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photo credit: Lightmash

One of the biggest expenses for us recent grads, outside of rent, utilities and insurance, is food. Taking a trip to the grocery store can put a serious hurt on your wallet if you aren’t careful and don’t go in with a plan. Luckily for you, I’ve got a few easy tips you can follow to not only make your grocery shopping experience faster, but also less costly.

1. Make a List:
One of the biggest mistakes everyone makes when grocery shopping is not writing down what they need when they go shopping. Sure, you may feel a little bit like your parents making a list of things to buy, but it will prevent you from wandering up and down every aisle aimlessly and impulse buying things you didn’t need. Stick to your list and you’ll come out ahead every time.

2. Be Realistic:
When taking stock of what you have on hand at the house make a point to pick up only the things you’ll need in the next 1-2 weeks. Doing this will reduce the amount of food that spoils before you can eat it, and will prevent you from having a bloated pantry that looks like my mother’s – eerily reminiscent of an emergency bunker. While I’ll always encourage buying in bulk to reduce the unit price (more on this later) sometimes you just won’t physically drink a gallon of milk before it spoils. Keep in mind what you need and how much you use when making your selections.

3. Comparison Shop:
Every store will have varying sales week-to-week and it may be worth your while to see where you can get the best prices on the items you buy frequently. While Shaw’s has the best prices on some products, Stop & Shop or Hannaford is cheaper in others. Look around for the best deal you can get and do your shopping there; it could change each week. Also, make a point to look at the unit price and compare it to the larger packages on your non-perishable items. For instance, it may make some sense to buy a 24-pack of toilet paper instead of the 12-pack, since it will be cheaper per roll that way.

4. Buy Store Brand:
In my experience, buying the store brand on most products is the most cost-effective way to go and I’ve noticed little difference in taste or quality from the “name brands.” Everyone has different tastes and so this may not work for you, but if you hadn’t considered it before try out the generic brand once. Since the generic brand is often considerably lower in price, big savings can be had.

5. Use Coupons:
I talked about coupons the other day, so feel free to refer to this post for more info, The thing to remember is, coupons are a great way to save on things you already buy!

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