Top 5 Tips for Grocery Shopping on a Budget 🛒💨

Top 5 Tips for Grocery Shopping on a Budget 🛒💨

06.29.2022 - By: Anastasia Barbuzzi

Consumer inflation in Canada has risen  7.7% year over year, which is the most significant yearly increase since January 1983. Unfortunately, everyone seems to be feeling the burn of the rising costs of consumer goods across all categories, including groceries.

If you're looking to patch the holes that your recent grocery bills have burned through your pockets, check out the money-saving tips for grocery shopping on a budget in this blog post. Or, listen to the latest #HoneYourHabits episode on $HMONEY Radio for more on this topic. 

Contrary to popular belief, you don't have to sacrifice the foods you love or their quality.

#1: Shop Only What's on Sale (If You Can Make It Work)

Let's say you're shopping for avocados, and you usually buy the organic kind, but they're crazy expensive, and you'd rather not crop avocados right out of your budget. Guess what? You can still get the avocados— if you buy the avocados that are on sale. 

And you're in luck! Avocados are on the Clean 15 list (a list of the safest non-organic produce to eat), which means you can add the sale bag of avocados to your cart worry-free.  

#2: Stick to the List! Take Inventory & Be Detailed So Your Plan of Attack Is Set

It's effortless to get distracted by the bounty of health food snacks and fancy packaging that lines the shelves of every grocery store. The sheer amount of options available can also make impulse purchasing mindless. That's where a grocery list comes in handy!

Before heading out to a big grocery shop, I like to scour our fridge, cupboards, and pantry. I note exactly what we need (including small tools, like a spatula) and the quantity. That way, I feel satisfied checking off each item on my list and know we need absolutely nothing else. 

Even better, this method helps you avoid those extremely disappointing moments when you realize you forgot that one thing you needed.  

#3: Consult the Clean 15 & Dirty Dozen Lists (Save Them to Your Phone!)

First, if you haven't downloaded $ HMONEY's #cute and FREE $uper Savvy Shopping List for 2022, it's about time to do. Save the list to the notes on your phone and photos, or set it as your background, so you're prepared to shop smarter.  

To come up with the $uper Savvy Shopping List, I checked out the EWG's new shopping guide, which is based on USDA data on 44,702 samples of 46 of the most popular fruits and veggies. The USDA found that more than 70% of non-organic fresh produce sold in the U.S. contained residues of pesticides. 

The following fruits and veggies are treated with the highest volume and variety of pesticides:

The Dirty Dozen 🔴

• Strawberries

• Spinach

• Kale, collard, and mustard greens

• Nectarines

• Apples

• Grapes

• Bell and hot peppers

• Cherries

• Peaches

• Pears

• Celery

• Tomatoes

Is it a coincidence that 2022's "cleanest" fruits and veggies have tougher outer peels, husks, or shells that are removed before eating? I think not! The EWG noted that almost 70% of these fruit and vegetable samples had no detectable pesticide residues after preparation.

The following crops are the safest to buy, not organic: 

The Clean 15 🟢

• Avocados

• Sweet corn

• Pineapple

• Onions

• Papaya

• Sweet peas (frozen)

• Asparagus

• Honeydew melon

• Kiwi

• Cabbage

• Mushrooms

• Cantaloupes

• Mangoes

• Watermelon

• Sweet Potatoes

Shopping the Clean 15 on a budget will save you a few bucks— watch! 

#4: Snap Pics of Ingredient Lists & Chef It Up At Home

As I alluded to earlier in this post, packaged foods (especially healthier and organic options) can blow a budget real quick. Granola bars are a classic budget buster, but they're also one of the easiest snack items to make! That's why I love snapping a quick pic of the ingredient list on products I'd like to try but can't justify the splurge on. 

Not only does challenging yourself with a new recipe get you connected in the kitchen, but it also allows you to see the cost-effectiveness of buying individual ingredients that you can use in other recipes. Take, for example, ingredients like oats that come in large formats.

You can purchase a whole bag for less than $5 and make numerous recipes for the price of what those pre-packaged granola bars would cost you. 

#5: Download a Free & Multi-Faceted Savings App That Works to Your Benefit

My parents introduced me to the Flipp app, which I don't use all the time. However, apps like Flipp can be great tools for saving money. 

Flipp gives you access to coupons from thousands of stores and allows you to keep a grocery list. It also provides you with a convenient way to carry around all of your loyalty cards digitally!  

Now that you're armed with these money-saving tips for grocery shopping on a budget, let me know which ones work best for you in the comments. I hope they help you become a savvier shopper. 💚

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