Tried & True Tips for Slashing Your Grocery Bill Without Coupons

[qsaver704]

~Shop alone!
~Shop with a list you made from printed or online fliers.
~Stock up on basic loss-leaders like fruits and veggies, butter, cheese, pasta and pantry items. Learn how to prep and freeze or dehydrate the surplus(it's easy!).
~Shop at multiple stores and get the best deals at each.
~Make a menu after you shop, not before! You'll be making meals from what you acquired cheaply instead of trying to acquire cheaply what you "want" to make. The adjustment will save you lots of money!
~Stop buying snacks and flavored beverages cold turkey. Learn to love water and make your own snack foods at home.
~Stop being so picky. Do you really need pineapple, apples, avocados, celery, tomatoes, leeks, fresh broccoli, and portobello mushrooms this week? Can you get the same number of servings of fruits and veggies for less by having less variety?
~Have a price in mind for items before you shop. Even I impulse buy sometimes but I know my "good deal" price for almost everything I'd ever buy. For example, white mushrooms may be an un-advertised special and since I know not to pay more than $2lb for them I can impulse buy without guilt. I have similar limits on meat, ice cream, cheese, cereals, fruits and veggies, etc.

I love you list so much I thought I would quote you just so it appeared again. I agree with do menus with what is on hand not on sale. The way I do it is I make a menu based on what is in my freezer and pantry first. If I have one or two meals left blank THEN I go see what is on sale. It works great for me. This week I was able to only add eggs and lettuce to my shopping list. WHAT A GREAT WEEK! I also plan on making my DH pick those items up for me so I am not tempted to buy more.

[mamamia]

I didn't get to read all the posts, so I hope these aren't repeats.
Anyway, I'm a BIG coupon user, but of course you won't find much, if any coupons for fresh meat. What I've learned to do is wait for sales on different types of beef roasts...chuck, round, rump, etc. Most times it's $2.29-$2.99lb. I then ask the meat-cutter to custom cut for me. I get it ground, stir fry cut, stew or kabob chunks, thin sliced for cheese steaks and bracciole, or thicker steak cuts. Any of these cuts usually cost a small fortune. Like beef stir fry....usually $4.99lb. So needless to say, this can be really cost effective. I ususlly shop Publix, but I've done this in other supermkts too. And since I'll usually get 15 - 20lbs, I call the meat dept. ahead of time, and it's ready for pick up when I get there. Saves a little time too

Also, stop buying coldcuts from the deli. Insteal of spending $7 for a lb. of turkey breast, buy whole turkey breasts when they're on sale for $.99 - $1.29lb. and keep a few in the freezer. Slice them up for sandwiches, then bundle small pkges of it, and freeze again. The same goes for roast beef chicken breasts, and ham. Sandwiches are BIG around here with my brown baggers, so I save a fortune!

Another family fave around here is sausage patties on biscuits. I haven't mastered HM biscuits, so I buy Pillsbury on sale. But I make my own sausage patties from the tube roll of sausage meat. I also have a recipe to make from ground pork, but never tried it. Nonetheless, another money saver.

Also, try making HM Hot Pockets, pizza rolls, egg rolls, and so on. There's tons of ways to save money by DIY copycat recipes of most of the kid's frozen faves.

HTHs!

Theresa

[Grainlady]

I'm another one who plans menus from home food storage, not necessarily from what I purchased that week. Food purchases are based on lowest possible price - PERIOD. Menus are based on food that needs to be rotated out of storage, as well as balanced diet based on the old Basic-Four. Watching serving sizes is also a way to save. Over-eating anything is wasted money.

Save by going to the source and choosing the least processed when possible...

-Purchase wheat, instead of buying flour. Wheat has a storage life of 35-years or more, while flour keeps 6-12-months. The currant price from the mill outside of town is $20/50#, but I expect it to go down since there is a glut of wheat on the international market, which will drive prices down. Because I have hundreds of pounds in storage, I can wait for the price to go down. I make cereal, cracked wheat, bulgur, flour, cooked wheat berries, wheat flakes, farina, gluten ("fake meat"), wheat grass, sprouts, etc., all from wheat, and at a fraction of the price.

-I pick free apples each fall and dehydrate them. Nearly anything you make with fresh apples, you can make with dehydrated apples, at a fraction of the cost.

-When I no longer have fresh lettuce to use, or when lettuce is high-priced, I substitute bean/seed/grain sprouts, which are cheap and easy to make at home. They also have more nutrition than lettuce.

-I've eliminated a number of canned tomato goods from storage by using tomato powder (Tomato Powder) - a great savings of money as well as space in storage. Add to that, frozen and dehydrated tomatoes from the garden, and I no longer need to purchase tomato sauce, tomato paste, pizza sauce, spaghetti sauce, etc. I can even make ketchup and bbq sauce from tomato powder. Tomato powder has an indefinite shelf-life.

-Use powdered whole eggs when the price is lower than fresh shell eggs. This year I've discovered I can often use 1/2 an egg in many recipes (1 T. powdered whole eggs plus 1 T. water) and get the same results as using a whole egg, for additional savings.
Powdered whole eggs: Honeyville Powdered Dried Whole Eggs in the CAN

-We use a whey-based milk substitute (Morning Moo's) instead of store-bought milk. When I purchase 50# ($89.00), I usually split it with a friend for the cost of $1.30 a gallon of reconstituted "milk".

-The best way to slash your food budget without coupons is a SET a food budget to begin with, and stick to it. Our food budget is $150/month for two adults.

[Siebrie]

I will only use coupons on new-to-me products if they make the product dirt cheap or free. Even if it's something I wouldn't normally even think of buying, like a new type of washing detergent, or a bar of chocolate with ginger/kiwi filling. I will still get it, and either give it away or keep it as a special treat for a birthday or day out.

For the rest of the shopping, I prefer to shop from my pantry, because that way I have more options. I hate it when I have to shop for a specific menu or recipe, because the shop may not have all items cheaply, or may be sold out, and then I have to rethink my menu IN THE STORE, which causes stress and unhealthy and expensive meals.

[nodmicks]

Another thing I realized last night is eating the proper portion size. We had pork chops last night. I really would have preferred another pork chop after the first one instead of more veggies. I'm thinking over a years time the extra portions would make a big difference in the wallet and the jeans!

[Saule]

Coupons don't work for me either - I rarely buy those products. I do look for high value ones for cat food, as I do believe that a better quality cat food is better for my cat, and for some exceptional things. Most processed foods just don't work for me, because the sodium levels are so high and my husband is on a very low sodium diet.

I shop Aldis also, but my major shopping is done at large independent/ethnic markets in my area. Meat, produce, dairy and deli almost always beat any other store, especially if I buy what is on sale. Jumbo eggs for 1.09, prosciutto for $6.99/lb (yes that's more than I normally pay, but just two paper thin slices make a sandwich for me), great smoked deli ham for $2.99, fresh okra .48, green onions 4/$1, tangerines .69/lb, chicken drumsticks 5 lbs for $2

My biggest challenge is to use or freeze things before they go bad. Despite a lot of effort, I still lose product for this reason, esp as hubby is not physically well and sometimes just does not eat what I've planned or actually prepared.

I always check out ethnic markets, because if nothing else, the foods common to that culture tend to be a lot less. I have sometimes learn how to use them, but that's a great experience, too.

[ruderring]

I am a coupon user because I can match up the loss leaders with my many coupons that I use so, I usually get these items for pennies on the dollar or free. I also look for quick reduced items such as produce and meat items that have been drastically reduced and if I have a coupon I will use those to get it even cheaper. The reduced produce has become my favorite. I can sometimes pick up organic spinach and the like for .50-1.00. Dairy products also have become a fav of mine in the reduced section. I buy milk when it is just about to expire and freeze it. Yes it is actually good. We buy skim so it is good for a few days past its shelf life. Just remember to leave a little head space when freezing though because I learned the hard way it expanded and left frozen milk on quite a few things. An other thing I do is shop clearance sections at Target Walmart ect for soap, detergent, bodywash, baby items and such. If I do have coupons for those items they get used. For instance I bought 8 bottles of body wash for ds and got all for free because they were on clearance for 1.52 and I had 2$ coupons so totally free plus got the overage towards the rest of my bill.
The other thing that is helpful to know is groceries do have a definite cycle. So, I stock up on those things at the right time of year and most of the time I can make it through to the next year. Like condiments ketchup, mustard bbq sauce is all on sale now for the grilling season so stock up. Around school start up time in the fall lots of convenience foods are on sale like cereal, pizzas etc. We don't buy a lot of those items as we are trying to cook from scratch but if you do stock up then. Yes, buy your baking supplies and stock up around the holidays they are at their cheapest then. Also, things that are on sale usually go back on sale about 4-6 weeks later so stock up on chicken or beef and then be set until the next time. Canning is a definite yes or preserving. I am just learning. This is my third year but it does get easier. I know what is in my food so I feel a lot better about this. I could go on forever but that is for some other time. Happy shopping, canning, baking or whatever you do to make your budget work.

[falan]

This is a great thread.

I don't have much to offer except when I go shopping, I have a list and a budget. If I go over budget, something must go.

[jas]

I still use some coupons, but mostly I buy the things that are bogo at my store and if there is a coupon all the better. Over time I know what we use and go through all the time. In the begginning I would buy stuff just because I could get it cheap. I ended up giving or throwing away a lot of stuff not knowing how quickly we would go through something.

[druthb00]

I'm also a BIG coupon user, but I've found the best way to cut my grocery budget is to cut the meat, BIG TIME. I usually make at least 2 meatless meals per week, but we eat each meal twice. That's my other money saver. If you meal plan around the sales (and what's in your pantry/freezer/stockpile) and cook for 2 nights instead of one, it tends to save money. Not to mention it cuts down on meal prep.

Some of my favorite meatless meals are:
Lazy Lasagna (casseroled layers of bite-sized pasta, HM sauce, cottage cheese and a final layer of 2% milk shredded motz.)

Pita pizzas (self explanitory )

Vegetable soup (HM veggie stock, crushed tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, corn, topped with crushed tortilla chips and some 2% shredded cheese)

Greek Polpettes (potato pancakes)

HM potato soup with Bisquick garlic cheese biscuits (quite possibly the cheapest meal I've ever made)

Black bean tostadas (corn tortillas, black beans, pico de gallo, lettuce, cheese, sour cream)

[Brownsuga77]

Love this thread, I really don't have anything to offer other than, I am implementing more meatless meals....and I've turned away from ground beef, opting for ground turkey. I can now buy three packs of 1lb ground turkey for the price of 1 pack of ground beef. It's taste better too!