How to save money on groceries without clipping coupons

The biggest grocery savings usually aren't at the register - they're in buying less of what you already have and wasting less of what you buy. Here are twelve habits that cut the bill without turning shopping into a part-time job.

Before you shop

1. Shop your kitchen first. Check the pantry, fridge and freezer and plan a few meals around what's already there.
2. Plan the week's dinners. Even a loose plan stops the "nothing for dinner, let's get takeout" nights.
3. Make a list, and stick to it. Impulse buys are where a lot of the money goes.
4. Check the store's weekly ad and plan a meal or two around what's on sale, especially meat and produce.
5. Eat before you go. Shopping hungry really does add things to the cart.

In the store

6. Compare unit prices (price per ounce or per pound, on the shelf tag), not package prices. The bigger box isn't always cheaper.
7. Try store brands. For staples like flour, sugar, canned tomatoes, beans, spices and frozen vegetables, they're often made to the same standard for less.
8. Buy frozen produce for anything you won't use within a few days. It's picked ripe, keeps for months and nothing goes to waste.
9. Buy whole and do the prep yourself - a block of cheese instead of shredded, a whole chicken instead of parts, a head of lettuce instead of a bag.
10. Stock up only on what you use. A sale on something you won't finish isn't a saving.

After you shop

11. Use it up. Put new groceries behind old ones, keep an "eat first" spot in the fridge, and freeze things before they turn.
12. Track what you spend and waste for a month. Seeing it - especially the food that went in the trash - is often what changes habits.

The quiet budget-killer: duplicates

Buying something you already have is the easiest money to save. A shared household list and a quick look at what's on hand before shopping stop most of it.