How do you save money at the Grocery Store

[Nicolepa]

A note about menu planning. If you take the time to do it for a month, then you don't ever have to do all that work again. Just use the same menu every month. Especially if you have 20-30 meals you won't get bored because you will be eating each meal only 1x a month.

Start w/a week and use that one week for a month, the next month add another week. Use those two weeks for a month (or two), etc. In a few months your monthly menu will be done.

 

[formernyer]

How many hours did you spend doing this to basically eliminate your food bill?

At the point when I was most obsessed, I was "buying" about $1,000 in groceries every week. My out of pocket cost ranged from nothing to about $40, depending on what I was buying that week. Most weeks I spent about $20.

I spent about 30-60 minutes per week collecting coupons, 3 hours clipping/sorting, and about 3 hours in stores (most of that time on line since the cashiers always ran into trouble ringing up my orders )

So for about 6-7 hours of work each week, I would get close to $1k in groceries/cleaners/personal items. About half of it I'd add to my stockpile and/or give to family and friends. The other half I'd sell for about 50% of its retail value. So in the end, I come out with $250 in cash, plus about $500 in groceries for 6-7 hours of work...that's about $100 per hour, give or take...and it's TAX FREE.

So IMO if you know how to play the coupon "game" correctly, it's definitely worth the time and effort involved. I guess some people would prefer to work in an office for $20 an hour, but I think this is a much better way to pay the food bill.

 

[jenrose66]

Thank you for all of your replies. This is great Something for me definately has to change because we are just wasting, wasting, wasting. We do not do good with our leftovers, we don't eat breakfast (except for the baby of course) and we usually eat lunch out. So we spend a lot on takeout on top of my grocery bill. Besides cutting coupons I am going to switch to the store in my area that actually does BOGO sales etc... I'm also going to try to menu plan to an extent.

Also, I can't remember who posted this, but what are Cherry Porkchops Those sound good.

 

[ncbyrne]

I agree with your mother....WEGMAN'S? Yikes, their prices are about the highest around. I shop there only for specialty items or if I'm having a dinner party, etc. I don't know where you are in NY, but I live in NJ in as suburban area, in the metropolitan area of NYC. We have a plethera of grocery stores in this area... ShopRite (best prices of all), Pathmark, A&P, Acme, Food Town... Kings and Wegmans (two with the highest prices) are all an easy drive. I look at all the weekly ads and make a detailed list of what's on sale at any two stores. From that list I make my weekly menues. IF a coupon happens to be on a sale item, I make sure to combine the savings. Although there is an Aldi's not too too far, I don't shop there. We do not have department superstores, so buying all my groceries in Walmart or Target is not an option.

 

[dhardawa]

I'm one of those crazy people who can "buy" $600 in groceries and only pay $5 for it. Coupons play a HUGE role, but they are not the be all and end all.

Assuming you are not going to clip coupons (which you definitely should), here are some ways to save:

(1) I completely disagree with all the posters who make menus as a way of saving. Not only is it time consuming and hard to believe that people know in advance what they will feel like eating in a week, but it's also not a good way to save money. Shop the ads and buy what's on sale. If you make a menu ahead of time and the items on the menu aren't on sale, then you aren't saving!!!

(2) Buy only marked down meat and bread. They are normally as perfect as the fresher packages. Every once in a while you might find a package that looks a bit old...just don't buy those ones, lol. Most of them are perfectly good though...and 40% off. An even better bet is to stick to the markdowns on meat that was already on sale. For example, if boneless chicken breast goes on sale for $1.99, then it's going to be around $1.20 per pound once it's marked down...that's a HUGE savings off of the $3.99 per pound regular price!

(3) View the ads ahead of time and figure out what items you use are on GOOD sales (this doesn't mean $.10 off). If an item is 50% off or Buy One Get One Free, then stock up on it. Don't just buy what you need for this week. Buy things you know you'll use in bulk. You might end up spending a little more up front, but within a few months you'll have a nice stockpile of food and your bills will be cut to almost nothing.

(4) If you need and item and it isn't on sale, then buy generic. It's a huge savings and the generic foods are packaged by the same name brand companies you love...you just don't necessarily know WHICH name brand you'll be getting because it's hidden by a generic label.

(5) Best saver of all is the coupons though - you'll get name brand foods a LOT cheaper than generic if you start using them. Learn to "save" your coupons for times when you can combine them with a sale. Find out which stores in your area have the best doubling policies and stick to those stores.

(6) BE FLEXIBLE! Be willing to buy what's on sale, rather than sticking to a rigid plan. And if you're the type person who buys premium cut meats, organic veggies, etc. either start eating "normal" foods or surrender to the fact that you're going to pay through the nose for things which may or may not have any real benefit.

(7) For the baby - join those baby clubs under lots of names/addresses. I had so many coupons coming in back when my kids were babies that I almost never needed to actually pay for formula. The key is to KEEP joining them, because the first two month is when you get the "good" coupons ($12, $10, $8). As for baby food, shop with sales and coupons, or (your best/cheapest option), just put whatever you and your DH eat into the blender. It's soooooooo easy and much healthier for the baby than anything they get from a bottle. Even if you think it's too spicy, it's normally ok for them and exposes them to a bigger variety of tastes early on. When you blend up too much, freeze the leftovers in ice cube trays and once they are frozen transfer them to ziploc bags. Then on those nights when you're either not cooking for the adults or you're eating something too spicy, you can just pop a few cubes in the microwave for the baby. This will cut a lot of cost out of your grocery bill, because it's basically just feeding the baby your own leftovers!

I agree with absoultely everything here. I never make meal plans. I go to the store and I buy what is on sale. That is what we eat. I also am one of those annoying people who will be in line at Wal Mart (where overall things are cheaper) with the ads for every other grocery store in the area and I have them match the competitors price. My household is one adult and one child and we average about $25 - $30 a week for groceries.

 

[dhardawa]

Okay, now I need more information. How are people getting all these items for free by using coupons. I just don't get it. The coupons I get are for around 50 - 75 cents and the items are $3+. I just don't see how that 25 cent coupon for Downey is ever going to get me Downey for free. Educate me!

 

[mickeyfan2]

So for about 6-7 hours of work each week, I would get close to $1k in groceries/cleaners/personal items. About half of it I'd add to my stockpile and/or give to family and friends. The other half I'd sell for about 50% of its retail value. So in the end, I come out with $250 in cash, plus about $500 in groceries for 6-7 hours of work...that's about $100 per hour, give or take...and it's TAX FREE.

You get $500 in groceries and $250 in cash for your monthly groceries. That works out to $29 - $25 / hour [$750/ (6-7 * 4.3 weeks/month)]. Still a nice chunk of change but not as good as you stated.

 

[formernyer]

You get $500 in groceries and $250 in cash for your monthly groceries. That works out to $29 - $25 / hour [$750/ (6-7 * 4.3 weeks/month)]. Still a nice chunk of change but not as good as you stated.

I never said that was a monthly amount...that's what I was getting each week!

 

[formernyer]

Okay, now I need more information. How are people getting all these items for free by using coupons. I just don't get it. The coupons I get are for around 50 - 75 cents and the items are $3+. I just don't see how that 25 cent coupon for Downey is ever going to get me Downey for free. Educate me!

Example:

Downey is one of the items that's hard to get free in a store which doesn't double coupons up to $1.00, but you can still get it VERY cheap.

Example: Wait for it to go on sale Buy One Get One Free. Now the cost is about $1.50 each. Go to a store which doubles coupons and use one $.50 coupon on each one. The coupons double to $1.00 each, bringing your cost per item down to $.50 each.

If you live in one of the few states which doesn't double coupons, it's a little harder to achieve this. If you live in a state which doubles $1.00 coupons, you can sometimes get products like this for free or even make money!

 

[KKB]

I'm the one who posted this. When I was a serious coupon addict (which I'm not right now, but I'm probably going to get back into it again soon), I would collect about 100 papers worth of coupons each week via the newspaper recycle bins.

The key is to clip EVERY coupon, and not just the ones for products you use. Just because you don't use a product, doesn't mean you shouldn't "buy" them if they are free! In addition, sometimes "buying" those items that you don't use can actually SAVE you money on your overall grocery bill. For example, if you "buy" a $1.00 item and save $1.20 on it in coupons, then you've MADE $.20 on that item...that $.20 will effectively be applied to the remainder of your grocery bill, plus you get the item you "bought" for free. Let's say you had 25 coupons for that item...well now you've just gotten 25 free items (even if you can't use them) and you've also reduced the remainder of your grocery bill by $5.00. If you can't use the free items, either have a yard sale, sell them on eBay, give them to friends/neighbors, or donate them to a charity. SOMEBODY out there wants them!

I'll never forget the time that I purchased about 50 packages of Depends, because they were free. I went onto a checkout lane with a teenage male cashier and a teenage male bagger. I could tell they wanted to laugh at my order, so I made a joke about it myself BTW, I put all those Depends out at my yard sale for $1.50 per package and they were all gone within an hour!

As for what people will/won't buy on eBay, they will buy ANYTHING! If the free items from my stockpile are lightweight personal items, I sell them in lots on eBay. I sell razors, deodorant, lotions, etc. this way. I've even sold certain food items on eBay this way. Most of the food items or heavier items like household cleaners I sell at a yard sale. I sell them for about 50% of their store value and they sell out VERY, VERY fast.

If you don't like the idea of collecting coupons from recycle bins, you can buy them online or you can trade online.

Now that double coupons only exist at one grocery store in town, and it is too far to be practical.

It is RARE that a coupon's value is signifigant enought to warrant a purchase unless I use it. .25 off 1.50 or 1.00 off 3.00 is fine if I use it.

 

[KKB]

Example:

Downey is one of the items that's hard to get free in a store which doesn't double coupons up to $1.00, but you can still get it VERY cheap.

Example: Wait for it to go on sale Buy One Get One Free. Now the cost is about $1.50 each. Go to a store which doubles coupons and use one $.50 coupon on each one. The coupons double to $1.00 each, bringing your cost per item down to $.50 each.

If you live in one of the few states which doesn't double coupons, it's a little harder to achieve this. If you live in a state which doubles $1.00 coupons, you can sometimes get products like this for free or even make money!

Taget/CVS/Walgreens in my area say BOGO you can only use ONE coupon, since you really aren't BUYING the other item (the free one...). I'm shocked your stores allow this!

 

[formernyer]

This photo is very dated, but here's a pic of a PARTIAL inventory from between yard sales. This is only part of the room...the room was ENTIRELY filled, just like this little portion of it. I finally got sick of having a room completely devoted to stockpile items, so I now have a warehouse which stores all my inventory (I eBay for a living, so I needed space for "real" inventory and not just groceries). My grocery stockpile is fairly depleted at the current time, because I got burned out on couponing and stopped being hard core about it. Now I'm motivated to start up again though

 

[dhardawa]

Example:

Downey is one of the items that's hard to get free in a store which doesn't double coupons up to $1.00, but you can still get it VERY cheap.

Example: Wait for it to go on sale Buy One Get One Free. Now the cost is about $1.50 each. Go to a store which doubles coupons and use one $.50 coupon on each one. The coupons double to $1.00 each, bringing your cost per item down to $.50 each.

If you live in one of the few states which doesn't double coupons, it's a little harder to achieve this. If you live in a state which doubles $1.00 coupons, you can sometimes get products like this for free or even make money!

I need to move to where you are. I have never seen BOGO on any type of laundry or cleaning item. The closest we get is BOGO in cleaning supplies is on toilet paper and that is at Meijer who is so overpriced to begin with that when you figure the cost of two at Wal Mart vs the price of the BOGO at Meijer you only save about 20%.

 

[formernyer]

Taget/CVS/Walgreens in my area say BOGO you can only use ONE coupon, since you really aren't BUYING the other item (the free one...). I'm shocked your stores allow this!

It all depends on how your individual store rings up the items. MOST stores in my area will ring up the items one of two ways:

(1) Items automatically ring at 1/2 price
(2) Items both ring up at full price, then one of them is backed out as a separate entry.

In either of these cases, the coupons will scan perfectly.

A few stores will ring up the sales this way:

The first item rings up at full price and the second item scans at $0.00...it's basically a non-entry and it will make the scanner beep when the second coupon is scanned. In this instance, the cashier will either be nice and do an override, or the coupon will be rejected.

The trick to "fooling" cashiers who want to deny coupons is to order soooooooooo much that they just scan the coupons without even thinking about it. They'll only stop scanning if the computer beeps at them. I used to plan VERY large shopping trips, with TONS of coupons. The people who get caught up in cashier-nazi antics are generally the ones who go up to the cashier with very small orders and a coupon on every item.

Also keep in mind that sometimes the cashiers will argue with you over coupon validity because they don't know the rules as well as you do. Be prepared to call over a manager and discuss the issue. If yuo know your stuff, the managers will almost always side with you. Yes, it can be embarrasing sometimes and the people in line behind you might get frustrated, but there's no reason to not get what you are rightfully entitled to. Whenever I had a very large order, I'd always warn the people in line behind me that I was using about 150 coupons and it might take a long time for my checkout.

 

[Waseller77]

Thanks so much for your input on this thread - it is very helpful information!

I have a couple of questions... How do you organize your coupons to make them easy to find once you're ready to use them? I had been organizing them by category, but then ended up leaving them in the flyers because it took me almost as long to find them after I had cut them! Also, I have noticed that my store doesn't put all of the really good deals in the flyer. Do you bring all of your coupons to the store in the event that you find a good deal?

Thanks!

 

[formernyer]

I need to move to where you are. I have never seen BOGO on any type of laundry or cleaning item. The closest we get is BOGO in cleaning supplies is on toilet paper and that is at Meijer who is so overpriced to begin with that when you figure the cost of two at Wal Mart vs the price of the BOGO at Meijer you only save about 20%.

The really hot name brands for laudry items don't go B1G1F often, but the brands like FAB and ALL do. You can still get the "big" name brands like Tide free though. Check your coupons closely. Brands like Tide frequently put out $1.00 coupons and the coupons frequently don't have a "not valid on trial size" exclusion. If your coupons don't have this exclusion, you can use them to get the $.99 trial sizes for free...stockpile a ton of coupons and you'll get a lot of free detergent. Same thing with health/beauty items...use them on trial sizes and they'll be free a lot of times. Some brands you can almost always get the full sizes free with B1G1 sales though (Suave, V05, White Rain, etc.). Brands like Pantene tend to either be "cheap" on the full size or else buy the trial size if you want it totally free.

 

[formernyer]

Thanks so much for your input on this thread - it is very helpful information!

I have a couple of questions... How do you organize your coupons to make them easy to find once you're ready to use them? I had been organizing them by category, but then ended up leaving them in the flyers because it took me almost as long to find them after I had cut them! Also, I have noticed that my store doesn't put all of the really good deals in the flyer. Do you bring all of your coupons to the store in the event that you find a good deal?

Thanks!

I have a 4" binder filled with clear baseball card sheets. It is organized by product type and each little baseball card section gets its own coupon (you can fit about 25 identical coupons in each section). I also keep a few pages which are either full sheets or 1/4 sheets, so that I can store forms. It takes a while to set up the system, but once you have it it's a breeze.

ALWAYS have ALL of your coupons with you, since you never know when you'll find something on an unexpected clearance that you can get free with your coupons!

 

[mickeyfan2]

I never said that was a monthly amount...that's what I was getting each week!

You family eats $500 in groceries each week?

Do you give any of the $500 in groceries away? I only see it as money to you if that is what you have actually paid from a salary. The $250 is real money but only the amount of groceries you would eat would be considered real money. That is why I thought it was per month. A mom and two boys could eat $500/month but not $500/week.

Is this your full time job?

 

[MrsPooh]

As far as getting lots of coupons...

I get one paper and have some family members who give me their coupon sections after they cut any they might use. I try to look through the coupons right away and if there is a really great coupon I go to the store and buy a bunch more. For example, one week the ads had a good coupons for several items we use, plus it had a coupon for a free box of dishwasher detergent and one for free cat food. I need the cat food and detergent so I bought about ten papers. They cost me $1.25 ea and I saved way more than that on just one box of detergen! I used to have a recycle bin near me and would stop a couple of times a week and get any coupon sections but now it is not worth the drive since I moved.

The best coupons come from manufacturers. If I really like a product or if I have a problem with one I call the 800# on the package. Recently I had a bag of Doritos with something wrong. I called and they sent me four coupons for free bags of chips.

Some coupons are on the packages. We like the pillsbury refridge. pizza dough. Recently it was on sale and each tube had a coupon on it. The dough ended up costing about fifty cents a tube. I bought a bunch - we have pizza once a week. I got creative with it too - put butter and herbs on it, rolled it and it was great bread, put lunchmeat and cheese in it, rolled it and they were great sandwiches. Gourmet style at low budget prices.

Some people trade coupons and/or buy them from coupon services. I've traded but never purchased. Buying/Selling them on ebay is technically illegal so you have to be careful about that.

One thing no one mentioned yet was about rebates. These will also really help the shopping budget. Walgreens has a monthly rebate book and usually there are several items that are free after you mail in the rebate and if you use a coupon or get your money back on a gift card you actually make money which helps cover postage and sales tax. I've gotten tons of free movie passes as rebates for buying items I would already purchase too. My kids love those!

As far as using so many boxes of brownie mix, cake mix, etc...if they are free or nearly free I'll get as many as I can. I figure how many I'll use before they expire and give the rest away. First choice goes to family members who pass their coupons on to me and then the rest go to our local food pantry. One time I was able to get over 100 boxes of Kelloggs cereal free. The food pantry loved me when I brought those up.

There are lots of websites devoted to couponing and rebating but my favorite is refundcents.com. It does cost to join but I always save more than my cost during the first week thanks to tips I get from other members.

 

[formernyer]

You family eats $500 in groceries each week?

Do you give any of the $500 in groceries away? I only see it as money to you if that is what you have actually paid from a salary. The $250 is real money but only the amount of groceries you would eat would be considered real money. That is why I thought it was per month. A mom and two boys could eat $500/month but not $500/week.

Is this your full time job?

No, we do not eat that much in a week. I stockpiled it when it was free, so that I wouldn't have to buy it later and pay for it. I got out of the hard core couponing about 2 years ago and basically lived off my stockpile (of non-perishables) ever since.

To believe that income can only be derived from salary is a very shallow way of thinking. Let's look at it this way:

Scenario A - You can work for 10 hours at $25 per hour in an office and you'll make $250. Then you'll pay taxes on this amount, so you actually take home about $200. Then you'll need to pay for your groceries out of that $200!

Scenario B - You can work for 7 hours acquiring/clipping coupons and shopping, plus another 2-3 hours selling your stockpile (that 2-3 hours is assuming you sit outside with a mini-yard sale...there's a lot less time investment if you ebay it). For the same 10 hours of work, you'll pocket $250 (no tax effect), plus you'll add $500 worth of groceries/cleaners/personal items to your stockpile.

And no, this was never my job, LOL. It's certainly income though. I left a "real" job making 6 figures back in 2003. I now work about 10 hours per week selling on ebay (household goods, electronics, etc.) and it's my only source of income. I live in a 3,600 sf home and I've never had to sacrifice anything or do without.

Never immediately assume that non-traditional ways of making money aren't "income."

Soon I'll get back into the hard-core couponing because my stockpile is finally starting to run low and I'm re-motivated to do it!