5 Mistakes Most People Make At The Grocery Store

See how to save time and money on your next trip to the store!

Grocery shopping can be stressful, especially if you’re in a rush to get home and get on with your day. Maybe you’re a planner who goes to the store once a week, or maybe you’re someone who stops by the store at the end of the workday. Either way, a lot of us tend to make the following mistakes when buying our food. Make sure not to fall into these bad habits and you just might save yourself a lot of time and money!

Not Making A Shopping List

It’s easy to fall into the routine of dropping by the grocery store to “pick up a few items.” But chances are, if you don’t have a plan in place you’ll either end up getting more than you need or forgetting something important! Having a list not only helps you avoid impulse purchases, but it can save you a lot of time. If you organize your list by section – produce, meat, dairy, grains, etc., you’ll spend much less time wandering the aisles and running back and forth to opposite ends of the store. It’s really a win-win!

Not Sanitizing Your Cart

When is the last time you sanitized your grocery cart before handling it? Never? You’re not alone! However, you may be surprised (and disgusted) to learn that studies show grocery carts have more bacteria than public restrooms! Just what kind of bacteria are we talking about? Raw meat, germs, and yes… poop. Probably from young children sitting the front seats of the cart. These threats can be eliminated by a quick swipe of a sanitizing wipe! Be sure to wash your hands when you get home too, just to be on the safe side.

Only Going To One Store

Sure, we all have our go-to grocery store, whether it be because of the variety of items they carry or the convenient location, but you can save a lot of money if you shop around! It might be more inconvenient and take a little more time, but if you’re trying to save money or stick to a budget, finding the best deals can be a total game changer! You don’t have to go all out and become a crazy couponer, by any means. However, it’s worth a look around to see what kinds of sales are going on at your local grocery stores!

Shopping Out Of Season

Thanks to modern farming techniques and greenhouses, we have access to most fruits and veggies year-round. If you’re paying attention though, those fruits and veggies become much more expensive during the offseason when the demand is greater than the supply. By buying your produce when it is in season, not only are you saving money, but you’re getting the best of the best. If you want to enjoy your fruits and veggies year-round, you can always purchase extra and freeze them.

You Only Buy Name Brands

We’ve all heard the saying, “don’t judge a book by its cover,” and, well… the same can be said of the labels and brands of your favorite foods at the grocery store! We tend to flock to the big name brands, General Mills, Kraft, Tyson, etc. However, there are lots of generic and private label versions of your favorite foods that are just as good, if not better than their name brand counterparts. For some reason, we tend to associate a higher price with higher quality, but that’s not always the case. Go ahead and give some of the off-brand products a try! You just might be surprised at how good they are and how much money you save!

For more grocery store hacks, watch the video below!