Spread Out Grocery Trips to Save Time and Money

If you’ve been trying to minimize grocery store trips, here are the top strategies that experts recommend to get the job done.

Keep an ongoing inventory.

Once you get home from the grocery store, write down everything you bought and keep your inventory up-to-date in real time. “As foods are consumed, cross them off and add them back onto your shopping list for your next trip to the supermarket,” says Chicago-based registered dietitian Corinne Smith, RDN.

Stick with fruits and veggies that take longer to expire.

Plan your meals around fruits and veggies that take longer to expire. (Think: carrots, cabbage, spaghetti squash, apples, potatoes, beets, onions and citrus.) Store them properly so your fresh produce can last for weeks.

Buy no-name versions of products you use a lot.

“Many grocers carry their own brand of food and household items,” says Smith. “You may not recognize them right away, but they’ll most likely be placed near the big brands you’re used to and can save you about 25% on your grocery bill.”

Keep an eye out for good deals.

“When you see a good deal on pasta sauce, frozen veggies or anything else you know you’ll use, purchase what you can of these items so you have them for later when they’re no longer on sale,” says Wisconsin-based registered dietitian Kara Hoerr, RDN.

Go halfsies with another family.

Team up with another family and combine your purchasing power for bulk items. Same goes for saving on one-off purchases—if you only need one teaspoon of tomato paste or they need a pinch of red pepper flakes, swap these ingredients with each other instead of buying an entire can or bottle you know you’ll barely use.

Cut back on convenience foods.

Buy individual ingredients and go homemade where you can. “A box of mac and cheese seems inexpensive, but if you purchase a box of pasta and a block of cheese to make your own, you’ll be able to make several more servings and stretch your ingredients—and budget—that much further,” says Hoerr.

Focus on fullness.

The more nutrient-dense your meals are, the longer they’ll keep you full, which will likely cut down on the amount of food you’ll go through per sitting. “Add things like nuts, seeds, beans, whole grains and oils, all of which are shelf-stable and can be purchased in bulk,” says Smith.

Get creative with your protein sources.

Stock up on proteins with a longer shelf life, such as peanut butter, beans and eggs. To stretch your meat purchases even further, use proteins as accents in your meals as opposed to the main attraction. Rather than turning ground beef into hamburgers, for instance, add it into a pasta or rice dish to help stretch the meal. Bulk up the meal even further by adding in chopped mushrooms, cauliflower or a can of beans.

Buy more of fewer foods.

When you’re mapping out your upcoming meals, focus on recipes that contain overlapping ingredients, which allows you to make more servings of meals for less money, stretching both your budget and the time between grocery store trips. “If you’re buying a whole chicken, plan a few different meals using the chicken,” says Hoerr. “Or, if you’re buying celery for soup, plan another meal that also uses celery (like chicken salad).”