Grocery shopping can be both stressful and costly when you don't shop smart. These tips will help make your grocery trips cheaper and less wasteful so you can get you're money's worth every time.

1. Buy Seasonally

Fruits and vegetables that are in season are always the cheapest! Most of these items will be advertised on sale by default, but it's also useful knowing what's in season as those items will still be cheaper even if they aren't advertised.

You can find helpful charts showing what is in season and what is not by searching Google. As an added bonus, what's in season will usually taste the best as well!

2. Buy in bulk

Buying in bulk is always cheaper. Many stores such as Lucky's and Whole Foods Market (which is now incredibly affordable since the Amazon buy-out), sell a wide variety of pantry goods such as beans, grains, nuts and seeds at a great wholesale price. Most of these things don't perish for a while as well, so you'll be saving money and making less trips to the grocery store.

3. Have Meatless Mondays

What's the most expensive part of a typical meal? The meat!

You can save money by having a vegetarian or vegan day at least one day out of the week. You'll save money each time you have one of these meals and eat a little healthier, too!

4. Use Sales and Coupons

Check the sale ads for all your usual grocery stores before you head to the store. Utilize “buy one get one” and other great deals to save the maximum amount of money.

Sales change every week, and many stores have coupons only retrievable via their ads. Many big stores also take competitor coupons, and tons of manufacturers have downloadable coupons that you can use on top of store sales!

Knowing what's on sale before you go can also help you meal plan, which brings us to our next tip...

5. Meal Plan

Meal planning helps to ensure that you don't buy things you don't need. Instead of mindlessly wandering around picking up a sale item here, a pepper you might use there, plan your meals and the ingredients you need ahead of time.

When you come armed with a list, you buy only items you will actually use and your food won't sit for months in your fridge because you had nothing to cook it with. It's easy to waste money when you have no idea what you actually need.

6. Buy Frozen

Frozen fruits and vegetables might not be as delicious as fresh, but they're definitely going to save you money! Frozen food is cheap and easy to store.

It also doesn't expire nearly as soon, so you'll always have something on hand to add to a quick recipe. Plus, that's less pressure to cook on schedule versus the ticking clock of fresh produce in the fridge.