having a list handy.
Prior to leaving home, Mrs Simple FI will update a Google Sheet she created a while back. This shows all the items that we usually buy along with the quantity we’ll need then categorized by grocery type.
Categories of grocery items we use are:
- Dairy
- Protein
- Fruits
- Frozen Foods
- Vegetables
- Canned Goods
- Condiments
- Spices/Herbs
- Beverages
- Baking
- Carbs
- Snacks
- Personal Hygiene Supplies
- Household Supplies
There are hundreds of lists you could download from the internet. If you’re using Google, have a look at our Grocery List Template. (Please feel free to use it)
It’s very basic and simple. Two things I value a lot. We populate the list with our common items and quantities we need. Occasionally we will add the prices for those items so we have an estimated dollar amount for our budget but not always. Prices fluctuate so much that this isn’t always a doable option.
Both of us will update this list accordingly. Before Mrs Simple FI leaves the house, she’ll do one final do-over as a sanity check that all the groceries listed are what we actually need based on the contents of our refrigerator and pantry.
The more detailed your list is, the less time you will spend in the supermarket. Less time in the supermarket means less chance of exposure to the virus.
Placing emphasis on the work upfront to build your grocery list as accurately as possible saves your budget and your health on the backend.
Delivery May Be An Option
During these trying times, many digital grocery delivery companies have pivoted their services to meet the demands of shoppers everywhere.
From the comfort of your own home, you can build a digital cart of grocery items from your local supermarket. Services like Instacart can have those items delivered directly to your front door. All your shopping done from the comfort of your own home.
This is just one of several companies offering this type of service for stay at home families.
Other companies utilizing delivery services are:
- Shipt
- Amazon Fresh
- Safeway
- Hungryroot
- Boxed
Be aware that each company has a minimum order requirement and delivery fees. Choose a grocery shopping service that best fits your financial and personal needs. Some offer a membership option that could keep more money in your pocket or provide additional perks.
Another great benefit from using a grocery delivery service includes selecting a predetermined delivery date within the following week. This works great for those who value being organized.
An equation to sum up using a grocery delivery service:
No need for driving + no waiting in line = dramatically limited exposure to other people
If you want to save a few bucks rather than having your goods delivered, you could have your groceries packaged and ready for pick up in the parking lot too.
Let’s say delivering your groceries or picking them up at the store isn’t an option, there are other tips to keep in mind if you need to step foot in a grocery store.
On The Way To The Grocery Store
Before setting out for the grocery store, do yourself a favor and pack a facemask. It’s virtually impossible to go anywhere without one but people still have a tendency to forget it. Keep it handy in your vehicle so there’s less mental fatigue. Save your thinking for the actual grocery shopping.
Don’t Shop While Hungry
The number one sin to avoid while shopping for groceries is shopping while on an empty stomach.
Need a way to spend money carelessly? Expose yourself to delicious foods while you’re starving at the same time. Trust me, it’s a bad idea.
To a hungry shopper, they may be tempted more than usual to buy foods they either – wouldn’t normally buy or didn’t put on their grocery list. It’s a recipe for financial failure.
Partake in a meal before leaving the house. That way you have a higher chance of nailing your budget and keeping your waistline in check. Hungry shoppers are known for buying more junk foods. Don’t be that person.
Try Shopping Off-Peak Hours
Shopping at a grocery store that requires a six-foot distance between shoppers mixed with the busiest store hours and you’re easily looking at a few hours being away from home.
Remember, your goal is stay within budget AND limit exposure to the virus. It doesn’t do any good being near people more than you need to be.
Off-peak hours typically occur around early afternoon like, say, 10am-1pm. This helps with socially distant shopping which is becoming the norm nowadays.
Stay away from shopping on the weekends and after work hours as those are most popular since many people’s schedules open up during those times. Avoid those hours like the plague.
Stick To The Perimeter
Shopping the outermost aisles has a couple of benefits.
Financially, you avoid buying the pre-packaged or processed foods which invoke additional costs. Many shoppers unknowingly deter from their budget because of this.
Physically, those inner aisles – if you’re not careful – bring supplemental pounds. Ever tried working out while scarfing down some potato chips? It makes staying in shape way tougher than eating healthy.
Healthwise, the outer aisles are more roomy and less congested than the inner aisles. Shopping in these areas better your chance of keeping social distance from other shoppers.
Unless you know the items you need from the inner aisles – meaning these items exist on your grocery list – stick to the perimeter of the grocery store. In the outer aisles you’ll find the more natural choices, fresher foods, and minimally processed products.
Look for nutrient-dense choices like fresh and seasonal food, stay on the outer edges of the grocery store, and stick to the budget.
Buy Generic
Many generic brands are exactly the same as the name brand product. Besides the packaging, generic brand items significantly help your budget and taste just as great, if not better than it’s name brand counterparts.
There are many opinions or myths why name brand items are better. But if you look at the nutrition label, they are practically identical.
Same ingredients. Same taste. Same nutritional value. Cheaper in cost.
Which would you pick, generic or name brand?
That should be an easy answer. Keep more money in your pocket and protect your budget. There are far more important decisions to be made with your money. Don’t spend it on name brand items. This is an expense you can simply avoid by buying generic or grocery store brands.
Extra Tips To Keep In Mind
Shop Solo
Want an even better chance of sticking to your budget? Shop alone.
Look, I love my Little FI’ers but if they make a trip with me or the Mrs, we are bound to go over budget. Not even by a little either. Those little critters will just throw items in the cart without us knowing.
We have a higher probability of spending within our means when shopping alone. At least that way we remain under control with our money, time spent in the grocery store, and our sanity. I’m kidding, I love my kiddos.
Again, social distance is enforced everywhere we go. So the less time spent chasing around our children the better. Plus they don’t fully understand the concept of the term social distance either. Make it easier for yourself and venture out individually.
Shop Once Every Two Weeks
Shopping for groceries that’ll last about two weeks is ideal for minimizing the amount trips you need to take and it keeps you safely at home longer with your loved ones.
Plan to cook meals with common ingredients. Carb-like items such as rice, beans, pasta, and legumes complement foods like protein or vegetables.
These, together, can build meals for the family that could last a couple days.
Don’t forget about your freezer. If you’ve got leftovers, freeze them for a quick meal in the future. It’ll save you the headache of shopping for even more groceries down the line.
Purchasing groceries in bulk may seem like a high cost at first. Some people have a tough time wrapping their head around spending so much money in one grocery visit.
But when you consider the amount of food you are getting, you shopped using your personal grocery list, and you’ve done your best to stay within budget, you’re in the right place.
As long as you align your predetermined dollar amount with your grocery shopping plan, everything will fall into place. It’s when one part of the equation is missing – that’s where things go wrong.
Conclusion
Grocery shopping during the pandemic does not have to be this complex adventure like many make it out to be. If you have a budget – that you calculated – and a grocery shopping plan of attack, you should be spending much less time in the store and saving way more money.
Remember that your plan starts before you leave the house, not when you arrive at the store. You keep that in mind and you can be confident that you’ll endure any grocery trip, pandemic or not.
How has the pandemic changed your grocery shopping? What are you going to do differently next grocery store visit? Ultimately, is your goal to spend less on groceries, spend less time in the store, or both? And why?