saving $$ on groceries

valerieanne9015 · August 2012

Anyone have any advice on how to save money on groceries?

We spent just over $100 on Sunday and that was only 1 dinner (steaks and veggies) and a bunch of lunch/stock up stuff. Then yestday, I decided to make lasagne. I went to the store and bought only what I needed to make it and it was $20+!! Granted some will be left over to use next time, but still! Food is so pricey and I feel like we never buy anything compared to what the price says we bought.

smilelari · August 2012

Our grocery budget is something we've been working on for about a year now and we're finally getting it under control. Our budget now is $150 per week (that includes food, toiletries, cleaning supplies, basically anything you would buy at Target) and we are sticking to it. We're to the point where some months we only spend $400. Our restaurant budget is $100, so it's not like we've just diverted our money to eating out either.

Meal planning is the key. My basic process:

-Plan 4 meals for the week. We usually cook once and eat twice, so 4 meals is plenty to cover the entire week.

-Make a list including the 4 dinners, lunch stuff, toiletries, household stuff, etc. We use the Our Groceries program on our phones.

-Look up items on list in coupon database online to see if any coupons match our list. Clip coupons

-Skim coupon blogs to see if anything we buy regularly is on a super good sale. Add super good sale items to the list. I'm always searching for cheap deodorant, razors, chicken breasts, Dr. Pepper, shampoo, soap, laundry detergent, etc

CCM82909 · August 2012

We do all of the above as well as a few others:

- Look through weekly ads for stores in your area. I can get really good deals by price matching an item found in an ad. The other day I was able to get strawberries for 99 cents (on sale at Aldi) when they are usually $2.50 a lb at Walmart. Walmart doesn't require that you bring an ad in store anymore, as they are supposed to have them at every cash register. You can then use coupons on top of your price match to bring the price even lower.

- See if any of your stores double coupons. Our Kroger and Publix will double manufacturer coupons up to a $1. Doesn't seem like much, but it definitely helps.

- Go through your pantry. I discovered that we had a ton of unused items like cream of chicken, beans, etc that were just being stored in our pantry and not used since we kept finding new recipes. We try to take a day out of the week to do a "around the house" recipe and use whatever items we have laying around the house before purchasing anything.

- To add to the list idea, I limit myself to purchasing 3 items that weren't originally on the list. It cuts back on spontaneous purchases, which in the end, saves more money.

Kaeldrasmommy · August 2012

I only shop every two weeks. I keep a set list of the things we keep around the house and replace items as needed. If I plan to make a new meal I bring the recipe. Avoid snack foods, and hit produce stores or farmers markets and bulk places. We have a $500 a month budget an usually spend less for the 5 of us. Of course the kids also get money for school lunches and my DH gets an allowance of sorts, but it's not terrible.

JamiesWife2010 · August 2012

Meal planning has been a lifesaver for us! I shop for 2 weeks worth of meals at a time(We usually freeze 1/2 of a meal for the next week or eat as leftovers the next day to avoid wasting food). I write down every thing needed for every meal(I'm making a "master list" of recipes we use for easier access). Then check to see what I need to buy. I stick to my list as much as possible. We have stopped buying a lot of processed snack foods(better for our pockets & our waistlines. I use coupons when they are something I would normally buy, if not I buy store brand when possible(I have my limits though, some things just have to be a certain brand. LOL) I buy some stuff(mostly meats, cheese, milk & cleaning products) at warehouse stores.

I can pretty much spend $250 or less every 2 weeks on groceries(that includes cleaning & personal care products) now.

LittleMommaBlueHen · August 2012

I used to coupon like a crazy woman, but that left me with a lot of processed food that I didn't really enjoy. Now I just plan much better. On a weekly basis my budget is 87.50, but that doesn't include the CSA share or the sixth of a cow that we purchased from a local farm.

I eat mostly unprocessed whole foods. One thing that allows me to stay within my budget is I make our bread from scratch (in the bread machine). DH eats leftovers for lunch which is also a huge budget saver--deli meats and cheeses add up quickly.

I shop at a farmers market, a local food cooperative, local butcher and a big box grocery store regularly. I make a costco trip once per month. Our dairy products are delivered from a local dairy. Knowing where to purchase things for the best price/quality helps. For example, if i buy frozen blueberries at the food coop it is $6 for less than a pound. At Costco I can get 4lbs of the same brand of frozen blueberries for $10.

smilelari · August 2012

LittleMommaBlueHen:
I used to coupon like a crazy woman, but that left me with a lot of processed food that I didn't really enjoy. Now I just plan much better. On a weekly basis my budget is 87.50, but that doesn't include the CSA share or the sixth of a cow that we purchased from a local farm.

I eat mostly unprocessed whole foods. One thing that allows me to stay within my budget is I make our bread from scratch (in the bread machine). DH eats leftovers for lunch which is also a huge budget saver--deli meats and cheeses add up quickly.

I shop at a farmers market, a local food cooperative, local butcher and a big box grocery store regularly. I make a costco trip once per month. Our dairy products are delivered from a local dairy. Knowing where to purchase things for the best price/quality helps. For example, if i buy frozen blueberries at the food coop it is $6 for less than a pound. At Costco I can get 4lbs of the same brand of frozen blueberries for $10.

Just want to chime in that we coupon a lot. We also avoid processed foods. The majority of our couponing goes to non-food items, like laundry detergent. There are, however, sometimes food coupons for things like bagged salads and Target does coupons along the lines of $1 off $5 of fresh produce all the time. King Soopers also does similar coupons. We don't make bread from scratch, so we definitely coupon for bread as well as pasta and eggs. We also have our dairy delivered and the dairy has their own coupons that we leave out in the dairy box. Good stuff.

One good tip is that most fruit can be frozen, so when they have something like the $.99/lb Friday sale for strawberries at Whole Foods, grab 5 lbs and freeze what you won't use right away.

If anyone can help me figure out farmer's market pricing, I'd love to hear all about that. I can never figure out if I'm getting a good deal because they tend to sell by the bag or basket rather than by the pound. Maybe I should start bringing a scale with me

LittleMommaBlueHen · August 2012

smilelari:
LittleMommaBlueHen:
I used to coupon like a crazy woman, but that left me with a lot of processed food that I didn't really enjoy. Now I just plan much better. On a weekly basis my budget is 87.50, but that doesn't include the CSA share or the sixth of a cow that we purchased from a local farm.

I eat mostly unprocessed whole foods. One thing that allows me to stay within my budget is I make our bread from scratch (in the bread machine). DH eats leftovers for lunch which is also a huge budget saver--deli meats and cheeses add up quickly.

I shop at a farmers market, a local food cooperative, local butcher and a big box grocery store regularly. I make a costco trip once per month. Our dairy products are delivered from a local dairy. Knowing where to purchase things for the best price/quality helps. For example, if i buy frozen blueberries at the food coop it is $6 for less than a pound. At Costco I can get 4lbs of the same brand of frozen blueberries for $10.
Just want to chime in that we coupon a lot. We also avoid processed foods. The majority of our couponing goes to non-food items, like laundry detergent. There are, however, sometimes food coupons for things like bagged salads and Target does coupons along the lines of $1 off $5 of fresh produce all the time. King Soopers also does similar coupons. We don't make bread from scratch, so we definitely coupon for bread as well as pasta and eggs. We also have our dairy delivered and the dairy has their own coupons that we leave out in the dairy box. Good stuff.
One good tip is that most fruit can be frozen, so when they have something like the $.99/lb Friday sale for strawberries at Whole Foods, grab 5 lbs and freeze what you won't use right away.
If anyone can help me figure out farmer's market pricing, I'd love to hear all about that. I can never figure out if I'm getting a good deal because they tend to sell by the bag or basket rather than by the pound. Maybe I should start bringing a scale with me

I would ask the farmer about the weight to price thing. A lot of the farmers at the farmers market I go to charge by the pound or quart (dependant on the farm). There is one farm at my farmers market that I don't buy from simply because they can't explain their pricing to me and I don't have the time to figure it out.

LittleMommaBlueHen · August 2012

smilelari:
LittleMommaBlueHen:
I used to coupon like a crazy woman, but that left me with a lot of processed food that I didn't really enjoy. Now I just plan much better. On a weekly basis my budget is 87.50, but that doesn't include the CSA share or the sixth of a cow that we purchased from a local farm.

I eat mostly unprocessed whole foods. One thing that allows me to stay within my budget is I make our bread from scratch (in the bread machine). DH eats leftovers for lunch which is also a huge budget saver--deli meats and cheeses add up quickly.

I shop at a farmers market, a local food cooperative, local butcher and a big box grocery store regularly. I make a costco trip once per month. Our dairy products are delivered from a local dairy. Knowing where to purchase things for the best price/quality helps. For example, if i buy frozen blueberries at the food coop it is $6 for less than a pound. At Costco I can get 4lbs of the same brand of frozen blueberries for $10.
Just want to chime in that we coupon a lot. We also avoid processed foods. The majority of our couponing goes to non-food items, like laundry detergent. There are, however, sometimes food coupons for things like bagged salads and Target does coupons along the lines of $1 off $5 of fresh produce all the time. King Soopers also does similar coupons. We don't make bread from scratch, so we definitely coupon for bread as well as pasta and eggs. We also have our dairy delivered and the dairy has their own coupons that we leave out in the dairy box. Good stuff.
One good tip is that most fruit can be frozen, so when they have something like the $.99/lb Friday sale for strawberries at Whole Foods, grab 5 lbs and freeze what you won't use right away.
If anyone can help me figure out farmer's market pricing, I'd love to hear all about that. I can never figure out if I'm getting a good deal because they tend to sell by the bag or basket rather than by the pound. Maybe I should start bringing a scale with me

Thanks for the tip! There wasn't a target close enough to me when I was couponing all the time. Now there is and coupons like that would be helpful. Also, I do still coupon some, but just way less than I did.

Natty13umppo · August 2012

This is along the lines of menu planning: One thing that drives me crazy are recipes that just want half of something or a little bit of something and then I have all these halves and pieces of random ingredients left in my fridge. So when I want to make a recipe that just uses part of something, I try to find another recipe that I can use the rest of the stuff in. (Some things, of course, are easy - can get tossed in a salad, soup, sandwich, something.....but some ingredients are better used in a recipe.)

Also, unless a specific fruit or veggie is needed, I try to do my produce shopping by what's on sale. Like, I want a green veggie to go with dinner....could do spinach, but oh wait, asparagus is really cheap so we'll get that. Same with fruits. Usually one type of apple or stone fruit or berry is on sale and I'll get that. And, of course, it doesn't matter how cheap something is if you don't eat it....I've learned the hard way when buying too much produce in bulk doesn't work out and I can't/don't freeze it. Oooops. (Or no matter how cheap certain kinds of apples are I won't buy b/c I don't like that kind.)

Price compare as much as you can! This sounds pretty obvious but can be sneaky in a lot of ways. The most recent sneakiness of this I saw was that the grocery store sold a brand of rice in the bulk bins and in boxes. (The bulk bin and the boxes were sold in different aisles.) I assumed what was in bulk would be cheaper per pound but it wasn't! So I bought the box. *shrug* Also, for things I buy regularly, I keep in mind (or in my purse) how much it is at Target vs. grocery store vs. Costco vs. wherever so I know when I'm getting a good price.

Nwlywed07 · August 2012

Meal plan like crazy and make a list before going to the store. Take inventory of what you already have to create your plan that way you buy less ingredients.

Keep a stock of all basic items like pasta, spaghetti sauce, chicken stock, rice, beans, etc. I also buy meat in bulk when it's at a good price then just freeze it.

Search local store print outs of what will be on sale. See if you can base your menu off of what's already on sale. Also if it's not a big deal then I will purchase whatever brand is on sale...as long as I'm not being a brand snob or I know my family won't eat it. aka: Fred Meyer brand of bread was on sale for .99 this week so I bought that instead of the usual that coast about 3.45

Coupons but only for things you already planned on purchasing no processed foods.

I love the farmers market but I do think that prices tend to be a bit higher than I can get at the grocery store. If I have room in my budget then I will stop by the market for fresh fruits and breads.

I also try not to go shopping for just a single meal. For some reason it is WAY more expensive than if I had it in my original meal planning menu. I just add it to next weeks list.

Grocery prices do seem to be getting out of control though. It's not just your imagination! Hope those ideas help!

Want a personalized experience?

saving $$ on groceries

Re: saving $$ on groceries

Choose Another Board

Search Boards