Looking for ways to save money on groceries? You’re not alone. Lots of people are on the hunt for tricks to spend less this year.
Grocery prices are up, and for a wide number of reasons – from supply chain challenges to corporations raising prices to changes in international trade. But the why doesn’t matter when you’re in the check out line – only how to lower your bill.
Fortunately, there are many simple ways you can pay less for groceries in 2025, despite higher price tags on many essentials.
In this article, we’ve gathered 8 simple tips and tricks you can apply right away to start reducing your grocery store costs.
8 Tips For Saving Money at the Grocery Store
While not all of these ideas will work for everyone (and there will likely be some things here you’re already doing!), there should be something here for anyone wondering how to save money on groceries in 2025.
1. Plan, Plan, Plan
The number one most important thing to do when trying to spend less at the grocery store is plan ahead. Planning allows you to create a budget and stick to it.
Make a meal plan for the week and then a grocery list based on that meal plan. Doing this can help avoid unnecessary or splurge purchases and stay on track at the grocery store. Planning for several days in a row can also help ensure you’re getting enough variety, not planning too many expensive items in one week, and not overestimating how much cooking you can handle.
Being realistic when planning can help you stay on track.
If you know one day will be busy, plan a simple and quick recipe for that day. If you usually get take away several nights a week, choose one night to pick-up pre-made food, or include frozen meals in your planning. Yes, making food from scratch will generally cost less than pre-made or take away options, but you’re allowed to work up to it.
It’s ok if you don’t turn into Julia Child overnight – the idea is to make small, sustainable steps toward spending less in the long term!
Pro Tip: Finding that your meal plans are still leaving you over budget? The problem might be a too-expensive menu at the foundation. Consider adding more affordable dishes to your recipe rotation.
2. Keep Track Of What You Have
Between 30 and 40 percent of food in the US turns into food waste, including 31 percent at the customer and retail level. That means a lot of us are buying more food than we eat. Obviously, that means there’s room for improvement in how we collectively shop and use the food we buy.
The first way to combat food waste is by making sure you know what’s already in your fridge and cabinets.
If one dish will only use part of something perishable, make sure your menu for the week uses up the other half of it. If multiple people in the house buy groceries, keep a shared grocery list and update it regularly to avoid double buying. And, to save money, occasionally do an audit – of your fridge, freezer, and dry and canned goods – and make sure to work what you already have into your menu.
You’ll pay less at the store, and you might find a new recipe or combination of things you like!
3. Buy What You’ll Use
On a similar note, you can avoid food waste (and tossing hard-earned dollars in the trash!) by buying only what you need and know you will use.
If you’re someone who (like your humble blog writer) can only really plan 3 or 4 days out before you start getting restless, don’t buy 7 days of groceries knowing you’ll likely deviate from your plans. Buy 3 or 4 days of ingredients and make another trip later in the week. If two smaller trips can work for your schedule, you’ll be more likely to use what you buy – and, as a bonus, your fruit, vegetables, dairy, and proteins will be fresher when you get to them.
This also applies to buying in bulk or buying smaller containers of things. Buy what you’ll use.
That means, if you know you use a lot of something and you can get it cheaper per unit by buying in bulk, do it! If you know you use only a little of something in the course of a year, buying a smaller package might make sense.
While it’s true that buying in bulk usually saves money, when things are tight, if you almost never use balsamic vinegar and just ran out, it’s ok to pay $5 for a small bottle instead of $9 for one twice the size – sometimes holding onto $4 now is more precious than paying one less dollar in six months or a year.
Buying 6 giant bottles of olive oil might mean paying less for olive oil by volume, but if it costs $70 that you can’t now use on other things, have you made the right choice for your budget?
4. Look Out For Discounts
This is a simple solution, but no less effective!
There are tons of ways to get discounts on food. You can join store membership programs that allow you to collect points or qualify you for member prices. You can shop weekly sales and collect coupons. And you can join programs designed to combat food waste to connect you to stores with excess products or food they think will expire before it sells, like Olio, FlashFood, and Too Good To Go.
Leaving a little flexibility or using weekly sale flyers to make your meal plan can help you pay less for your ingredients and meals.
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5. Don’t Be Afraid To Get Granular
Price comparing every item you shop might feel maddening at first, but if you’re not putting a lot of thought into the brands you choose or how much of something you buy, now’s a good time to start. While 70 cents here and 30 cents there might seem too small to be worth considering, you can shift your total costs for the year significantly by making those small choices over and over.
Sure, sometimes the extra dollar comes with a huge jump in quality, but in many cases, store brands and generic brands are essentially identical to their pricier counterparts. If you have wiggle room, it’s generally best to pick your battles so you never feel like you’re depriving yourself. Financial psychologists suggest that using up too much self control on little things can make you more likely to splurge on something bigger over time.
Pro tip: If you go looking, most grocery stores have a scale for customer use in the produce aisle, so if you want to get extra nitpicky, you can start weighing your fruits and vegetables to make sure you stay under budget.
6. Branch Out From Routine
Another way to save money at the grocery store is to look for lower cost options in new places. This can mean trying a vegetable or protein you haven’t made before from your regular store, or trying out new stores.
Price comparing your favorite items at competitor stores can help you find deals – and so can branching out to specialty stores.
Try visiting local markets that tailor to specific international or regional cuisines, retailers’ cooperatives, or small stores and markets that work directly with local producers. You might find that there are things that cost much less there, and you might find new affordable ingredients that excite you!
7. Buy Local & Seasonal
On a similar note, while farmers’ markets have a reputation for organic produce and higher prices, you can sometimes find great deals on produce when dealing directly with the people that grow and harvest it. Keeping track of what’s in season and abundant can give you a clue as to what’s likely to be most affordable.
Plus, with prices to import goods from other countries potentially fluctuating, you can avoid sticker shock by keeping track of what’s grown in your area and planning to buy and eat what’s readily available and unaffected by any potential shifts.
8. Never Shop Hungry!
Last but certainly not least, this is old wisdom, but it holds true. Don’t go to the grocery store hungry! Simply don’t do it! It’s a recipe for coming home with a pile of unplanned snacks and a half baked dinner plan.
And Those Are The Best Ways To Save Money on Groceries
Now you know how to save money at the grocery store – all that’s left is to put these tips to work. Did you find something in here that inspired you to get creative with your menu planning and shopping?
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