11 Ways to stay Frugal whilst doing the weekly grocery shopping

Xavier Knight

17 Oct, 2019

Throughout 2019 I have done a lot of soul-searching, self-discovery and self-development and one of the things that developed over this course of time is that I have become more aware of how life changes a lot and how priorities change too especially when you enter a different chapter of your life.

One of the areas I thought I would look at firstly is frugality. Frugality is defined as the quality of being economical with money or food.

Its something we should all consider especially nowadays. Consumerism is on the rise and quite often I've noticed people spend unnecessary amounts of money on irrelevant things rather than making do with what they have. Like the old saying goes if it isn't broke don't fix it.

In the first of a series of articles, I will take a look at being frugal with the first article covering ways to stay frugal with the weekly grocery shopping.

Search your cupboards, build up a list of what you have and research what you can make with what you have. That way you can make things last longer.
Create a flexible shopping list covering a set amount of fruit and vegetable. Look at only buying a set amount Perhaps only 6 pieces of Fruit and 6 pieces of Vegetables and a set recipe that you wish to follow for that week. Also, only buy it if it is a reasonable price and make sure the items you buy you plan your recipes around them to prevent too much wastage.
Your recipe plan should only cover you for the week and should be based on what was on sale and the stock you had in your cupboard.
Have a weekly budget and only take that amount when you go shopping so you ensure that you don't go over budget (i.e. there is no option to buy beyond your list).
Any of the weekly budget that you have spare, put it into next week's budget so you can spend a little more or save it for a rainy day when you may want to have an additional budget especially if your entertaining someone.
Don't show brand loyalty keep changing and choose the one which is the best value for you at the time.
Watch my portion sizes especially when cooking and serving.
Instead of buying soups, make your own and make sure you make enough to last a week. Freeze them and use it if you feel peckish or give them to people in need if you want to help others.
Mix up your diet, have some vegetarian days and some meat days, you will be surprised by some healthy meals you can make and how different you can feel
Learned how to use a variety of vegetables you wouldn't consider as part of your meal such as chickpeas & beans.
Try to shop at the farmer's markets, fruit & veg stalls as much as possible rather than supermarkets, sometimes you can get better deals.