Create a Grocery Price Book
A grocery price book can be a very valuable tool to help you save tons of money at the grocery store. A grocery price book is a listing of the items that you routinely buy and how much those items cost at each grocery store you frequent. I really like to keep the price book for those items that I buy all of the time, regardless if they are on sale or have a coupon.
Here is the information that you need for creating your grocery price book:
- Category (eg. Dairy, meat, pantry, etc.)
- Item
- Store with best price
- Brand
- Size
- Price
- Unit Price
- Date
Here is an example of what I might write down for the salsa I buy every few weeks:
- Category: Pantry
- Item: Salsa
- Store with best price: Walmart
- Brand: Herdez
- Size: 16 oz
- Price: $1.98
- Unit Price: $.0124
- Date 6/15/07
It takes some work to start your price book but once you have it setup, you just need to keep it maintained with new price information. Grocery store prices do change and you want to make sure that you are getting the best deal on the items you buy consistently.
There are two different ways to keep your price book, on paper or on the computer. They both require the same information so choose whichever one works best for your lifestyle. You want to make sure that you have easy access to it and that you keep it current.
If you prefer to keep the grocery price book manually, then I suggest keeping the information in a spiral bound notebook or possibly a journal. The advantage to doing it this way is that you can take your price book to the store and reference, as well as update, it easily.
I personally keep my grocery price book in a spreadsheet. I prefer to do the planning for my grocery shopping ahead of time and not at the store. I use the grocery price book to create my list and figure out what stores I need to go to in order get the best deal. I take my receipts and do any updating when I get home.
Tip: Using the unit price on an item is usually the best way to find the lowest price. To find the unit price take the price and divide it by the number of ounces, grams, cups, etc.
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I keep a little (4×6) spiral note pad in my purse and I keep a list by store where I shop. I note price and quantity. When I am somewhere else I can quickly compare and know if I walk or stock up.