I used to toss certain items into my cart without thinking twice, just because they seemed convenient or looked good on the shelf. But after a while, I started noticing how quickly those small extras were adding up. Some of them aren’t just expensive; they’re completely unnecessary once you take a closer look. If you’re trying to shop smarter and stretch your grocery budget, it might be time to skip a few of these so-called staples. You might be surprised at how much you save just by changing a few habits.
Note: The content of this article does not reflect the Writer’s personal beliefs.
Baking mix
Baking mix is a great way to save time and effort, but it’s often overpriced and tastes boring.
Baking mixes are made with low-quality, bland ingredients. Baking a cake from scratch is almost as easy as using a baking mix and much more flavorful.
It’s not only the quality but the price. Baking mixes are costly, and you still have to buy other ingredients to blend into the baking mix. And let´s face it, mixing the dry ingredients together on your own takes like 2 minutes.
Baked goods
Buying baked goods like bagels or buns from grocery stores isn’t a good idea. Most grocery stores don't even serve freshly baked pastries and breads, but they just buy them from other big chain stores.
This means the bread/bagel or any baked goods you buy from the grocery stores are probably stale or close to expiry.
It’s much better to buy baked goods straight from an established bakery or bake them yourself.
Energy drinks
Buying energy drinks from the grocery store is like willingly flushing your money down the drain.
Energy drinks don’t really bring much to the table; they’re overly caffeinated and often taste fake and gross.
Instead, getting tea/coffee or making them at home is much better than spending several bucks on a can.
Salad dressing
If we’ve learned one thing so far, it’s not to waste money on something we can easily make at home.
Salad dressings are just a smart marketing scheme that entices people by suggesting they can’t create the same thing at home.
But it’s much easier and inexpensive to make salad dressings at home. In fact, it's much more efficient because you can create as much or as little as you want. You can also season it to suit your personal preferences.
Frozen veggies
Frozen vegetables are a great way of stuffing your freezer with food you won’t use for a long time. Who needs all those massive bags of frozen veggies?!
It’s much better to freeze the veggies we buy fresh from the market. This way, we ensure the vegetable quality and can freeze according to the preferred batch size.
Organic foods
Organic foods are basically a sham. Yes, one should buy organic food whenever possible, but that doesn’t mean every grocery store sells 100% organic food. Many grocery stores mark their foods as organic, but it isn’t.
Buying from a farmer’s market or growing select veggies at home is much better than buying organic.
Pricey ice cream
Before you freak out, we can buy ice cream, but it’s best to avoid high-end brands that are seriously overpriced.
Sure, getting our classy grocery store ice cream is good, but if we’re constantly spending the bucks on ice cream that is only branded ‘premium,’ it’s best to skip the brand altogether.
Branded foods
Speaking of branded stuff, buying groceries that are way out of budget just for the sake of the brand is a sure way to disturb the budget.
Yes, we can buy branded stuff if you seriously love it or if the brand caters to specific health/personal preferences. But spending a couple of bucks on a brand that’s saying it’s the best is basically falling into a scam. Many generic items are exactly the same but at a fraction of the price. Don't pay for the name alone!
Bottled water
Okay, bottled water has to be the most useless stuff to buy.
Even if you live somewhere where finding pure water at home is a hassle, it’s much better to invest in a purifier.
Alternatively, spending a few bucks on bottled water is much more expensive in the long run than spending a hundred bucks once on a purifier.
Out-of-season fruits and veggies
We often fall for the ‘exotic fruit’ scam, which is basically buying a fruit or vegetable that’s not in season, like buying mangoes in winter.
While the fruit is well preserved, let’s remember it’s old. Even fruit flown out from different places is close to expiry, and it’s purposely set at a high price.
Dips
Buying salsa or guacamole from the grocery store is torturing our taste buds.
Not only do store-bought dips taste awful and pasty, but they also contain tons of preservatives that will accelerate expiry.
Making guac or salsa at home is much better in quality, and we can even adjust the quantity.
Breadcrumbs
We may argue that some of the foods are difficult to make at home, like salad dressing. But there’s nothing easier than making bread crumbs.
Bread crumbs are made with stale, crusty bread, making it the perfect thing to use with your old bread loaves. Just grind the bread in a food processor and, voila! Homemade breadcrumbs taste even better than the stuff you buy in the store.
Tomato Sauce
A jar of tomato sauce can be very expensive especially when you think about what is in that little jar. A few tomatoes, a few herbs and that is typically it. You are much better off making your own homemade tomato sauce.
Not only will you save money, but homemade sauce tastes so much better. Never spend your money on bland jar sauce ever again.
Pre-Sliced Cheeses
We know that sliced cheese is convenient, but you are definitely paying for that convenience in more ways than one. Pre-sliced cheese is more expensive and also tastes terrible. Slicing the cheese in advance makes it dry out, changes its texture, and makes it taste bland. It is a terrible purchase. You know it is.
Pre-Cut Fruit
It is not hard to cut fruit. So why are we paying triple the price for fruit that is already cut? Grocery stores make tons of money off of pre-cut fruit, but it isn't any better than regular whole fruit, which you can buy for a fraction of the price. Also, who knows when that fruit was even cut?
It could be days or even weeks old. Just buy the fresh, ripe, whole fruit and cut it yourself. You will save money and probably get a much tastier product.
Pizza Dough
You can often find pre-made pizza dough in the refrigerated aisle of the grocery store. That little ball of dough may look convenient, but it is actually a waste of money. You can make your own pizza dough with a little water, a little flour, and a bit of yeast.
You could make about ten at home for the amount you will pay for one pizza dough! Plus, your homemade pizza dough will definitely taste better.
Granola
The granola you find in the cereal aisle is seriously overpriced. While you may be willing to pay for granola since it is a fairly healthy, tasty food, you shouldn't!
Never pay the steep price for granola when you can grab a box of oats and make it yourself! Granola is very easy to put together, and you can customize it to suit your personal taste. That is a way better idea than paying an exorbitant price for basic food.
Pre-Made Salad
Bagged grocery store salad is a total waste of money. The lettuce in a bagged salad is usually limp and soggy, and the toppings that are included are just as bad.
Making a salad is easy, and it tastes better when you use fresh ingredients. Plus, you will save a lot of money when you buy a whole, huge head of lettuce, which will give you tons of salads at a fraction of the cost of packaged salad.
Fresh Fish
It is a little known fact that most fish sold in the grocery store has been frozen. Lots of fish is actually required to be frozen immediately after it has been caught in order to kill parasites and bacteria. So that fresh fish you see in the grocery store is actually just thawed frozen fish. Why pay more for the "fresh" stuff when you could just buy it for less frozen then thaw it yourself? You will save money and be eating the exact same thing.
This article was first published at Spatula Desserts.
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