November 2022 Health Bulletin: Grocery Shopping on a Budget

Heard of shrinkflation? It’s the inflation you’re not supposed to see. You may have experienced it firsthand or seen it on the shelves at the grocery store and didn’t know there was an official term for it.

Shrinkflation is the reduction in the size of a product in response to rising production costs or market competition. Rather than increase the price of a product, the company offers a smaller package for the same sticker price.
Changes are minimal and limited to a small range of products, yet are still enough to make accurate measures of inflation more difficult to gauge.
Shrinkflation runs the risk of turning customers away from a product or brand if they notice they are getting less for the same price.

From a consumer perspective, shoppers typically base their purchasing decisions on price rather than examining the weight of the package, so people may not be aware of the shrinkflation that is occurring right before their very eyes. On the other hand, certain manufacturers are being upfront with their practices. For example, Ben & Jerry’s aims for transparency and issued a statement about the change in their ice cream tub size.

Tips to Save Money on your Grocery Bill

Grocery shopping on a budget doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice taste or health. Here are five tips to help you save money on groceries.

Learn how to cook. Home-cooked meals are cheaper and healthier than eating out at restaurants. Anyone can learn how to cook. Start with simple recipes and simple ingredients. Cooking at home also ensures you know exactly what you’re putting in your body. Bonus: learn a new skill.
Plan your meals. A big part of grocery shopping is planning your meals. Meal planning is saving money as well as time. Otherwise you risk throwing a bunch of random items in your cart and playing out an episode of “Chopped” where you have 30 minutes to make something appetizing out of five ingredients that may not outright go together.
Clip those coupons. Search online for manufacturer coupons and sign up for store loyalty emails. Both options can offer you discounts and save you money.
Don’t limit yourself to one grocery store. You may find that you get the best quality and price for certain items at different places, for example, produce at the farmers’ market, fresh meat from one store and shelf stable items at another. Keep in mind that some grocery chains are less expensive than others, especially those that are “no frills.” Plan your route ahead of time or consider online delivery options to save on gas.
Shop for store-brand instead of name brand. Store-brand items are typically at a far lower price point than name brand items because they are independently produced and packaged by the store itself. Quite often the taste of the store-brand food is close to that of the name brand. Have favorite name brand items? Splurge on those.
Be a savvy shopper. What does savvy mean? Now that you’re aware of shrinkflation, examine the unit price and compare different brands; spending less than a minute doing so could save you money in the checkout line. Additionally, compare costs of fresh vs. canned vs. frozen for fruits, vegetables and protein foods; be flexible and keep an open mind to try different items. Savvy also means taking into account the amount of space you have available at home in your pantry, refrigerator and freezer. Only buy what you have room for and what you will eat so you can avoid throwing out food.