Grocery Shopping

bjgrazi

<font color=darkblue>I remember those days fondly<
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Jan 13, 2000
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I just added up what I have spent since the first of the month $390.65 for a family of 6 :eek:

I'm looking for cost saving tips, anyone have any? I have to trim the budget, this is nuts we're only 9 days into the month.
 
Coupons! Find stores that do doubles and stock up when things are on sale. Plan meals out ahead of time so you don't buy convience foods.
 
Originally posted by chesirechik
Coupons! Find stores that do doubles and stock up when things are on sale. Plan meals out ahead of time so you don't buy convience foods.

Charge it on a Delta Sky Miles card. It won't save you money but you can be saving miles (double miles) towards your next vacation. Also, go to a couple of different stores. Buy the loss leaders in those stores and avoid anything else that you don't absolutely need. Have a list detailing who has what on sale. Stock up on the "buy one and get two free" but only if its something you will use. I stocked up on tall kitchen garbage bags last year and I am using them. My cost? $3. Do the same with toilet tissue. If you are a Costco member, shop there but know your prices. Milk, half and half, spring greens and romaine lettuce is ALWAYS cheaper there. So is shampoo. Buy the huge brand names that you like and pour it into smaller bottles. Same with dishwasher detergent.
 
You may want to search over on the Budget Board; this topic is discussed occasionally over there, and there is some great information.

Probably my best tip would be to buy in bulk when items/foods you use a lot go on sale. For example, Split chicken breasts went on sale here for .99/lb. recently; it's normally about 2.39+/lb. I bought several pounds, divided into "family sized" portions, and froze them; now when I need chicken breasts, I can just grab them out of the freezer and defrost. For this to work, you need to have a general idea of what the lowest average price already is in your area for that particular item; sometimes something on "sale" at one place is the average price at another, so there isn't any real savings. One way to do this is just save your grocery receipts and review them carefully when you get your sales flyers.

Another idea is to experiment with store brands, if you are accustomed to using name brands. You may find you like some store brands as well as--or better--than their name brand counterparts. For example, I can detect no discernable difference between Land o Lakes butter and our store brand butter; I prefer the store brand pie crust over the Pillsbury pie crust (assuming I don't have time to do scratch); but I prefer Campbell's cream of Mushroom soup over store brand.

You can also try making some things from scratch versus buying prepared items, although this will mean a little more time in the kitchen. Be cautious, though; sometimes it can backfire! My kids will devour a whole loaf of homemade bread in one sitting, but a store-bought loaf lasts a week.

It takes time and planning, but it is possible to par down your food budget. I spend, on average, $50/week on a family of 3; and that's actually a little higher than I used to spend, now that I'm working full time, I have less time to spend in the kitchen and therefore do spend a little extra on convenience foods for weekdays.
 

Read those circulars! Compare those prices. As someone in your general area, I have found Shoprite to have the best prices most of the time, but when I find a few items at Pathmark that I need, I'm there! You're talking to the woman who will walk into Pathmark after work on a Friday to get the specials that started that do and then go home, get DH and go to Shoprite to get the rest of the week's groceries.

And remember, even with double coupons, often the "no name" brand will be cheaper.
 
Make sure you're buying the size that really is cheapest. It's not always the biggest one and it can sometimes take time to figure out which one is. Use coupons but only if they're for things you would normally buy. Try substituting store brands for national ones. Use meat sparingly by stretching it out with grains, beans etc. If you're making meatballs, meatloaf or hamburgers add some oatmeal to the meat to stretch it.
 
We currently have at least one meatless night a week and I'm working that toward 2 or 3. Lots of Pasta and Rice and Beans.
Coupons don't do as well here because none of the stores double.

Milk is a big item because my boys drink huge amounts. Oddly, the cheapest stores in other items often raise the price of milk drastically and I'll find myself going to another store just to get that. Like others, I buy the family packs of meat and divide it up. I used to go with 1 1/2 to 2lbs per night, I'm trying to cut that down and add beans and other cheaper protein sources to casseroles. I go to the day old bread store at least once a week. The price of soft drinks has gone ASTRONOMICAL. I'm trying to break myself of the habit without much success. The boys are limited to one can a day and instant tea and water is kept in the fridge.

I've pretty much done away with Pop Tarts and other convenience items like that. They're eating generic Oat Flakes and generic Cheerios without too much complaint.
 
In Wisconsin there are no stores that have double coupon days. A few years ago the old Kohl's grocery stores doubled their coupons, but Kohl's grocery store was more expensive than any other grocery store so be careful!

If you mean doubling your coupons as using a manufucture coupon and what the store has on sale (which is now their store card), then yes you do come out ahead, but you really have to work at couponing.
 
I'm with you, Mari; proper couponing requires a lot of time and attention....because of that, I don't bother. My mother *loves* them, though, for her it is a form of entertainment to see how close to free she can get something by combining coupons (doubled or tripled) and sales. It's cute. :)

I also don't do it because I rarely have coupons, now that I no longer get the Sunday paper delivered.
 
I think the biggest thing is prepackaged foods. My grocery bill goes sky high if I don't have menus planned and buy prepackaged stuff.
 
We are also a family of 6, and so far we have spent $308 on groceries. However, our month started on the 26th of Feb since that's when DH gets paid.

My suggestions:

Look for Buy 1 Get 1 Free sales. BiLo, here in TN, doesn't require that you get two, so you are basically charged 1/2 price for these items. A coupon makes it even better.

I shop at WalMart Supercenter for my groceries and pricematch (although I can't with BiLo's B1G1F things b/c they don't put the price in the paper) I have found WalMart to be cheaper than any other store.

Look for small vegetable stands for your produce. We have one here that is quite a bit cheaper than the grocery stores.

Stock up on loss leaders. BiLo has their Pepperidge Farm freezer cakes for $.99 this week, so I've picked up several, b/c I LOVE their cakes, but not the usual price.

Look around for food co-ops. My church just became involved in something called Angel Food Ministries. Basically for $25 you get a box of food once a month valued at around $70. We were very pleased with what we received last month. The food varies from month to month.

Try to find bread outlets. We had one close to my house and I would get loaves of bread for about $.35, but they closed it. I hate paying $1.00 for a loaf of bread b/c my family can go through bread so quickly.

As someone said above, try generic. I CANNOT eat generic peanut butter and insist on Downey fabric softener, but most other things are fine.

Unless the convenience foods are on a great B1G1F sale, I usually don't buy them, b/c they can run up your grocery bill in a flash.

Be willing to do a little work for your meat. I don't mean to go out and kill the cow, but just be willing to get your hands a little messy. I remember once, a store had split chicken breast for like $.89 or $.99 lb., but a lady beside me picked up the SKINLESS split chicken breast which was probably over $3.00 lb. I told her about the sale, but she giggled, wrinkled up her nose and said something to the effect of "Oh, the skin just grosses me out" Okay, well, I think I can afford to be "grossed out" for 45 seconds while I pull off the skin in order to save over $2.00 lb on chicken.

I really feel your pain. I am the only female in our house, and my DH and oldest son already eat so much, I can only imagine what it will be like when all of my boys are teenagers. I guess I 'll have to start raising livestock and gardening. :crazy:

Good luck with your budget!

Lori P. :)
 
Lori, you might save a couple more dollars if you go a couple of miles going over to the Georgia line to get groceries. My bi-lo has some of their everyday things cheaper than the Chattanooga stores. Some of our bonuscard sales are cheaper too. I think our sales tax is a lot lower too.

Going to a price club, like Sam's Wholesale, would cut down on stuff a lot too.
 
I second Walmart superstore. You can save alot there also if you have Aldi in your state go there. You can get good cheap stuff there.
 
Thanks Browneyes! My best friend and I have seriously considered driving down to GA to shop, maybe once a month. One day I had to buy BIG groceries (our term for needing to buy almost everything), and the total was $225. What was so bad about that was that the tax alone was $20! I think GA has no sales tax on groceries and we have 9.25%

Do you know if any stores in GA double coupons?

Lori P. :)
 
Plan for a garden this summer, eat more rice, taters and noodles than meat and don't be too proud to shop Aldi's.
 
Originally posted by momm2four
Thanks Browneyes! My best friend and I have seriously considered driving down to GA to shop, maybe once a month. One day I had to buy BIG groceries (our term for needing to buy almost everything), and the total was $225. What was so bad about that was that the tax alone was $20! I think GA has no sales tax on groceries and we have 9.25%

Do you know if any stores in GA double coupons?

Lori P. :)
We have sales tax on groceries, but I'm thinking it's like 2% and 3% (some items are taxed differently than others), but they're trying to get it to 0%. My area bi-lo has only done double coupons a couple of times. Food Lion sometimes does double coupons. Ingles does double coupons.
 
When I spend the most money is when I don't make a list. I add a lot of extra stuff that I don't need. We usually can feed our family of four on $280 a month. We will in Iowa, and we shop at a store that will match every one else's ads. In fact, they put the ad up in the store so you don't have to price match.

Our Super Wal-Mart is not cheaper. They have a couple things that can be competitive, but for the most part, they are more expensive on most stuff. When it comes to meat, they don't have the same grade as my local store, plus, I don't like the lack of service at Wal-Mart.

I think Aldi can be cheap, but what makes it cheap is that they only have store brands. You also have no idea what they will have. So, to get groceries there, you still might need to make another stop, especially for good produce. If you shop at local stores, I think you will find that most of them carry an off brand of most items that are very competitive with Aldi. And, our store also stays competitive with Aldi.

I've read several posts about grocery shopping. I think that we are extremely lucky when it comes to grocery stores because ours is cheap, but good quality. I think it is because it is just a grocery store and not a super store.
 
This is really difficult when you're trying to stick to Atkins like I am. Meat and chicken are SO expensive.

I try to stick to mainly veggies and really hit the stores that have good sales. Sam's or Costco can be helpful but be sure that the items are really cheaper.
 
We are only a family of 2, but we were spending about $60 a week on groceries, which is WAY too high for 2 of us.

So, about 2 months ago, I started making meal plans. 2 week plans at that. Look in fridge/freezer/cupboard at what you do have left. Go off that.

For example, I know I have 2 chix breasts at home. And I have green beans. What to make with that? So, I pick up a bag of potatoes. Then I have those for that meal, and I can make potatoes for any other meal in the 2 weeks, too.

We shop Sam's for milk, mac and cheese and canned veggies. Milk is usually $1+ less than regular supermarkets. All 3 meals of the day are on the plan, so there is no scrambling for something. At the deli at the grocery store, they have packs of steak sandwiches - 3 sandwiches for $6. That is $2 a day for lunch. Throw a banana in there and I am done!!

Anyway, our bill now has been cut to $60 every 2 weeks. So $120 vs. the $240 we were doing.

Plus, MN doesn't have tax on food!! Come here :)
 
I recently recommended these books to someone else on another thread, but they bear mentioning again.

Go to your local library and get the "Tightwad Gazette" books (there are three, sometimes you can find them bound together in one volume) by Amy Dacyczyn (pronounced 'decision'). They are a real eye opener. If you don't feel inspired to read the whole series, open them up and just pick through and read the grocery/food budget articles. You will probably want to go back and read the whole thing afterwards though. I understand that not everyone will agree with or want to use every idea she presents, but a great many of the suggestions are very practical and solid. I urge you to try them. I think you will find them very enlightening......................P
 





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