Family and individual budgets may be getting tighter these days with the COVID-19 outbreak. With that in mind, one Iowa State University Extension expert shares ways to save money for one of your essential trips: the grocery store.

Greene County ISU Extension Food and Nutrition Specialist Ann Parker says meal planning can help cut down on potential unnecessary food purchases and instead focus on what is needed to make meals. Other tactics include being aware of sales and deals from the grocery store and checking unit pricing. Parker explains unit pricing is comparing the size and form of different food items to determine if there is a significant cost savings for one item over another. She shares an example of how unit pricing works.

“Maybe it’s corn and you’re looking between canned corn and frozen corn. You notice that when you take the price divided by the weight of those packages that freezer corn might be a lot less expensive than canned corn.”

Parker also encourages everyone to make a budget before going to the grocery store. She says ISU Extension has a grocery calculator to help that process. Click here for more information.