Just remember: Lots of stores offer this service at no charge. Buying fresh mangos in January will cost you way more than average—and they might not even taste good! Have you ever noticed that the most expensive items on the grocery shelves are right at your eye level? Grocery stores are smart. They want you to see those items and splurge.

Instead of falling for those marketing tricks, look up and down as you shop. The more affordable brands tend to be higher or lower on the shelves. Now that you know what those clever stores are up to, you can literally keep your eye out for grocery savings.

You guys, it may be time to break up with your go-to grocery store. Find the cheapest grocery store in your area. Go where the sales are! The more times you pop into the store, the more opportunities you have to overspend. By the way, remember how I said to meal plan and stick to your grocery list?

I love a deal. Plant your own garden! You can start small by planting herbs like parsley, cilantro and rosemary right on your kitchen windowsill. Ibotta, Receipt Hog, Checkout 51 and Target Circle are just a few of the great apps that can help you save.

So instead, find some meatless recipes to whip up on Meatless Monday—or whenever! Also, look for cuts of meat that are cheaper alternatives to what you usually buy. Skip the sirloin and grab ground chuck. Pass on the pork chops and pick the pork loin.

That way you can have your meat and save money too! Technically this is a way to save on your overall food budget because restaurants are not groceries. I repeat: Restaurants are not groceries. Pro tip: Check out these cheap lunch ideas for even more ways to save on your midday meal.

Are generic brands really as good as the name brands? Buy some generic groceries , even if you just start small. Get this: When it comes to staples like salt, sugar and baking soda, a lot of chefs buy generic too. So, listen to the pros when it comes to how to save money on groceries.

Every rotten cucumber and moldy peach is like a little stack of cash going right into the trash. Remember: If you buy the bananas, have the kids eat the bananas.

Waste less and save more every month by being super intentional here. But if you like supporting local farmers and buying fresh foods, shop at the end of the day. When ingredients are overflowing at the farmers market or in your garden , buy in bulk and preserve them for the winter.

You might spend more during the summer with the extra produce and canning jars. But think of it as an investment for a meal a few months ahead. In the winter, you can buy a box of pasta for a couple of bucks and pull a container of your homemade tomato sauce off the shelf.

Mix it all up and you have a super cheap, homemade dinner on your hands. Shop the outer edges of the store to find fresh fruits and vegetables, grains and beans. Olive oil, however, is more likely to be subject to quality and flavor nuance, so while the savings can be much larger, it may be a matter of personal preference if the savings are worth it.

Chickpeas are generally less subject to flavor or texture scrutiny. Costco's Kirkland is another budget store brand that has garnered its own customer loyalty. While store brands are growing, not every grocery store has its own brand, and many just carry no-name or generic brands in addition to name-brand products.

Whichever the case, it's worth getting to know your local grocer's store-brand products, to see where you may be able to generate huge savings in your grocery bill.

Why You Can Trust CNET. I Switched to Store-Brand Groceries for a Week. Here's How Much I Saved Give up those shiny name-brand cereals, snacks, canned goods and coffee, and you'll save hundreds on your monthly food spend. Pamela Vachon Contributor.

Pamela is a freelance food and travel writer based in Astoria, Queens. While she writes about most things edible and potable and accessories dedicated to those topics, her real areas of expertise are cheese, chocolate, cooking and wine.

She's a culinary school grad, certified sommelier, former bartender and fine dining captain with 10 years in the industry. When not sitting at the keys, she leads in-home cheese classes, wine tastings and cocktail demonstrations.

Expertise Wine, cheese, chocolate, cooking. See full bio. Pamela Vachon. Best Grocery Delivery Services for See at Cnet.

Best Meal Kit Delivery Services for See at Cnet. Hungryroot Review: Meal Kits and Grocery Delivery Together as One See at Cnet. Meat is often the most expensive component of the meal, says Chase. Cutting down on your meat consumption can be as simple as implementing a few meatless days a week or using less meat in your recipes.

You can use half the amount of meat that's called for in recipe or substitute in cheaper ingredients, suggests Beth Moncel, a blogger at Budget Bytes. For chicken, sub in white beans and extra vegetables. If you're not interested in cutting down on your meat consumption but still want to save money, you can also find meat sales at your local grocery stores and build your meal plan around what's on sale that week, says Chase.

Grocery stores are laid out to encourage people to spend more and to spend impulsively — from the seasonal goods you pass by when you enter to the cheap chocolate bars and chips lining the checkout aisles.

In order to avoid those impulse purchases, you should make a plan for what you want to cook that week and what you need to buy. Then when you head to the grocery store, make sure to have a list of what you need and stick to it. When you have a meal plan in mind, you're less likely to wander around aimlessly trying to figure out what to buy.

And make sure you never shop hungry. Cutting coupons that you receive in your Sunday newspaper seems like a thing of the past, but thanks to apps like Ibotta and Rakuten , consumers can receive rebates or cash-back on their grocery purchases.

Both Ibotta and Rakuten offer rebates on grocery items purchased from national chains like Walmart and Target. You can receive rebates on items purchased in-store or online, so you can use it regardless of how you're grocery shopping.

Moncel and Chase both recommend the Flipp App , which allows customers to enter their location and find coupons and sales for grocery stores in their area. By using the right card when checking out at the supermarket, you can end up saving a lot of money on groceries.

There many credit cards that have higher rewards on groceries such as the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express.

See rates and fees. Cash Back is received in the form of Reward Dollars that can be redeemed as a statement credit or at Amazon. com checkout. See rates and fees , terms apply.

If you're looking for a card with no annual fee , you might consider the Freedom Flex or the Freedom Unlimited, as both offer a grocery benefit for the first year of card membership. If you want a card with rotating categories, you should opt for the Freedom Flex, but if you want a card with a flat cash-back rate, the Freedom Unlimited offers 1.

For rates and fees for the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express, click here.

Swap expensive cuts of meat for cheaper options Buy generic products Avoid buying hygiene products at the grocery store

Affordable Grocery Savings - Shop during the quietest days of the week Swap expensive cuts of meat for cheaper options Buy generic products Avoid buying hygiene products at the grocery store

Of course, the amount you spend on groceries depends on where you shop, what you buy and the number of people in your household. The savings can add up each trip and help offset the increased cost of groceries. Using the right credit card at checkout can help you earn rewards that can be used to offset your bill.

CNBC Select ranked the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express as the best overall card for grocery shopping. Terms apply. See rates and fees. Cash Back is received in the form of Reward Dollars that can be redeemed as a statement credit or at Amazon. com checkout. See rates and fees , terms apply.

See rates and fees Terms apply. Cash back is received in the form of Reward Dollars that can be easily redeemed for statement credits or at Amazon. If you buy groceries online, the Chase Sapphire Preferred may be a great option.

It offers 3X points on online grocery purchases excluding Target®, Walmart® and wholesale clubs , along with discounts and credits on Instacart. This means you'll effectively earn 3.

You could potentially get even greater value if you take advantage of Chase's various airline and hotel transfer partners to book trips. Read our Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card review. Most grocery stores offer loyalty programs that are free to join.

By signing up, you can benefit from member-only discounts that automatically deduct at checkout — without the need to clip coupons.

After you've signed up for your favorite grocery store's loyalty program, maximize your savings by clipping coupons for additional discounts. Look out for the weekly circular in the mail and sift through the pages for deals that matter to you. Cut out any coupons and save them for your next grocery run.

There are also digital options that are just as easy to use, if not easier. Download your favorite grocery store's mobile app, browse available discounts and click to load coupons onto your digital loyalty card. Then when you checkout in-store, the discounts will automatically be applied.

Wholesale clubs like Costco can help you rack up savings for buying in bulk. If you have a large family, joining a wholesale club can be a good idea.

This may not be an option depending on your cash flow. Also, note that clubs come with membership fees. The cost can be worthwhile if you frequently stock up on items. Plus you can optimize savings by using the Costco Anywhere Visa® Card by Citi which has no annual fee, but requires an active Costco membership.

Read our review of the Costco Anywhere Visa Card. You may also want to consider eating first or leaving the kids at home to avoid spur-of-the-moment items. Supermarkets are always running various promotions that can help you save on everything from staples, like milk and eggs, to sweets, like ice cream and cookies.

You just have to decide before you leave home. This will help you stay accountable to the list and to your budget. I use small binder clips the kind you find at an office supply store to keep my cash in my wallet separated by category. I like this because I can still use my wallet instead of carrying around actual envelopes.

Then, when you go to the grocery store, you use that cash to pay for the groceries. Having cash for a budget category like groceries is great because you always know exactly how much you have left to spend in each category each month.

We all know certain stores are more expensive than others, so be mindful of that. You can save a lot of money just by shopping around for different products at different stores.

For example, so many people in my Facebook group swear by shopping at Aldi. The German-owned family discount grocery store is known for saving people a lot of money on their grocery bill.

You can watch that interview here! Shop for foods that fit your budget and priorities. These days, you can even buy organic groceries affordably! If buying organic is important to you, do it! If you choose organic for only some foods, you can save a little money.

Personally, I refuse to give into the social pressure to buy organic exclusively. A good place to start is with the Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen. These lists are released every year by the Environmental Working Group and refer to the level of pesticides used on these crops. The Clean Fifteen have a much lower level of pesticides, so you can save money on those groceries by not buying organic.

Now, if you value organics and have an all-or-nothing approach to it, your food budget is going to be higher. Have you ever noticed that strawberries are more expensive in the winter? Check out my Guide to Seasonal Grocery Savings here! But guess what—generic is actually what doctors and professional chefs prefer.

When surveyed, chefs are more likely to buy generic over name brand, especially when it comes to baking ingredients, soup and dips. One way to save money on groceries is to buy in bulk, like at a warehouse club. Walking into an enormous warehouse full of pallets stacked floor-to-ceiling with things I could buy does my heart good.

A warehouse club is a little slice of heaven to a natural spender. The key with buying in bulk is to only buy things you know you need and will use. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress. com to learn more. You've probably gone to the grocery store recently and noticed you're paying more for many of the items you purchase regularly, like bacon or cereal.

Across the country, food prices have been on the rise, with the Bureau of Labor statistics reporting a 0. The rising price of groceries is the result of a number of different factors , from extreme weather events to increases in global shipping costs to shortages in materials used for packing food.

In fact, food companies like Tillamook and General Mills have already announced they're passing price increases on to consumers. For many Americans, increased prices across the board — on groceries, gas , cars, homes and electronics — means they need to become savvier when shopping.

Select spoke with two budget food bloggers and compiled some of their best tips for saving money when grocery shopping. Food companies have a few ways of dealing with rising costs, and one tried-and-true tactic is "shrinkflation," where the company makes the packaging smaller while keeping the price the same.

In fact, Tillamook announced that it would be reducing the size of its ice cream carton without changing the price. Since most consumers pay attention to the price of an item and not the price per weight, you might be spending more on food but getting less without even noticing.

People should also be aware of other marketing traps that companies use to sell their products, says Chase. Items placed at eye level are often more expensive because companies pay a premium for that space.

Don't go into the grocery store with a plan to purchase the first items you see. Take the time to compare prices before dropping items in your cart.

Rising meat prices have been caused by many different factors including severe heat and droughts that have killed the hay that cattle eat and wage increases for employees at meat processing plants.

If you're spending more on meat than on other food categories when you go grocery shopping, there's a simple way to trim your bill: Buy less meat. Meat is often the most expensive component of the meal, says Chase.

Cutting down on your meat consumption can be as simple as implementing a few meatless days a week or using less meat in your recipes.

You can use half the amount of meat that's called for in recipe or substitute in cheaper ingredients, suggests Beth Moncel, a blogger at Budget Bytes. For chicken, sub in white beans and extra vegetables.

If you're not interested in cutting down on your meat consumption but still want to save money, you can also find meat sales at your local grocery stores and build your meal plan around what's on sale that week, says Chase.

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