Take The Bite Out Of Your Food Budget!

[Shell]

I know a lot of us have been here for a while and there are even some tightwad blackbelts among us. But for those still struggling or for those green-pea tightwads I thought it would be a great idea to review some ideas about saving money on our grocery shopping. So let's hear some great ideas ladies:

-Using coupons can trim a few dollars but be careful was this an item you would have normally bought?

-Try shopping less frequently. How many times have you gone to the store just to pick up milk and brought back a few bags. I know I have to work on this.

-Cut back on conveniece foods.

-Stock up during sales. Try to buy enough until it goes on sale again.

-Try a few meatless meals.

-Cook in bulk and freeze. Dinner's like lasagna, chili are great.

-Avoid the nonfood aisles at the supermarket. Things like shampoo, laundry soap, paper goods and other nonfood items are often cheaper at a discount store.

[justatxmom]

Check out the "Manager's Specials" or the "Reduced" cart.... I can live with a ripped label on a can of 15¢ pork&beans or 50¢ discontinued shampoo.

[MJsLady]

Great ideas!
I was thinking about the coupon part just this past Sunday. I was shopping at HEB, they do deal meals, you know buy this get this that and this for free.
Well the deal was buy hot dogs ($2.49!) and cheese ($2.99) get wolf chili, buns, hunts snack puddings and ozarka water free.
Well I could buy the same type of hot dogs cheaper, i buy my cheeses in the bulk bags, and we do not use the pudding or ozarka water.
So i got my regular cheese, wolf chili and spent less than the deal a meal price!

[AmyBoz]

Make a list BEFORE you shop and stick to it. Nothing goes in the cart if it wasn't on the list.

I match my coupons with the sales circular on Sunday, prepare the list and off I go!

Stock up on items you need but don't have coupons for during sales. This week, roasts are on sale at ShopRite. There are never any coupons for meat, so I bought 4 roasts at the sale.

[guest2]

Do not buy your spices in those overpriced little jars!!!! Check out the bulk food section and get your spices there. You can buy the amount that you need and pay so much less! You can also find great deals on soy flour, baking cocoa, oatmeal and such in that same section.

[FarmLady]

Some of these I already do, but a usual I am learning more and more, thanks for the tips!

[beeba]

I think leaving the kids at home when you shop is a big help to your budget. Don't shop while hungry. It's so tempting to just get a little something to tide you over. Plan out your menus for the week and stick to your list. Saves both time and money.

[couponchic]

Originally posted by beeba
I think leaving the kids at home when you shop is a big help to your budget. 

And the DH.  LOL! 

[graci42]

Made a wonderful discovery last week. I will make all my meat purchases after work (9:30 pm) as that is when Giant Eagle marks down there "day old's"! I saved 15.00 last week buy buying reduced meat. I'd rather spend 30 than 45 any day of the week!

[Early Bird]

I made a similar wonderful discovery -- Smith's (a Kroger affiliate) had lots of meat reduced on Sunday morning, about 8 a.m. We weren't going to church till 11, so I did a grocery run first.

I got, from marked down and manager's specials:

7-lb spiral ham for $0.99/lb
6 lbs of pork chops for $5. (sell-by date)
3 corned beef briskets @ $0.99/lb. (almost the sell-by date)

Also bought sale roasts and b/s chicken. The roasts and the corned beef briskets went right in the freezer. ham, chik, and pork chops for this week.

[guest2]

I buy reduced priced meats as well and stick them in the freezer. My family is able to enjoy some great cuts of meat at a fraction of the normal cost this way.

[canadian gardener]

Menu planning.

Normally I only plan dinner, and let lunch and breakfast come from what's on hand.

But this week, I took 20 minutes to plan not only the dinner menus for this last week but breakfast and dinner and jotted down some ideas for desserts.

This last week was very busy with my company, but I didn't go over budget, and in fact things went extremely well.

Menu planning doesn't take long. I grabbed the May menu that I shared in that thread here, and tweaked it when I got the phone call.

Grocery shopping wasn't allowed to take long either. I had to be done, in time for company, so I managed the menu plan in about 20 minutes, and took about another 45 minutes or so to do the shopping.

When you plan, it doesn't have to take long. Putting that together and double checking my fridge and pantry/freezer contents and making that list took 20 minutes.

45 minutes got me thru the shopping.

I had enough left over to hit the specials on 1.49 day and I topped off the pantry on a few things.

Saves time, saves money.

Sure saved a lot of stress while company was here, I didn't have to go out for groceries, and when meal time came, I checked my plan, posted on the fridge, made it and got on with life.

I've been menu planning for years but having the breakfasts and lunches written in was a big help too. It meant I didn't HAVE to do that item (I did substitute several times) but if I didn't have a better idea, I had this one planned and all the fixings ready to go.

No dashing to the store (remember that saves money, not just time, because when you go in, you usually pick up more than you expected).

I encourage anyone thinking about different shopping strategies to save money to SERIOUSLY consider menu planning when you are sitting down making your payday grocery list.

No you don't have to go all out and do breakfast and lunch. Just have the fixings on hand. Cold cereal, eggs, porridge stuff, stuff to make pancakes or waffles, and sandwich fixings, salads and tinned soups.

I find it easier to start with a meat of the day (and for partial or full time vegetarians, you might want to include a variety of beans, tofu, TVP, nuts and dairy nights)

I usually find leaving one night a week blank for leftovers works well, and if you plan to go out, leave another night blank for that.

Here is a link you might enjoy, that I picked up from flylady. It's from the gal who wrote Saving Dinner (one cookbook I'd like but don't have yet). She does a whole menu plan thing, complete with shopping list and recipes.

There is a low carb one and a regular one.
http://www.savingdinner.com/sample_low-carb.html
http://www.savingdinner.com/sample_regular.html

and Leanne Ely has some other good stuff posted on flylady.net
http://www.flylady.net/pages/FoodForThought1.asp
http://www.flylady.net/pages/kitchen2.asp
http://www.flylady.net/pages/FLYsense4.asp