Saving Money at the Grocery Store
By Kendra Neal
October 2003
Here
are some ways to cut your grocery bill down:
USE COUPONS.
The Sunday paper usually has a really good selection of coupons.
Other ways to get coupons include having family and friends save the
coupon inserts for you. There are many websites that allow you to
print coupons for many different products. One site is
www.smartsource.com
. Also, there are websites that allow you to select coupons that you
are looking for and they charge you a small handling fee for their
time. Usually the charge is .05 per coupon for coupons .01-$1.00.
Coupons over $1.00 are .10 per coupon. This is a really neat way to
get extras of a particular coupon for a product you use all the time.
Another great way to get extra coupons is to trade for them. This is
where you can go to coupon message boards and post to other couponers
what coupons you are in need of and how many and wait for a response.
Many times you will send the other trader coupons they need or want
or send them postage stamps for the value they are looking for.
SHOP THE SALES & SHOP AROUND. Many stores across
the country now have a Store Card that you must have in order to
obtain the sale price. If this is the case, make sure you have one
for the stores you frequently shop at. In my area the sales ads for
the upcoming week are delivered on Tuesday and the sales run Thursday
through the following Wednesday. I go through the sales ads on
Tuesday night and find out what is on sale and then I go through my
coupons to match the sale item to any coupons I might have. If I
don’t have enough coupons for an item I would like to stock up
on I immediately get to trading or obtaining coupons online. I
usually have the coupons in time for the sale. If I don’t have
the coupons before the sale ends, I request a raincheck and make the
purchase when the coupons arrive for the same sale price. I do this
for the 3 major grocery stores in my area, all within 10 minutes of
my house. By shopping the different sales and stores, I know I am
getting more for my money. Even if using coupons is not something you
could/would do, you can still save money by watching sale prices.
SHOP AT MEAT & PRODUCE STORES If you have a Meat &
Product store in your area, this is the best place to find the best
prices on Meat & Produce. Usually the meat & produce stores
are the ethnic stores. In my area, the best place to get the best
fruit and meat prices is at the Spanish Meat & Produce Market. I
can usually get Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts for $1.69/lb on
sale, 80% Lean Ground Beef on sale for .99/lb, Krakus Polish Deli Ham
for $2.99/lb and many other meats and deli meats for really cheap on
sale. When you find an EXCELLENT sale price on a certain meat, buy in
bulk and freeze it in meal size portions. Fresh Fruits all have an
"in season" time to buy. This is when you will be able to
buy that product at its lowest price of the season.
USE A
PRICE BOOK A price book is a book that you use to track and
compare the regular & sale prices at the local stores in your
area. This is a useful tool to have so you know if you are getting
the best deal for your money. Also, it helps you to know where a
certain product is cheapest at all times even without a sale. To find
out more about price books and how to set one up go here:
http://organizedhome.com/time/pricebk1.html
PURCHASE ITEMS DURING THEIR SEASONAL TIME Most
products have a certain time of the year when they go on sale more
frequently. For example: BBQ sauce in mainly on sale during the
summer, but many use this product throughout the year. When it goes
on sale during the summer, stock up so you have enough to last until
the next summer. When buying things on sale during their peak season
time, you won’t have to pay full price during the off-season
time. I am still trying to locate my list Seasonal Items. I do know
like Baking products are on sale around the holidays, Turkey and Ham
also during the holidays, cases of Soda during the summer, 2 Liters
of Soda during the holidays. As soon as I locate the list, I will
post it.
KNOW YOUR GROCERY STORE If you are familiar
with the layout and set up of your store, this is an easy way to
avoid a lot of impulse buying. This is especially helpful when you
just need to run in and get a few things. Because you are able to go
right to the product rather than going past things you don’t
need. I know a couple of people who have went to their local grocery
stores and made an aisle-by-aisle grocery list of items they normally
buy at that store. They then hang this in their kitchen and as they
run out of an item they circle it and then they know they need to buy
it next time. The night before going grocery shopping they take their
list and fill in the rest of what they need or want and then take the
list grocery shopping with them and they have a ready made list each
time.
SHOP THE DISCOUNT GROCERY STORES If you have an
Aldi or Save-A-Lot these stores have EXCELLENT prices on a lot of
store brand foods and some name brand products. Also something I have
learned about Generic products is that most of the time they are
actually packaged at the plants that package the name brand products
and are the name brand just with a store brand label on them. Also,
if you have a Bread Store like Wonder/Hostess or Dolly Madison near
you, these are great money saving stores also. You can usually get a
loaf of bread for .33 a loaf and all the Twinkies and Snack Cake
stuff for .99/box
MAKE IT YOURSELF It isn’t
always cheaper to buy things prepackaged, you can save money by
making it yourself. I buy a box of pancake mix for .99 at my local
Aldi’s and then make a batch of pancake and freeze them in
individual portions for a fast breakfast in the morning. I also make
French toast and to the same thing. Another item our family makes at
home are Egg McMuffin sandwiches. We buy the ingredients and make
them at home for less than ½ of what we would spend at
McDonalds. We also make pizza at home rather than ordering out.
These are some easy tips I use. Here are some websites with
more info and articles about how to save money at the grocery store:
http://www.gardenandhearth.com/Family_Finance/Saving_Money/coupon_clipping.htm
http://www.thirdage.com/news/archive/ALT04030317-02.html
http://couponing.about.com/library/blpricebook.htm?PM=ss15_couponing
http://www.mommysavers.com/Articles/cut_down_on_your_grocery_bill.htm
http://www.mommysavers.com/couponing.htm
http://www.mommysavers.com/Articles/save_time_grocery.htm
http://www.thefrugalshopper.com/articles/grocbills.html
http://www.thefrugalshopper.com/articles/groc.html
http://www.thefrugalshopper.com/articles/grocery.html
http://www.pioneerthinking.com/chgrocerybills.html
http://www.stretcher.com/stories/03/03feb24d.cfm
http://www.pioneerthinking.com/tk-kitchenbudget.html