Even if you are only shopping for one or two people, weekly grocery bills can really stretch your wallet. There are all kinds of ways to save money each week when grocery shopping, but a lot of times you have to change the way you eat and sacrifice things you enjoy. Below are a few quick and easy ways to save money every week at the grocery store.

Buy On Sale and In Season

Buying on sale is about as clear as it gets. If there is a sale of a non perishable item that you know you will probably need again soon it is always a good idea to buy a few and take advantage of the savings. You can avoid paying full price on all kinds of things from toiletries to water if you plan and take advantage of sales. Buying items that are on sale is always the efficient alternative and often worth it if you aren’t loyal to certain brands. If you really want to save money every week it is always an option to just go for the lowest priced alternative. Another way to save is to only buy in season items. This can change depending on where you live, but buying fruit out of seasons usually increases the price, sometimes significantly. Remember to buy on sale and in season if you want to make your dollar stretch as far as possible at the grocery store.

Coupons

Coupons and couponing has taken on a life of it’s own. It has transitioned from just cutting out coupons in the weekly newspaper or in magazines to the world of digital coupons. There are tons of ways to find coupons online at sites like coupons.com. You can often upload these to store rewards cards and eliminate the paper trail all together. There are also coupons that can be added to Apple pay or Google wallet. Of course, you can still find a lot of coupons in print places if you prefer that. Most big grocery stores still offer some sort of paper available in store that features some current sales and coupons.

Dollar Stores

Everyone always forgets that a lot of items that you are looking for at the grocery store are also available at dollar stores. All household items like cups, plates, silverware, and even pots and pans are available for a much lower price at dollar stores, even if they aren’t actually $1. You can usually buy things like dish soap and snacks at the dollar store as well. Spices are one thing that you should definitely see if your local dollar store has. They often have the most basic spices that you will use and they are available for a fraction of the price they are in grocery stores. Availability of things you need will always be a problem at the grocery store, but it is at least worth checking out.

Related: Why Should You Shop at Farmers Markets

Buying Store Brand

The age old debate; is the store brand as good as the name brand. Often times it is almost the exact same product if not the same. The stigma is that store brands are lower quality and while this may be true for some products, it is definitely not true for most products. Soda and snacks are usually the exact same thing as the big brands. The only thing that you should be cautious buying store brand is meat because it could be lower quality and usually isn’t great savings. If you can find a store that offers a lot of generic brand items it usually means their generic brands are high quality and good to purchase. You likely won’t notice the slight difference in taste or quality, so buying generic brands is a great way to save money. There are all kinds of other ways to save money at the grocery store like paying with cash, only shopping once a month, and so much more. You need to find out exactly what works best for you and still allows you to get the things you enjoy. It is always good to shop around to different stores to make sure that you are at the store with the best deals.