How to Shop Your Grocery Store and Win!

Okay! You've planned out your meals for the week, checked your pantry and fridge, made your list, shopped the ad and clipped your coupons--well done, you!! Gold star! Now let's shop the store in a way to save you time and money!

Here are some tricks and tips to get you started:

Understand Your Store

The grocery store knows you are going to come in and buy food, but their goal is to make you stay longer, shop impulsively, and put more things in your cart. You can stay strong and save money by doing the following:

• Make a well-organized list and stick to it.

• Shop the outside edges of the store as much as you can, use the middle aisles sparingly, and try your best to avoid the freezer section which is full of processed, more expensive foods.

• Recognize expensive items will be placed at eye-level, so look around on other shelves to find a comparable product or store brand for less.

• Start trying the store brand/generic label on foods you buy--you may be surprised at how tasty the cheaper brands can be.

• Shop the ad and coupons before you go so you know what's on sale, and work your weekly meal planning around those deals!

• Do the math on convenience. Any item a supermarket employee manipulates, will be marked up higher to pay for that service. For example, cut or sliced melon will always be more expensive and smaller in quantity than if you bought a whole melon and did the work yourself at home. Any pre-made food, like deli wraps, meals, shredded chicken, etc. that you find in or near the deli section will be higher in its unit cost than you making it at home. (Yes, you'll spend more money initially buying the ingredients to make a deli wrap sandwich, but you'll be able to make 4-6 sandwiches at home which are cheaper by unit than the single sandwich you bought at the store.) A bakery cake will cost much more than a box mix and can of frosting. You'll need to weigh out what makes the most sense for you in regards to time and budget.

• Skip the impulse buys at the register--no, you DO NOT need that candy bar, bottle of pop, or single pack of gum.

Make an Organized Shopping List

Your shopping list will contain all the food you need for the coming week, and perhaps a few other items to keep your pantry and refrigerator staples replenished. Don't stray from this list. Remember the store is trying its hardest to get you hungry and impulsively buy more. It's intentional you are bombarded with smells of fresh bread and donuts from the bakery. It's very calculated why they put staple items like dairy and eggs on the far back wall of the store. They want you to walk through the cookie, chips, and pop aisles to reach the dairy cases because they know the siren song of nacho cheese Doritos will call to you and hopefully you'll also walk out with a $10 case of Coca-Cola. Your list and only buying items on your list will save you money in the long run!

Take the time to organize your list according to the store's layout so you'll only go down the aisles you need to. Think of your store like a giant clock. You walk in at "6pm" and start shopping clockwise. In my store, that means I hit the fresh produce first, then the meat department at "9pm," followed by bread at "11pm." I usually walk down one or two specific internal aisles for canned goods, baking supplies, coffee, or pasta, then I'm back to shopping the clock and hitting the dairy cases at "12am." I make a quick stop at "3pm" or the chip aisle for some tortilla chips and maybe a case of pop before heading back to the front of the store for freezer items and the checkout counters. Be sure to put frozen items at the end of your list so they stay as cold as possible until you make it home.

Group items on your list in their respective categories and arrange them the way your store is laid out. Using the clock example above, my list will have all my produce items grouped together, followed by meat, bread, internal aisle items, milk/dairy, chips, pop, and frozen foods. Arranging my list this way keeps me from running back and forth, makes sure I get everything on it, and gets me out of there in record time. Just remember to shop your store in a circle (clockwise or counter-clockwise--whatever makes the most sense for you) and venture into the middle aisles as little as possible.

Be Prepared

• Have a list and stick to it.

• Once in the store, do not change your mind about your meal choices. You'll forget ingredients or wind up buying duplicate or unnecessary items you already have at home. If you walk into the store and are inspired to make something, make note of it so you can properly research and add to next week's list.

• Limit "window-shopping" or just walking all the aisles for the fun of it.

• Shop generic/off-label brands and make note of what you like and what you don't.

• Never go to the store when you are hungry!

• When you have put everything you need in your cart, review your list one last time to make sure you didn't forget anything before you get in the checkout line.

• Keep yourself occupied in the checkout line to avoid impulse buys.

• If possible, shop earlier in the day when you have more will-power and/or more energy to make choices and decisions.

• Avoid the middle and frozen food aisles as much as possible as these contain processed foods that are usually more expensive than their fresh counterparts. Obviously, it's impossible to avoid them 100% as we don't roast and grind our own coffee beans, make homemade pasta or cereal, or can our own fruits and vegetables, etc., but strive to have at least 65-75% of the items in your cart be from the outside edges, but don't panic if it's not.

Now simmer down, don't forget your grocery bags, and get to the store! You got this! xx