Did you know that food is the 3rd largest home expense? The Bureau of Labor Statistics offers a number of suggestions for seniors on a budget to save money. For seniors living on a budget, finding ways to save money is crucial. In writing this article, I researched numerous online websites, and incorporated my own ideas gleaned from years of shopping to feed 6 children and a hungry husband. Check out the following suggestions for saving money when you shop for food.
Ways to Save at the Supermarket
Saving money on groceries requires planning ahead and the willingness to walk away if a food you want is priced too high. Knowing where the look for the best buys in your supermarket will also help.
Avoid the Inner Aisles in the Store
One web resource informed me that grocery stores design their interiors to place the essential ingredients, such as dairy, produce or bread, at opposite ends of the store. This is done to force customers to walk past or through the inside aisles where you are likely to select items you hadn’t planned to buy.
Check the upper and lower shelves
Stores place the pricier items at eye level. Look up and down for better buys.
Take advantage of rain checks
According to one source, popular sale items sell out quickly. Many shoppers just move on, but if a store offers rain checks on deals, be sure to get one and use it. After all, the goal is saving money.
Shop for what is in season
We eat a lot of fruit and used to purchase the clear plastic containers of mixed fruit at Publix. That habit became expensive. Now, I buy the melons, strawberries and blueberries, and any other fruit I want and cut up my own fruit, thereby saving dollars. When packaging your own cut fruits and vegetables, seal them in airtight packages to give them longer nutritional life. Don’t have a sealing machine? Simply place a drinking straw in the corner of a plastic bag, suck out all the air and quickly close it.
Grate your own cheese
Sorry to say that I don’t follow this tip, but it’s a good one. Those wonderful packages of different kinds of cheese all grated and ready to use are convenient and sometimes, that convenience is more important than budget. You’ll have to decide that one, but you definitely can save money if you pull out the grater and prepare your own.
Prepare your own salad mix
Again, those bags of pre-mixed salad save time and effort, but you can save money by mixing your own. I buy a head of iceberg lettuce and a package of romaine lettuce and chop and mix them together. I use quart-size, plastic, zip bags for storing my salad mix. At serving time, I just add whatever else fits the occasion.
Choose Your Stores Carefully
The big-box discount stores don’t always offer the best prices. We watch the flyers from Publix and often find better prices there than Walmart offers. A new Aldi store just opened in Sarasota, and I’ll be visiting them soon to see if they are as reasonable as advertised. Don’t ignore your local farmer’s markets. Saturday mornings often bring great deals from those.
Watch for food sales at Walgreen’s and CVS
Our local Walgreen’s often sells Blue Bell Ice Cream cheaper than does Walmart. It pays to read those ads!
Sign up for store loyalty programs
Many retailers offer discounts to shoppers in their loyalty programs. For example, Kroger offers 5% discount to senior shoppers. Ask at your favorite stores if they offer such a program and use it.
Use the self-check-out register
Along with rude shoppers, nothing raises my blood pressure more than fighting that self-service check-out machine! But I know that at the regular register, I’m likely to pick up 3 or 4 items as I stand there waiting my turn. The self-serve has very little to distract me and very little space, so I’m busy unloading, scanning and packing my own groceries instead of “shopping.” That little money-saving tip works well for me.
More Ideas
There are many more common shopping techniques, such as don’t shop hungry; buy in bulk; generic is often cheaper than name brands. The idea is to be vigilant about reading the sale ads, clipping coupons if that works for you, and choosing the correct places to shop for what you need. Combining lots of methods will result in better deals and money saved on your senior budget.
