I need some cost cutting tips for the supermarket

[Kallison]

Mostly I buy whatever is on sale and try to stock up. Today Acme had a bunch of $10 for 10 sales. I bought 10 bags of curls, pretzels, chips for the kids lunches. That will last us probably 3 weeks. 10 for 10 spaghetti sauce, candy for their Easter basket. Whatever meat specials are buy one/get one -- I stock up and freeze. I don't buy lunch very often at work either, I usually bring in one 2 liter bottle of coke for the whole week for $1 instead of $1.25 in the machine every day. I pack for the kids most of the time too. Your bills will go up as your kids get older, no way around it.

 

[crazelion]

My best tip to save at the grocery store is not shop at the grocery store for some things. I go to Dollar General store to buy cans goods, ceral bars and other food products. Some things even Wal-Mart can't beat in price.

I have brought ceral bars 1.00, kraft barbcue sauce for 1.00, and 2 liters drinks .50. I saved so much money by going to the Dollar General Store that's it's funny.

I buy only the food that we like to eat. I rarely tried something new that got out in the stores.

 

[Toby'sFriend]

Dog, Cat Food and Cat Litter are some of the few items that I reguarly use coupons for. There are always coupons available for these items, they usually correspond with the sales, and none of my animals are prone to stomache upsets from having brands switched around. As far as the kids -- my older two boys are both eating enormous amounts of food. The 13 year old can easily blow through what I have thought is a weeks worth of groceries in two nights.

I try to have lots of easy access/cheaper snacks available for him. I make huge batches of Trail Mix out of generic cereals and bulk peanuts and keep it in old yogurt cups in the cupboards. I mix 2 parts 2% milk with 1 part dry milk in pitchers and that is what he drinks. I buy huge tubs of peanut butter and leave it next to the bread for him. I buy the bread at the day old store, he goes through it so quick that it will never get stale.

I place a limit on how many soft drinks each family member can have each week. When we get home from the grocery store I divide it up and place everybody's on "their" shelf space out in the garage. When you run out -- that is it for the weeK an you're drinking water and ice tea until the next shopping day. It's created a soft drink black market in the house with chores being exchanged for Diet Pepsi, but at least the $$ amount remains reasonable.

I include cleaning supplies in our grocery budget. My husband gets gripey when we don't use Tide or another high $$ detergent but I've found that I can mix it 1/2 and 1/2 with a cheaper brand and he doesn't notice. I use baking soda and vinegar to clean alot of other things.

 

[KristiKelly]

Our grocery sales come out on Wednesday, I take those sales papers and go through them writing down what I use that's on sale, I esp. look for "buy 1 get 1 free" and then if I have a coupon for that - even better!!! Last week, there were sirloin roast "buy 1 get 1 free", I bought 4 and had the butcher cut one into tips for me.

My kids love juice boxes, but it's much cheaper to buy juice by the gallon, I usually put juice boxes up for lunch boxes.

Another idea, if you have a local bread store, shop there. A loaf of bread @ the grocery store is $1.69-1.89 in our area. I can buy 3 loaves of the same bread for usually $1.29-1.69. We go through alot of PB&J sandwiches in our house, so the bread never goes bad and is as fresh as what I find in the grocery store. Sometimes, I'll stock up & stick it in the freezer, it's never there for more than a month.

My kids LOVE Oodles of Noodles (not the healthiest), but you can get them 10 for $1.00. I'll fix that with some fresh fruit, a sandwich and Ovaltine Chocolate milk. I'll ride that 10/$1 boat as long as I can. My Mom says that's too much sodium for them, but I don't add the whole flavor packet and that cuts back on about 1/2 the salt.

 

[leahannpen]

I am trying to better my grocery savings as well. I'm working on making myself a price book, and CindyB mentioned. I think that's going to really help.

I also go to this site often:

www.organizedhome.com

and

www.dollarstretcher.com

both have great ideas on this subject!