The Lazy Way to Save on Groceries

Written By: Dayana Yochim  |  Posted: Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010

If you're not moved much by the effort-to-payoff ratio of comparison-shopping and coupon-clipping (guilty!), this article is for you. Put down your scissors and recycle those Sunday circulars. Don't even bother trying to figure out how to get the calculator on your cell phone to work while you're navigating the supermarket aisles. Even sloths like me can save money on groceries with minimal-to-no pre-shopping preparation.
Incorporate a few of the following low-effort money-saving tricks into your routine, and you can smugly skip over every other "Ways to Save on Groceries" article you see.
Let your grocer do the math

You've got a cheat sheet at your disposal in every aisle: Use it. It's that per-unit pricing sticker on the edge of the shelf. Pay attention to that little label, and you've got a simple and instant savings strategy -- one that's a lot easier than coming up with a coupon-filing system. There you'll discover that you'll pay $20 less for the same amount of soda if you buy six two-liter bottles at $5, instead of a bunch of $1.09 single servings. Don't assume that bigger is always better, though: The jumbo box of cereal is no bargain when it costs $0.08 more per pound.
Dust off your cutting board

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