A great way to save money at the grocery store is to plan at least a few meals with your roommates. Although schedules can vary and it can be hard to get a group together regularly, you will save money if you share meal expenses with your roommates at least once in awhile.
Sharing meals will also provide you with an opportunity to connect with your roommates. Consider having an apartment dinner night once a week (perhaps Sunday). Every roommate should have a different task for preparing a meal and then the whole apartment comes together for a wonderful dinner.
In part 1, you saw a few money saving tips, here are some other ways to get by for less at the grocery store:
Grocery Tips Part 2
Share Fruit – Buy fruit everyone likes and share the expense. If you and your roommate both enjoy oranges, you can get them cheaper by buying a bag. The same holds true for apples.
Coffee or Tea – By splitting the cost of coffee, everyone can enjoy drinking it at home and save lots of money on expensive lattes.
Buy One Get One Offers – When you see a “buy one get one free” offer, and it’s something you use, it’s usually a good time to stock up. Consider buying two and getting two free!
Use coupons – There is no shame in using coupons. In fact it’s a smart thing to do, but only if you’re buying something you normally would buy in a quantity that makes sense for you. Don’t get tricked into buying three times the amount you need just to save a quarter.
Avoid prepared foods – Even though it may be a convenience to pop a frozen meal into the microwave, it’s the most expensive way to “cook.” Collect favorite recipes from your relatives and ask for instruction if you need it. Cooking from scratch almost always saves money and results in much better food.
Do you have money saving tips when you go grocery shopping. Let us know about it in the comment section below.
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its a real mom trick but my roommates and i will make a ton of food and freeze it in portions. doesnt really work for dorms but off campus you have more room to store stuff and evn just to cook
My roommates and I love budgeting this way. It saves so much money and you don’t waste food. I love that I am actually able to use our kitchen, instead of just the microwave!
one of the best things about my off campus apartment (aside from the washer & dryer RIGHT THERE IN THE KITCHEN!!!) is having the space to cook and enough freezer space to store stuff. I’m a big advocate of buying frozen veggies — we can use what we need and the rest will keep just fine. my roommates and i also keep a communal grocery list on the fridge — so as soon as one of the group food runs out, we can write it on the list and it doesn’t get forgotten on the next trip.
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