How to Save a Ton of Money on Groceries

without feeling like a coupon lady!

To preface this entire post, I feel the need to tell you how much anxiety grocery shopping gives me. There are so many decisions to be made. And the decisions needed to be made involve two other areas of life that also give me lots of anxiety: food choices and spending money. I want to make the healthiest choices, but am prone to binging on sugar. I want to save lots of money, but spending money feels so good - until I realize I’m out of money and then it’s panic time. So going to the grocery store and needing to make choices about food while being worried that we are spending too much is the perfect storm for an anxiety tsunami. Do you feel me? Or am I alone in this? 

I don’t remember grocery shopping with my mom when I was younger. I just always remember our house having a fully stocked fridge and pantry. So much so that when I was in college, I’d come to my parent’s house, find a brown paper bag, and start grocery shopping from their pantry - for free. That was my favorite grocery store - Mom and Pop’s. 

As a married adult with kids, I’ve tried grocery shopping without a list. Going to the physical store and wandering all the aisles. Of course, I start with the outer part of the grocery store where all the fresh food is. Not because I’m a health fanatic, but because health fanatics have told me to do this. I usually end up spending way too much money this way because I’m usually hungry (even though those same health fanatics have told me NOT to shop on an empty stomach). 

Before I was married, I lived with a family who was mentoring me on how to be a mom and wife. It’s a little weird to say that, but that was truly why I was living with them. Well, that and the free room and board while I was a first year teacher. The wife taught me this amazing tool for grocery shopping in person. She had created a shopping list and typed the regular items she always bought right onto the document: milk, diapers, eggs, bagels, cheese, pasta, etc… She printed multiple copies of this list out and when she would run out of an item during the week, she would highlight or circle the item on the list that hung from her fridge. The list was also organized by category as well as being specific to the grocery store that she frequented so that the order of the items was in the order of the store layout. There were blank spots below each category so other people in her home could add items they wanted as well. Then, when it was time to grocery shop, she simply took her pre-made list (that took no extra time to sit down and make since she created it throughout the week) and pen and walked around the grocery store while collecting the items on her list. 

I know this isn’t groundbreaking to some. But it was to me, and I used a list similar to that well into our marriage. In fact, I’ve created a fun downloadable graphic that you can edit and use in your home if you’d like to try this method as well. I left the categories blank so you can upload this document into Canva and type in your own regular items. 

Here’s a sneak peek if you’re not a paid Substack subscriber. The full version is under this paywall for my paid subscribers as a thank you! Keep reading to also reveal my secret tip for how to save money easily while grocery shopping.