How to stick to the grocery list when shopping

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The previous article showed you ways to save money on grocery shopping. For some reason, you find that you still exceed your food budget every month. Having a shopping list is an important tool in minimizing our food expenditure but you may find that you have difficulty sticking to it.

So, what can we do to minimize overspending when grocery shopping? In this article, I share the tips that I found has helped our family.

Go shopping after a meal

Or eat something to curb the hunger pangs before heading to the shops. Usually, when I am only even just a little bit hungry, I become less selective in my shopping. I end up buying more than we need for the week.

I would also reach for whatever I feel like having at that moment. 

However, when I’m full or not hungry, my eyes do not wander too much and generally will stick on the list. The feeling of fullness in my tummy, makes me less tempted to buy the food we do not need..

If you do not have time to grab a quick bite at home, consider having dry snacks such as nuts or fruit and water bottle in your bag whenever you go out so you are always prepared.

Use cash only

The best way to stick to your grocery list is to pay with actual cash, in my humble opinion. You know exactly how much you have available to spend, and no more. This method requires you to keep track of the prices of items going into your trolley. This also forces you to look for cheaper substitutes.

To do this, budget for your grocery on a weekly basis and withdraw only the weekly amount from the ATM. I’ve found that if you withdraw once a month, you may not have enough at the end of the month (because you feel rich at that moment). And then you will need to reach for your card, which then defeats the purpose.

Go shopping alone

If possible. My 6-year-old and my husband would walk away and come back with their favourite Arnott’s biscuits, yoghurt drinks, ice cream, rib eye steak, frozen chips… you get the idea.

It is difficult enough fighting my own temptations; I do not need extra challenges. LOL.

They need to stay home or stay in the car while I shop.

That might be a challenge in a single-parent family. If there is no one who could look after the little one while you shopped, perhaps you could schedule your shopping on a school day or prior to childcare pick up? 

Bring fewer shopping bags

The 2 major supermarkets where my family and I live have a big and a smaller shopping trolley. But some other retailers have only the big ones. Use the smaller one so there is not a lot of space to put your groceries. If there are only the big ones, you could allow yourself to bring only 3 bags instead of the usual 5, you would be forced to put less items into your trolley. 

Reduce your trips to the supermarket

We live very close to our supermarkets. It is too easy to hop into the car and drive there whenever we ran out of milk, bread or eggs. We would end up buying more than just these 3 items because there is still space left in the basket. 

If we are running out with only 2 more days to the next trip, we would go without until then. However, you would know after a few weeks how much of these staples you’d consume as a family. Always buy a little more or bulk buy those necessities.  Buy 3L milk, double loaves of bread, one in the freezer and large carton of eggs as they tend to last more than a week in the fridge.

Reward yourself

Grocery shopping is tedious as it is. Always going shopping without buying a bit of snacks would be boring, taking all the willpower we need to stick to our budget. We need to reward ourselves from time to time. Look at what snacks are on specials every other week, choose one and put that on the grocery list.

Set up weekly menus and recycle them

Compile a list of what you like to cook and what your family likes to eat.  Spread them out into weekly menus. The more dishes you can come up with the more weekly menus you can make. Number them 1 through to 4 if you manage to make 4 menus, and then recycle them from week 5. You may even double up on the meals and freeze them.

This saves time on meal planning and you know what you will need to buy. You can also reuse the shopping list for that week. They will be the same with minor changes depending on stock in the pantry.

Subscribe for a free Weekly Menu with grocery list. 

Think about your goals for money saved

There had been a few times when I was really tempted to buy crackers and chips. Because they were strategically placed at the front of the aisles and on sale!  I would be ready to put the items into my trolley. 

Temptations are everywhere. Make sure to take a moment, pause and remind yourself why you are doing trying to spend less. You could be trying to pay off your credit card or your mortgage. Or saving for a holiday or a wedding or simply to work less.

I hope these ideas will help you with stick to your grocery list. Do you have any other ideas to share? Please comment below. Thanks!