The Clever Tip To Prevent A High Bill At The Grocery Store

When you're looking to shop on a budget, purchasing bulk items and looking for seasonal products can help you save money at the grocery store. Yet even the most well-intentioned shopper can fall prey to impulse buys and clever grocery displays, particularly if they arrive at the supermarket feeling hungry. You've probably felt pangs of irritability and cravings while wandering through grocery store aisles with a grumbling, empty stomach.

If you're on a fixed budget or set meal plan, Amy Yaroch, head of Nebraska's Gretchen Swanson Center for Nutrition, recommends planning strategic grocery visits so that you don't end up adding unnecessary or additional items to your market cart. To ready yourself for your grocery store outing, have a quick snack before entering the supermarket or schedule grocery store visits for right after meal times. A bit of planning can have significant results when it comes to controlling the amount printed on your grocery receipt.

Research conducted at the University of Michigan used lab studies and field observations to observe hungry shoppers in action. In the study, hungry shoppers collected more items than those who had been fed, and it wasn't only food items that participants were adding to their baskets. If a shopper was hungry, additional items like office supplies ended up in the shopping cart. 

Hungry shoppers can have difficulty focusing upon entering the market, and whatever shopping lists have been assembled before the grocery store visit may be quickly forgotten. Since shopping while feeling hungry may prompt you to place additional products — even purchases that can't be eaten later on — munch on a pre-shopping piece of fruit or plan your visit to the grocery store after lunch to keep spending budgets in check and make sure you don't leave the check-out lane with a bill amount higher than what you've planned for.