Grocery Shopping Tips for Poor College Students

5 min readApr 20, 2017

by Shannon Smith

College kids know better than most how tempting it is to fill your cart sky-high with instant Ramen and mac and cheese (bonus points for Star Wars or Spongebob shapes). I mean, come on. It’s delicious. And it’s cheap.

But what if I told you it didn’t have to be that way? What if I told you there are ways to save money while grocery shopping and you could eat real food?

It’s true! Follow these simple grocery store tips and you’ll be *adulting* in no time!

BOGO isn’t always best

I know, I know. This completely goes against your sense of right and wrong. BOGO is wonderful. Except when it’s not. It’s a sneaky little guy that tricks you into buying things you don’t need. Mostly unhealthy things like cookies, candies, chips, etc. Or you wind up buying more food than you can finish before the expiration date. Then your good deal just turned into a bunch of waste. You know what’s cheaper than two for the price of one? Not buying it at all.

Don’t shop when you’re hungry

You’d think that being hungry would mean you’d get in and out of the grocery store faster. Get what you need and get out. Right? Oh, so wrong. For some reason, humans’ eyes are bigger than their stomachs. And having the entire grocery store on the menu right in front of you sends us on a rampage. You come home with double the groceries (meaning you spent double to money) and….

Speaking of buying the entire grocery store… Meal plan

A lot of us have a habit of shopping for the “essentials” like milk, bread, eggs, (mac and cheese). But you can save a lot of waste by planning exactly what you need and when you’ll need it. Meal planning (not to be confused with prepping) for the week only takes 15–20 minutes and can save you a ton of money. Buy what you need for the meals that you plan, and that’s it. It not only eliminates waste, but makes your shopping trip much quicker.

Repurpose ingredients

During your meal planning process, try to choose ingredients that you can use in a variety of ways. College students are often cooking for only one or two, but you are forced to buy things in larger packages. For example, you can roast up some asparagus with a chicken breast one night for dinner, and later in the week cut up the rest of your asparagus for a stir-fry. You can also make brand-new recipes with your leftovers. One night you may have mashed potatoes as a side, and a few days later you can fry up some potato pancakes. Variety is the spice of life!

Prep your own veggies

Grocery stores make life so easy by pre-dicing, -slicing, and -washing veggies for us. Just open the package and start cooking! The problem is that you’re paying for someone else to do that work. Sure, maybe the onions won’t make you cry, but your bank statement might.

Don’t assume bigger packages mean a cheaper price

I call this the Sam’s Club Effect. You think just because you’re buying in bulk, you’re getting a better deal. Be sure to check the price per unit (usually ounces, but it depends on the product). I’ve found this to be particularly true with things like yogurt and coffee. Bigger isn’t always better.

Sale prices can trick you into buying more

Similar to the BOGO dilemma, make sure to watch out for tricky sale prices. 10 for $10 usually doesn’t mean you have to buy 10 items. Buy as many as you need for $1 each.

Your freezer is your friend

This again comes down to the fact that we’re eating for one, but forced to buy for a crowd. Now you already know that meats freeze and keep no problem, but did you know that you can freeze bread no problem? A whole loaf of bread won’t keep fresh for long, but you can freeze it and take out the slices you need. They defrost on the counter in no time and taste fresh!

BONUS TIP!

This isn’t exactly about saving money, but it’s a great tip to stay a little healthier. Shop the perimeter of the store. This more or less means sticking to the produce, meat, and dairy sections. The middle aisles tend to have processed, high-fat, high-carb items that are chock full with artificial ingredients and preservatives.