How To Save Money At The Grocery Store
- Kylee Minson
- Apr 25, 2019
- 2 min read
Updated: Sep 13, 2019
Grocery shopping can seem like a daunting task as a college student. The grocery store all the sudden feels like a jungle, and you no longer have your parents guiding the way. You realized you have the power to buy whatever you want, yet you have a budget to stay within. You may wonder how your parents were about to get the "good stuff" without having to take out a loan, or have to eat Ramen Noodles every night. I'm here to show you some ways to save a couple bucks and still eat like royalty.
1. Apps that give back
With hundreds of thousands of apps in the app store, there are a few that will reward you for grocery shopping. The first one is called Shopkicks. Shopkicks is a free app that gives you points for going to certain stores, checking in, scanning different items, as well as purchasing certain items. It’s similar to a scavenger hunt without the difficulty of guessing where the items will be. These points can be saved up to earn gift cards to restaurants, stores, etc. The second app will actually reimburse you for buying certain products, it’s called Ibotta. Ibotta is a free app that has rebates for different products you buy every day. You can even get reimbursed by shopping on certain online.
2. Know before you go
I can’t tell you how many time I’ve gone into the store with an idea of what I needed, but I walked out with half the store. Another app I have found that is extremely helpful with keeping track of what I actually need is called Out Of Milk. It allows you to create different shopping lists as well as do to lists to help keep you organized. It also allows you to imput the prices of each item, that way you can keep within your budget.
3. Don’t be afraid to go for the cheaper version
Another thing that will help you stay in budget is to not be afraid to go for the private label brands. A private label product is a product that is marketed as a different brand. This includes Walmart’s “Great Value” brand and Target’s “up&up” brand. While these don’t reward you for purchases, these do help you save a couple bucks, especially when the budget gets tight. I have found that these brands are pretty good dupes for a lot of products, however, not all are perfect matches. I will never stray from Kraft’s Mac&Cheese and Skippy Peanut Butter.
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