To grocery shop cost effective you need to be good with the planning of your buys. It is the worst thing in the world to do, to go to the supermarket and try to remember what you need. This will usually give you a result where you bought most of what you need and many other things. It is the “other things” that ruins the budget of any cost effective shopping.
For sure, it can be hard to avoid all of the great offers you pass when you stroll down the aisles of your supermarket but for cost effective grocery shopping you need to be stronger than these primitive urges. To make things a bit easier you can include some spontaneous purchases into your weekly shopping budget.
It is smart to keep an open list by your fridge or somewhere in your kitchen where you can easily make notes of what you need to buy come shopping day. As you get ready to take care of your groceries you add the standard things that you always buy and then you bring the list along. You should also bring a pen and mark off everything as it goes into your food cart. If you are a big fan of order you could even arrange the list according to the setup of the specific supermarket where you buy your food.
To stay cost effective you should stick to your list and make sure to plan it according to a budget that works for you. If the spontaneous buys are too difficult to resist you could consider doing your grocery shopping online. Online grocery shopping is usually a bit more expensive but if you can control yourself better it might be the most cost effective grocery shopping for you. Take a look at online grocery stores and see what they can offer you. Remember that by ordering the food to your door you also save time and as we all know time is money!