First of all, ALWAYS follow the tried and true advice of making a shopping list and sticking to it. Furthermore, this tip only works if you have certain (bad) habits that you are having trouble shaking; namely the foolish practice of not bringing lunch to work. Be honest, how many times have you thought 'I'll skip lunch today', and ended up caving for a vending machine snack or a trip to Subway? If you can't relate, then this tip isn't for you.
Basically, having snacks on deck (I prefer off-brand chips in bulk, and some kind of sweet like an apple or candy) is worth it even if you rarely fall into this trap.
Hot Take: add snacks to your grocery list
byu/danSwraps inFrugal
Posted by danSwraps
9 Comments
> how many times have you thought ‘I’ll skip lunch today’, and ended up caving for a vending machine snack or a trip to Subway?
Never? What a dumb situation to put yourself in
I don’t think it’s a hot take per se, but I agree for some people. As I am trying to watch my calories, I realized I’m going to snack, so having grapes in the afternoon is better than a little Debbie. I’m going to snack, so I need to be thoughtful about it. Some people don’t needo snack or don’t impulse buy junk food, so it’s definitely something each person should reflect on. If you give into temptation, try to curb it with better choices beforehand.
Also as an example, I used to go to vending machines or the little shops in hotels if I was too tired to drive but wanted a snack. Now I always pack bottles of soda and bags of popcorn and chips which saves a lot of money.
Wh- why would I not add snacks to my grocery list? What is this?
I agree, and I don’t think this tip is just for people with bad habits. I’m pretty active (bike commuter, and I walk a lot too) and I need something between meals. Anyone who works out frequently probably does, too. I usually keep protein/granola bars and string cheese in my purse, as they’re small and easy to carry around.
Yes! Completely agree.
For me, it’s mostly that I used to not even remotely plan what I was getting. Id just wander and hope I had stuff for meals at the end 😂 ended up with stuff I never ended up using, and then would also have to run out for other stuff constantly, which ALWAYS results in buying more than I actually need.
Once I started planning out for 5-6 meals for the week, plus the snacks we’d have in the house for the week, then it made budgetting groceries much easier!
Through the pandemic I also started doing my groceries by ordering online for pickup from the store. I find this stops me from all the little impulse buys that I tell myself “oh I forgot to add that” or something when I really didn’t need it. Added bonus is that I also gain back the time I’d be wandering a grocery store picking things out myself, meaning its being more frugal with my time as well. Instead I can just do my groceries while curled up on the couch having my coffee in the morning or something instead
i’m the absolute worsttttt at forgetting to buy snacks. my house is full of ingredients! and then i want something simple and fast and lazy and i don’t have ANYTHING.Â
i actually used to keep a bag of snacks in my car so that I wouldn’t be encouraged to stop and grab something overpriced. Granola bars, fruit snacks, etc. Nothing major, but it was nice to know I had something so I didn’t feel an urge to run into McDonalds (not that I ever really did that much, but you know what I mean). I also suffer from low blood sugar/anemia so after the gym I literally have to eat something or else I feel faint.
We have an informal family rule that all snacks need to be homemade. It helps to cut down on overpriced preprocessed foods.
For the times when we want something simple, we have raisins and almond slivers and oranges. All of which are locally grown.Â
I literally write SNACKS on my list and allow myself to grab a few “that looks good” things.
Allowing myself tasty snacks keeps me home when I might otherwise eat out.