Tips for saving at the grocery store?

[ekatiel]

We go about every 9-10 days and spend around $200 for our family of four (that includes toiletries and paper goods). I would LOVE to cut that to $150 and be able to buy a $50 Disney gift card at every trip until we head off to WDW in March. Any tips on making meals cheaper-- meatless meals, maybe?! Or on other ways to save at the grocery store? Thanks in advance .

 

[redrosesix]

We go about every 9-10 days and spend around $200 for our family of four (that includes toiletries and paper goods). I would LOVE to cut that to $150 and be able to buy a $50 Disney gift card at every trip until we head off to WDW in March. Any tips on making meals cheaper-- meatless meals, maybe?! Or on other ways to save at the grocery store? Thanks in advance .

We shop based on price, not what we feel like buying. We have a freezer and generally our meals, and therefore what we need to have in the house, doesn't change very much. So we buy everything on sale that we can -- like if butter is half price, we buy three and freeze them til we need them. No matter what happens in the future we will still need butter.

And we're lucky to have a large meat market in our area that has insane sales on random products -- like celery for 17 cents a bunch -- and decent prices on meat especially if you buy in bulk -- like 10 pounds of ground beef, which I know we'll use. Check around your area to see if you have a store like that and hit them before the regular grocery store.

We spend about $250 per month for 3 people and a cat, but we also cook from scratch a lot and have to make lunches/snacks since my DD is a busy little dancer. Those kinds of meals are pretty cheap. And we don't do fast food except for fish and chips or pizza -- we can cook better at home, and I much prefer a gourmet style burger to a fast food burger.

 

[MSSANDRA]

We do a lot like the PP. We shop and eat the sales and stock up when we can. We also coupon selectively. We use them on things we would buy anyway but not on junky foods we try not to buy. We find that the higher end grocery store in our area has better sales and we like a lot more of their store brands than other places and that saves us money. We also know what we can get cheaper at our local Sams and buy certain things there. We cook mostly from scratch and we try to often cook a double batch and freeze for quick meals to avoid resorting to take out or eating out. For example: I recently made two huge pots of taco Soup. I had tons of tomatoes from a recent B1G1 deal I coupled with a coupon. The store had cans of beans for 2 for a dollar, I had both taco and ranch dressing mix from a B2G3 free deal I coupled with coupons and got for almost free.Ground beef was already in my freezer from the last good sale I found, can corn was from a sale with a coupon. Cheese I buy in huge bags from Sams and use sparingly and the sour cream I stocked up on with a 5 for 4.00 deal. I probably made both pots for less than one pot at regular cost. I froze a couple meal size containers and a ton of small lunch size ones for lunch boxes. Easy, yummy and cheap!!! I do the same things for other dishes too. It takes a bit of thinking ahead and a bit more work but it saves a ton of money.

 

[tvguy]

Plan your meals at the store based on what is on sale, not in advance.

Look down on the shelves, the cheaper brands are on the bottom shelf, the expensive brands are at eye level.

Be careful with coupons, make sure the final price is actually lower than another brand without a coupon.

Have no loyalty to a brand, shop price.

 

[clshirk]

We spend probably $250-$300 average per month at the grocery store over the year for our family of 4, plus 2 cats and 1 dog.

I use a mix of things such as www.savingstar.com and evic coupons as well as my weekly delivered Sunday paper with coupons. My MIL mails me her coupons as well weekly.

The best deals to stock up on are those that combine all of those together.

I am very selective about purchases and have created 'buy' prices for many things. I rarely ever pay full price for anything.
I stock up on lots of things when I can get a great deal on them.
Meats I purchase only at certain prices and stock up when the grocery stores hit them up. For example, 7:15am Ingles discounts their meats about to expire, and they are usually gone by 7:45. Prices are much cheaper than the current sale price. I stock up and freeze meats like that. I do know different areas of the country average different meat prices so my 'buy' price may be lower.

I also stock up on sales. Harris Teeter for example runs super doubles and triple coupon sales every few months. Combining with their regular sales, This week I've stocked up on spaghetti noodles at $0.25 per box, Special K cereal at like $0.50 per box, Free jif-to-go packs, free trail mix, Mission tortilla shells at $0.69 per pack, 100% juices for the kids at around $1 per 64 fl oz, Seattle's Best coffee at $1 per bag. Canned vegetables for under $0.50 per can.

Fruits and Veggies I stock up on at places like Aldi when they are running deals.

I occasionally shop at SAMs, but honestly, I am only interested in things I can't use coupons on elsewhere because using coupons on individual items is much cheaper than no coupons on bulk purchases at superstores.

 

[robinb]

We go about every 9-10 days and spend around $200 for our family of four (that includes toiletries and paper goods). I would LOVE to cut that to $150 and be able to buy a $50 Disney gift card at every trip until we head off to WDW in March. Any tips on making meals cheaper-- meatless meals, maybe?! Or on other ways to save at the grocery store? Thanks in advance .

Hmmmm. I was thinking that $600 per month for a family of 4 including all toiletries and paper goods was pretty good .

 

[LJSquishy]

Shop the perimeter of the store and not the center aisles. Processed foods are not only unhealthy but they are expensive. Making things from scratch will save you a ton of money also.

 

[ekatiel]

Hmmmm. I was thinking that $600 per month for a family of 4 including all toiletries and paper goods was pretty good .

I think it's pretty reasonable, but I'd like to cut it a bit before we leave for Disney so that we can splurge a little while we're there .

 

[clshirk]

Oh and to agree with PP, never let coupons dictate what you buy if the off brand is cheaper after all the deals.
And plan meals around what you have deals/sales for. This helps If you have stocked up on foods at cheap prices so that you always have multiple options.

I also try to not buy anything we won't need, even with coupons.. unless its free (then I can donate). I purchased 3 jif to go's today that I have never used before, but will likely use them in kids sports snacks or something like that.

 

[robinb]

I think it's pretty reasonable, but I'd like to cut it a bit before we leave for Disney so that we can splurge a little while we're there .

Staying at the Grand isn't a splurge?

 

[Marionnette]

Hmmmm. I was thinking that $600 per month for a family of 4 including all toiletries and paper goods was pretty good .

I had the same thought. A $600/month food/paper products/toiletry budget sounds pretty tight to me. To cut it back another 25% (-$150) would be pretty drastic. Five to ten percent might be workable for a short time period, but 25% is pretty severe.

 

[bcwife76]

I live in Canada where food is a LOT more expensive for most things than in the USA. For our family of 4 I spend at least $600+ on groceries/toiletries/paper products/dog food.

I coupon too, but like other people have said sometimes the same product (different brand) will be cheaper even when you factor in the coupon price so watch for that. I buy a LOT of products store brand instead of name brand because store brands have come a long way. We also have a Costco membership (which we share with my mom so costs us $25/year) and eventhough I don't think that everything at Costco is a good deal, some things just can't be beat. I was just there today - a litre of half & half was $1.99 - my local grocery store charges $3.49 for the same thing! Produce is also a good deal there (as long as you eat it ALL). We go meatless at least once a week; quinoa is delicious and filling, as are chick peas. Don't be brand loyal, don't be store loyal, check your local grocery store ads every week.

 

[crisi]

For meatless meals - chili is pretty cheap if its beans and tomatos. Mexican food can be done cheap with beans - and can be a great way to turn cheap chicken thighs or leftover pork into a different tasting meal. Pasta is, of course, inexpensive - try saucing it differently (a favorite here is olive oil and thyme). Big pots of soup with homemade bread. Fried rice. Pad Thai (not from a kit, the kits are expensive - but rice noodles and homemade pad thai sauce isn't). Coconut curry with chickpeas.

 

[DonnaL]

I find my biggest saving tip is to shop for food and food only in the grocery store. I very rarely (only if I have a very good coupon AND the item is on a huge sale ....like BOGOFREE) will buy paper products, detergents, fabric softener, household cleaners, bath soaps, toothpaste, etc. in the grocery store. I usually purchase these items at either a Family Dollar or Dollar General Store ....in our area they quite frequently have a $5.00 off store coupon with the purchase of $25 minimum. I combine the store coupon with manufacturers coupons for these items and stock up for several months at a time. I go online every week and check their sales...if the sales are good enough (ie detergent BOGOFREE) and I have a good manufacturers coupon(s) for those items I will get just those items...even if I am unable to use the $5.00 store coupon. I've found the above items to be priced substantially lower than in the grocery store. We also have a local Kmart which I check every week for sales on these same items.....by combining their ShopYourWay program points, specials, and coupons there are times when I walk out of there with $60 of laundry, cleaning, health/beauty products for $10/$12......and again enough to last several months.

 

[lvillotta1]

We are a family of 3 and spend around $200/mos. Like other PP's have mentioned I stock up TP,PT, dog food and personal items when I can find some deep discounts. Stockpiling is so critical. I have a deep freeze in my garage just for stockpiling. Right now there a lot of helthy meals like WW and healthy choice that I can buy really cheap and take these to work everyday. I might buy 20-30 at a time and then have them to use over the next 3-4 mos. Frozen veggies,butter,OJ you can freeze. One of our local stores often has it for $1 1/2 gal so I buy 10 and then freeze them. Same with milk,cheese and just about anything else that is freezeable. I do not use coupons and I pretty much only shop at Ald's. Aldi's have saved my so much money. You can always find PT and TP really cheap. If I can afford it in my budget I like to pick up 2 TP and PT or trash bags so I do not have to run out. We are very frugal too. We do not waste much at all and I only buy things that we need. I am trying to cook a lot more from scratch,but it will never be 100%. You can cut your budget. It just takes time and effort.

 

[scard192]

I have a freezer and when things are on sale I really stock up. The freezer has more than paid for itself over the years.

Meatless meals - pasta with sauce and no meat. This time of year we often have soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. BFD using 1 package of Brown and Serve sausages (99 cents on sale).

 

[JanaDee]

We are a family of 3 and spend around $200/mos. Like other PP's have mentioned I stock up TP,PT, dog food and personal items when I can find some deep discounts. Stockpiling is so critical. I have a deep freeze in my garage just for stockpiling. Right now there a lot of helthy meals like WW and healthy choice that I can buy really cheap and take these to work everyday. I might buy 20-30 at a time and then have them to use over the next 3-4 mos. Frozen veggies,butter,OJ you can freeze. One of our local stores often has it for $1 1/2 gal so I buy 10 and then freeze them. Same with milk,cheese and just about anything else that is freezeable. I do not use coupons and I pretty much only shop at Ald's. Aldi's have saved my so much money. You can always find PT and TP really cheap. If I can afford it in my budget I like to pick up 2 TP and PT or trash bags so I do not have to run out. We are very frugal too. We do not waste much at all and I only buy things that we need. I am trying to cook a lot more from scratch,but it will never be 100%. You can cut your budget. It just takes time and effort.

You spend $200 a month on groceries, pet supplies and toiletries for 3 people? Forgive me if I don't believe you.

OP, I think shaving $50 off your usual weekly grocery shopping can be done easily. Good luck!

 

[Candleshoe]

I have a freezer and when things are on sale I really stock up. The freezer has more than paid for itself over the years.

Meatless meals - pasta with sauce and no meat. This time of year we often have soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. BFD using 1 package of Brown and Serve sausages (99 cents on sale).

We just got a new home and there is a space for a freezer. Prior owners had a fridge+freezer there. I can't WAIT until we get one. Trying to pay off the move-in costs (new furniture etc) first.

Freezer and seal-a-meal, that's what I'm looking forward to!

 

[JanaDee]

Some other tips I thought of are don't take your husband or kids shopping with you. It sounds funny, but I am serious. When I take them with me, it easily adds $30+ to my total.

Make sure you make a menu plan, go with a list and only get what is on the list.

Do you have an Aldi or Save a Lot near you? I know some of them are pretty sketchy, but some are really nice. Check them out.

I don't know where you are, but here in the Upper Midwest, we have a large chain of stores called Kwik Trip that offer eggs, butter, potatoes, bananas, sometimes milk and onions cheaper than I can get at the grocery store. I typically pick up some stuff when I put gas in the car.
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[Vernie822]

There is only two of us, so I'm sure our eating habits are different than yours since we don't have any children! We are trying to cut our eating out down and have negotiated to once a month - for our health and for our wallets. So I've started prepping things in advance so that we know we have meals at home, and won't just run out for something quick!

Our grocery store chain (Giant Eagle) does an awesome BOGO on certain meats every week. This week it's fresh chicken breasts, chuck roast, and pork chops. So I plan to buy 2 of each and freeze them. It should definitely last us.

I agree with the above posters on chili. So quick and easy and it's something we both love that's also healthy if you make it that way. Stock up on things like beans, diced tomatoes, frozen veggies, when stores have them 10 for $10 or B1G1 or something like that.

I try to plan according to the weekly flyer, but that doesn't always happen! You can also do something I've seen a lot of online, making meals ahead of time and freezing them in large batches with a different bag for each meal. One of my coworkers did it and said it saved them a ton of time (they have a 1 y/o and a baby on the way).

Another thing I like to do is go to the store earlier in the day and buy any of the meat with the quick sale stickers on it. I freeze it if I can't use it by its sell by date, that's usually a good $2 or so off the sticker price.