According to a supermarket manager, these are ways to save money
Groceries are expensive! Especially if you want to buy fresh produce, it can be challenging to stick to your budget. But apparently, there are some tricks that will help you save money while going grocery shopping.
1. Plan ahead
The first step is to prepare your visit. If you walk into the store feeling hungry and without a plan, you might just grab whatever you feel like eating. And that will cost you! Kate Hensley Luna, store team leader of Whole Foods Market in Bozeman, told Well + Good: “Plan your shopping trip beforehand and try to build your meals around sales. You can view weekly deals and sales on our website or sign up for our weekly newsletter.” And the people inside of the store can help you out too. Luna explains: “Our fishmongers and butchers offer many helpful services on the house. Fishmongers can debone, devein, and filet; butchers will cut to order. I know customers who have them cut up chicken breasts into cubes to save them the prep and extra cost of buying pre-packaged chicken nuggets.” These employees also know exactly what items are on sale and what to make with them. So, plan your meals, make a shopping list and ask employees for help.
2. Only buy what you need
Some products can be customized to your needs. Luna says: “Cutting down a product to just what you need can save a lot of money. Whether you can’t find a small enough block of cheese at the specialty counter, or you only need half a cabbage instead of a whole, you can ask a produce and specialty team members to cut down exactly what you need so you can save when buying by the pound.”
3. Look into memberships and deals
For some stores, there are membership programs that can help you save money too. You scan your member card during checkout and whenever there’s a member deal on certain items, you will receive a discount. “If you’re a Prime Member shopping at Whole Foods, for instance, you can scan your membership at checkout. Every item on sale in our stores is an extra 10 percent off the sale price for Prime Members. Look for the yellow tags all over the store to identify what’s on sale. You’ll be able to see both the sale price and the Prime Member price,” Luna told Well + Good.
4. Shop seasonally
If you shop whatever fruit or vegetable is ‘in season’, it might save you a lot of money. “Shopping produce that’s in-season is a personal go-to, not only because everything tastes so great at the peak of the season, but also because produce tends to be at its best value—and go on promotion or on sale more frequently—when it’s the most bountiful,” Luna explains.
5. Shop the private label
The best tip is to shop the private label of the store you’re shopping in. These products usually are cheaper than the name brands. “Shopping private label … opens you up to thousands of products under the label at a great quality … The best part is that all of these items meet our high-quality standards that all of our products must adhere to.” And that means that you’re getting great quality for a better price!
