A $1,200 Grocery Bill? 5 Reasons Your Food Budget Never Seems Big Enough
Groceries have been getting more expensive, but inflation isn’t the only reason why food bills are growing. Services like Instacart can drive up your bill quickly thanks to variable fees and the cost of convenience, delivering groceries to your door.
Instacart’s algorithm results in unpredictable pricing and can cause price surges during periods with higher demand. It’s one of the hidden reasons that explains why people are getting more stressed about groceries, and knowing what goes into the final price can help you save money without sacrificing food quality.
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Here are five reasons your grocery budget always seems to come up short.
1. Convenience Can Be Costly
Although Instacart was highlighted in the paper, it isn’t the only offender. Doordash, Uber Eats, and other food delivery apps offer the same promise. You get food delivered right to your door and don’t have to make a trip to the grocery store.
If you drive to the grocery store, you only have to pay for your transportation and food. However, using a convenience app requires paying for transportation, food, and a driver’s time. That last variable makes grocery shopping similar to eating at a restaurant, where you must also pay for the waiter’s time.
Cutting down on these apps is one of the best immediate ways to save money. You can either use them exclusively on weekends or delete them from your smartphone.
2. Snacks Eat at Your Wallet Without Any Substance
When you are looking to save money on your grocery bill, you should start with non-essential food that isn’t doing much for your body. For instance, it’s much better to stop buying bags of chips than it is to remove eggs from your shopping list.
Snacks add up without doing much for your body. The average American spends $719 per year on snacks according to CashNet, with $214 of that amount going toward chips. Those figures average out to roughly $60 and $18 per month, respectively.
It’s not the biggest line item in most people’s budgets, but it does add up. It’s much better to penny pinch around this category than essentials. That doesn’t mean avoiding snack food forever, but monitoring this expense may be prudent if you feel like your finances are tight.
3. You Grocery Shop Without a List
If you go into a grocery store without a list, you run the risk of buying things that you do not need, especially if you are shopping while hungry. This can be amplified with apps like Instacart that make it extremely convenient to buy snack foods.
Furthermore, you don’t actually have to look around for food in various aisles. It’s available with a single search, which makes it even easier to add unnecessary food items to your cart and increase your total bill.
Before going to a grocery store or even opening a food delivery app, write a list of the things that you need.
4. You Choose Food Delivery Over Curbside Pickup
Some grocery stores and apps also offer curbside pickup. Someone shops on your behalf, completes your order, and the food will be waiting for you in the grocery store. That way, you can go into the store without having to go through aisles and wait in a long checkout line.
It’s still cheaper to buy your own groceries, but curbside pickup is a better alternative than having someone drive food to your home.
5. You Aren't Aware of Discount Cycles
Grocery stores regularly run discounts on various food items. For instance, meat, poultry, and dairy are often sold at discounts as their sell-by dates approach. New inventory arrives each weekend, so mid-week and early mornings are the most common times for discounts.
Discounts may also vary for each grocery store. Some may have discount themes for each month, while you may have to subscribe to the grocery store’s newsletter to receive information about sales.
This article was provided by MoneyLion.com for informational purposes only and should not be construed as financial, legal or tax advice.
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