Grocery Book?

**MrsK** · 09-17-2007, 02:12 AM

Ok, so a few months ago I started being frugal & trying to save as much as I can with groceries. We have 4 kids and so we end up spending a lot on food. My budget for a month is now $380, and that includes household items/cleaning supplies, etc.

And just the last time I started shopping I used coupons. Unfortunetly, I think I am in no double coupon land...I've heard PW doubles coupons, not sure if my area one does, so I'm gonna check that out this week.

ANWAY- I've heard people talking about grocery books before...how do you do them? I guess I get the general idea- writing down prices in a some sort of notebook to compare from one week to the next. But I'd like to know how to use one efficiently, so I can make one.

Any help is appreciated!

Also- how do you find out what store mark down meats & when? I usually shop @ Walmart just because everything is in one spot AND its literally 1 minute from my home, but I am open to shopping in more than one place if it'll save me $. The chain stores in my area are Albertsons, PW, Winn Dixie...no Krogers, etc.

**Neeley** · 09-17-2007, 02:46 AM

Originally Posted by MrsK

Also- how do you find out what store mark down meats & when? I usually shop @ Walmart just because everything is in one spot AND its literally 1 minute from my home, but I am open to shopping in more than one place if it'll save me $. The chain stores in my area are Albertsons, PW, Winn Dixie...no Krogers, etc.

In my area we have six or seven Super Wal-Marts within like 20 miles of my house. None of them ever have marked down meat.

Now we also have about 10 Winn-Dixies and they always have meat marked down. I have found that the mornings are the best time for meat markdowns and Saturday seems to be the best day. At the two WD I go to most often, they put all of the markdown meat in one area of the meat case. Sometimes they will put an orange sticker on them that says "Meat Manager Special". However, if they do not do that then you just have to look at the price sticker - it will say something like "meat markdown" and usually covers the old price sticker. Hope this helps a little.

**MomOfTwoGirls** · 09-17-2007, 08:11 AM

My local grocery store, Harps, also marks down meat in the mornings. I haven't noticed that any day is really the "best" day to go, I just check out their markdowns a few days a week, after I take my girls to school. I can get anywhere from $1 to $5 off a package of meat, depending on the original price and size of the package.

**justpeachy92** · 09-17-2007, 10:20 AM

In my area meat markdowns are down on Wed night, thursday morning. So the new stuff is out for the people that shop on weekends.
The idea of the price is book is to know who has the best price on things you typically buy. Lets say your family prefers Jiff peanut butter, and the regular price at Albertsons is $2.19 for an 18 oz jar, at Winn Dixie it is $2.09 and at walmart it is $1.99. So if you need some and no store has it on sale you know to get it at walmart. You also know that if Winn Dixie has the peanut butter buy one get one free, it would be wise to buy it there. Other things to note in your price book is when you notice a trend in how the grocery stores do sales. For the past year the one grocery store in my area has chicken breasts on sale every 2 months for 99cents a pound. So I stock up on it then. Another store triples coupons every 3 months, so I try and save most of my coupons for then.

**sdrjeolsen** · 09-17-2007, 11:03 AM

not much help on the price book, since I don't keep one. I predominately shop sales and coupon items, except for fruit, milk, etc.

But on marked down meat, our Super Target usually has a ton of it (it comes with a peelie coupon that the checker removes). Also they run a coupon about once a month on the supertarget. com website and you can print and use as many as you want...within reason. They are usually for 2.00 off 1 package. I try to combine that with the 1.50-3.00 off on the package itself and only buy when I can get a package of meat for 1.50 or under. Combine that with using meat as an add in (fajitas, rice w/chicken, spaghetti & meatballs, etc.) rather than a main item, and the grocery bill goes WAY down. I just picked up 5 cuts of steaks & roasts about 2 weeks ago totalling just over 8 lbs and spent 7.00 (reg price of 4.59/lb -saved almost 30.00). That will last us most of the month adding in the chicken & fish I already have and doing some meatless meals.