Four Ways to Help Stretch Your Grocery Budget
You might find #4 surprising.
With the increase in living costs, especially grocery prices, I thought now would be as good a time as ever to offer some practical ways to save at checkout.
A 2025 Urban Institute survey found that 1 in 4 people used credit cards to buy food and experienced trouble paying the bill. Almost 1 in 10 people used Buy Now Pay Later options to purchase groceries with 34.8% missing a payment.
A recent McKinsey Institute for Economic Mobility report that surveyed more than 30,000 Americans across all 50 states found that almost 9 out of 10 survey respondents cited food prices as a financial strain.
According to the USDA Food Price Outlook, grocery store (or food-at-home) prices increased 2.2% over the year leading up to August 2026. Restaurant and dining out (or the food-away-from-home) prices increased 3.4% from August 2025 to August 2026.
According to MarketPlace.org grocery prices have increased about 30% since the pandemic. There are many reasons for this including supply chain disruptions, increased costs in labor and transportation, tariff volatility, extreme weather, wars, and disease like bird flu.
To stay up to date with the latest changes in grocery prices check out this interactive tool from USA Today.
SAVINGS TIPS
While we can’t change the external factors that influence global food prices, we can manage our behavior. Here are a few practical ways to save more at checkout by being more intentional with how you shop.
Tip 1: Try “shopping the pantry.” Before you go to the grocery store take inventory of the food you already have in your pantry and fridge. This helps reduce food waste and maximize your budget by fostering a “use-what-you-have mindset.”
Have a bunch leftovers in the fridge? You can get creative and turn leftovers into new dishes. This Buzzfeed article gives you six main dish ideas that you can transform into entirely new meals for tomorrow’s dinner.
Tip 2: Buy in bulk, in-season, and what’s on sale. Without turning bargain hunting into a full-time job remember to time your shopping trip right. Grocery stores usually have dedicated times when they put products on sale or restock shelves.
According to WorkMoney.org, while there is no exact science to the best day to shop for grocery discounts, typically meat discounts are on Fridays, markdowns on perishables happen on Sundays and Mondays, and the new sales cycle starts Wednesdays. When in doubt though, you can always ask an employee when the best deals are.
Don’t forget to take advantage of the many different grocery savings apps that are available. Flipp is one that accumulates weekly ads and digital coupons from over 2,000 stores. Flashfood offers discounts up to 50% off on surplus items that are nearing their best-by dates or sell-by dates at participating stores.
When buying in bulk use any extra room in your freezer to store heavily discounted items like meat or bread.
When shopping for fruits and vegetables, consider what is in-season. Seasonal produce is often more affordable because there’s more of it available in stores which can influence better pricing. Check out the Seasonal Food Guide website to find out what produce is in season near you throughout the year.
Tip 3: Eat before you go to the store. When you are feeling hungry your body increases levels of ghrelin (pronounced “GREL-in”), often called the “hunger hormone” that signals to the brain to increase appetite. When hunger depletes your cognitive resources needed for self-regulation, suddenly everything that looks edible becomes even more appealing.
And then all of a sudden you’re finding yourself adding items to your cart that are probably of the high-calorie junk food variety, according to an article in the American Institute for Cancer Research blog.
Tip 4: Delay your caffeine consumption until after your shopping trip. The Journal of Marketing (Sage Publication) published findings detailing that consuming a caffeinated beverage before shopping led to higher impulsive spending compared to consuming a non-caffeinated beverage. Caffeine is a stimulant that increases energy, alertness, and dopamine which make you feel more reward oriented. That heightened state often increases impulsivity, making spontaneous purchases feel more appealing.
The effect was stronger for luxury items, sweets, scented candles, and weaker for practical items.
Interestingly, 63% of survey respondents believed drinking coffee would have zero impact on their spending.
If delaying your caffeine intake is not an option, you can create a clear written list of what you are purchasing. A list can act as a boundary between needs and impulses.
Groceries are one of the biggest items in a household budget, and many families are feeling the financial pressure right now. Implementing some of these suggestions can help you start saving some money immediately. With time, these actions will become habits that support your long-term financial well-being.
If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading!!!
I hope today you’re met with kindness, especially from yourself.
💚💚💚
References
Biswas, D., Hartmann, P., Eisend, M., Szocs, C., Jochims, B., Apaolaza, V., Hermann, E., López, C. M., & Borges, A. (2022). Caffeine’s effects on consumer spending. Journal of Marketing, 87(2), 149–167. https://doi.org/10.1177/00222429221109247
Cleveland Clinic. (2026, February 18). Ghrelin hormone: What it is, function & levels. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/22804-ghrelin
Durbin, D.-A., Tang, T., Scales, M., Guatibonza, S., & Hida, H. M. (2026, July 25). Americans rewire their grocery shopping routines while digesting the biggest price jump in 50 years.
GRACE Communications Foundation. (2026). Seasonal Food Guide. seasonalfoodguide.org
Holzhauer, B. (2025, September 5). Best days and times to shop for grocery discounts.
WorkMoney.https://workmoney.org/money-tips/daily-savings/best-days-and-times-to-shop-for-grocery-discounts
Jameson, M. (2015, August 7). 18 ways to transform leftovers into new meals. BuzzFeed. https://www.buzzfeed.com/melissaharrison/what-to-do-with-leftovers
Martinchek, K., Karpman, M., Kennedy, N., & Waxman, E. (2026, July 13). Many families rely on credit and savings to afford groceries: Findings from the 2025 Well-Being and Basic Needs Survey. Urban Institute. https://www.urban.org/research/publication/many-families-rely-credit-and-savings-afford-groceries
McKinsey Institute for Economic Mobility. (2026, August 5). In pursuit of progress: Americans' aspirations for economic mobility. https://www.mckinsey.com/institute-for-economic-mobility/our-insights/in-pursuit-of-progress-americans-aspirations-for-economic-mobility
Nelson, M. R. (2013, May 9). Study: Shopping hungry? Shopping unhealthy. American Institute for Cancer Research. https://www.aicr.org/resources/blog/study-shopping-hungry-shopping-unhealthy/
Nguyen, J. (2026, January 5). Why are food prices so high? Marketplace. https://www.marketplace.org/story/2026/01/02/food-prices
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. (2026, September 25). Food price outlook: Summary findings. https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-price-outlook/summary-findings
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