Calling For Your Best Tips on How to Save Money on Groceries

Thank you to everyone who left tips on my post about trying to save money on our groceries. I’ve already looked into a few of them. The response gave me an idea. Why not create one mega post packed full of everyone’s tips? We can read each other’s tips, and hopefully all of us will save a lot of money on our groceries as a result

You can participate in a few different ways. You can leave a comment here, you can contact me via email or if you have my posts delivered to you by email you can respond to the email that you are reading right now.

In early February, I’ll organize the tips and list them on here. If you are a blogger, you will also get some link love

What are some of your best tips for saving money on groceries?

Posted by Tricia on January 23, 2008 at 1:22 AM in Saving Money | 33 Comments »
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TexasT responded:
Posted: January 23rd, 2008 at 7:16 am
I blogged about The Grocery Game, and even though we get items that aren’t always necessity, the stockpile method really comes in handy:

http://nodebtforus.blogspot.com/2007/11/saved-some-money-this-weekend.html
Frugal Dad responded:
Posted: January 23rd, 2008 at 8:56 am
Set a dollar amount per person that you aren’t willing to go over and plan out meal ingredients around that figure. For instance, if your threshold is $1.00 per person, per meal, and you are a family or four then your spaghetti ingredients shouldn’t run more than $4.00 (leftovers can stretch this figure out a bit).
green3 responded:
Posted: January 23rd, 2008 at 9:20 am
Shop alone! If I take the husband or kids, my bill almost doubles with all the unnecessary things they pick out.
MoneySucks responded:
Posted: January 23rd, 2008 at 9:55 am
Don’t shop when you are hungry.
Limit your grocery shopping to once a week with a budget limit.
Jim ~ mydebtblog.com responded:
Posted: January 23rd, 2008 at 10:00 am
I only have the Sunday paper delivered because of the coupons. The time it takes to go through and cut them out and make a battle plan with the weekly flyer can save a lot of money. Last time I went the total was $150 before and $90 after all was said and done. Watching for sales helps too but pay attention to expiration dates so you know what you’re getting at such a low price.
Connie responded:
Posted: January 23rd, 2008 at 11:24 am
For most of the year….I use the Grocery Game. I stop around the holidays because I can’t keep up but I am gearing up to do it again.

Menu Planning is a must. I post my menus here every week and get ideas from other peoples menus too.
http://orgjunkie.com/2008/01/menu-plan-monday-jan-21st.html

Twice a month trips to Wal-Mart, using the milk delivery service which keeps me out of the stores has helped a lot.

I like to make double of a recipe and freeze for another meal. There are lots of great freezer recipes and I have a couple on my blog.

Using the store flyers to find items on sale. This is how I stock up on my meat. I buy meat once a month.

Making Soup. Soups can be very inexpensive to make and last for several meals. I try to make soup once a week and then send some in my husbands lunch.

Making things from scratch. Cookies, cakes and bread. I am just starting to make rolls and bread. They taste so great right out of the oven!
Jagular responded:
Posted: January 23rd, 2008 at 11:41 am
When I go shopping, I don’t shop for items. I shop for meals. Most families have around twenty meals that they make regularly. I can copy and paste the ingredients for each meal that we are wanting to make and then combine like-ingredients between different meals to reduce the cost further.

After that it’s just bread and milk for the rest of the two week period that I go shopping for.
deepali responded:
Posted: January 23rd, 2008 at 11:49 am
1. Go veg.
2. Buy a pressure cooker, rice cooker, and crockpot.
arduous responded:
Posted: January 23rd, 2008 at 12:26 pm
I’ve commented about my grocery strategy before, but I’ll repeat it because it’s pretty simple.

I walk to the grocery store, and I bring two reusable bags with me, and I shop in my bags. If something doesn’t fit in my bags, then I can’t buy it.

I also make a grocery list, and I meal plan, but it honestly all comes back down to 1) walking to the store and 2) shopping in my two bags.

And I get some exercise to boot!
Tricia responded:
Posted: January 23rd, 2008 at 12:55 pm
Sorry! I should have been clear on it. If someone has already left a comment with a tip on another post, I’ll use that.

Thank you arduous for bringing it up
Natalie responded:
Posted: January 23rd, 2008 at 2:08 pm
Plan, plan, plan. Use your grocery store’s weekly flier to buy what is on sale for meals and shop with a store card so that you get the discount.
Cut the coupons out on Sunday — I’m on a rotation with three girls in my apartment, so we all share the coupons and don’t have to pay for the paper — but only buy what you need. Don’t buy things because they are on sale or because you have a coupon. Also, coupons are great to stock up on things that you’ll need eventually, i.e. buy one get one free blocks of cheese.
Also, check when you’re using a coupon — sometimes the lesser-known or store brands are still cheaper, despite having a coupon!
Mary Haglund responded:
Posted: January 23rd, 2008 at 2:16 pm
I keep baggies in the freezer for little bits of leftovers–one for veggies, one for chicken, one for beef. When I make soup, some of the contents go into the soup pot. I always serve with fresh baked rolls or biscuits–makes a yummy, frugal meal.
Bob responded:
Posted: January 23rd, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Planning is always good… but here’s my little money saving tip:

Don’t be afraid of raw ingredients. They don’t always save, but sometimes you can make out like a bandit.

My prime example: In the winter, I like soup. For $3.50, I can get a nice sized whole chicken, gizzards and all (no antibiotics, etc, all natural).

After you’ve done it a couple times, it only takes a minute to cut up a chicken. I’ll skin and bone the breasts, then freeze them. The thighs and drumsticks come out and either get roasted for soup (that’s plenty of meat) or frozen for later use.

The rest of the guts go into a pot with a little carrot, celery, herbs and water.

The result? I can get a good gallon of chicken broth as well as a bunch of chicken. Cool the broth in the fridge and you can skim off the fat to make it healthier. Then freeze the broth in ice cube trays for later use, or use it within a day or two. Ice cube trays make for convenient portioning of soups and broths….

It really is not much work – you get nice aromas in the house, and instead of paying 50 cents for a tiny can of broth filled with fat and sodium, you get a ton of lowfat no salt added broth and a bunch of meat, all for a couple dollars.

Often, I’ll make a bunch of soup out of the broth and chicken, and for a total cost of about $10, I can feed our whole family a good 20-30 bowls of soup…. cheap, healthy… what more can you ask for?
Susan responded:
Posted: January 23rd, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Shop the perimeter – buy most of your groceries fresh (meats, fruits, veggies, dairy, bread) – you save money, and eat healthier.

In the produce & bread aisles, don’t be afraid of the “marked down” or “day old” items – they are still good and are a real bargain.
K responded:
Posted: January 23rd, 2008 at 3:18 pm
Go vegetarian, and if you don’t want to, then cut the amount of meat you eat in half (or more). Cook with lots of healthy and cheap sources of protein and fiber, such as lentils, brown rice, beans, chickpeas, etc. Buy them in bulk.

Avoid processed foods as much as possible. Avoid anything you see a commerical for – that means it will be more expensive than the nonprocessed foods you don’t seem being actively marketed on television.

If you live near one, shop at Trader Joes (my healthy Kashi cereal costs $2 here and $5 at other stores), Costco (be careful not to over-buy), a farm, or a farmer’s market. Another positive aspect of this is that it means you aren’t supporting Walmart, which is a mess of labor violations, discrimination, environmental violations, and putting local businesses out of business.
justine responded:
Posted: January 23rd, 2008 at 3:44 pm
If you do the math, you’ll find that taking your lunch to work, drinking coffee at home (rather than a coffee shop), and eating meals at home instead of at restaurants saves you TONS of money. Also, dads and moms should try to pack their kid’s lunch – gets them in healthy habits younger and saves money.
Sherri responded:
Posted: January 23rd, 2008 at 3:46 pm
I just wanted to stress eating healthy while saving money on groceries. The whole grain high-fructose-corn-syrup-free bread might be more money than the cheapy bleached/enriched bread with crap in it, but it’s worth it to me. If you shop healthy some items will be more (like bread), some will be about the same (all natural only ingredient is peanuts kind of peanut butter), but you will also completely eliminate lots of other items too (most prepared foods are made from pure crap!) and I usually save money on average. Also, since I rarely ever eat out (since I like to eat healthy) I save lots of money there.

The bottom line is people should just figure out what they are willing to sacrifice to be frugal and what they aren’t. I’d rather give up cable TV to save money than my healthy nutritious foods. It’s all about your family/individual balance.
Sarah responded:
Posted: January 23rd, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Some things that I have learned to do to stretch food/save money:
Just like other people, I like to roast a whole chicken, or several chicken breasts with skin on and have that as a meal, and then the leftovers can be used for jambalaya, chicken noodle soup, chicken pot pie later with just a few extra ingredients added.
Once a week, I make a big batch of red beans and rice. I then freeze about five or six little batches in Lock n’Lock containers, and eat those throughout the week when I have a craving for it or don’t feel like cooking anything. Those are really inexpensive meals. Usually I put a little ham meat in there for seasoning, but I have often made it vegetarian and it’s just as tasty. For the rice I just make a batch and put that in the refrigerator, ready for when I want a batch of red beans and rice.
Soups, gumbos, and lasagnas are things that I usually make double of and freeze for later. We make a lot of homemade pizzas, and making two pizzas-one for later- make for nice leftovers
I usually go twice a month grocery shopping, and find meal planning and sticking to the grocery list at the store helps with both time and money.
Ashley responded:
Posted: January 23rd, 2008 at 4:23 pm
I ask for Kroger gift cards as gifts. Well, at least I did that for Christmas. That’s how I saved.
Mrs. Style responded:
Posted: January 23rd, 2008 at 4:59 pm
The way we save the most on groceries is to buy INGREDIENTS, not food with ingredients. When we stopped buying processed foods, we saved big and became much healthier as well. Now we only buy produce, grains, nuts, a small amount of dairy and seafood. That’s about it. Cooking from scratch is much easier than it sounds and it’s FUN! Plus I can buy most of our food in bulk which saves big. Even though everything we buy is organic, we’re still saving hundreds every month compared to what we used to spend before we stopped buying processed food.
Brenda responded:
Posted: January 23rd, 2008 at 5:26 pm
I belong to http://www.hotcouponworld.com Lots of good stuff there. Unlike the grocerygame, there is no list to buy…all the information is right there!
Dasha responded:
Posted: January 23rd, 2008 at 7:27 pm
I do the following primarily for health and environmental reasons, but in 2007 we averaged less than $240 per month for two people. In New York City. And we buy organic as much as possible and local in the summer.

Eat less (or no) meat and fish. Buy ingedients only- if something is good to eat the way you buy it, and it isn’t a fruit or vegetable, don’t buy it. A few other exceptions – nuts and dried fruit. Also- avoid anything containing high fructose corn syrup, fake sugar (aspartame), ingredients you cannot pronounce or more than two words in its name. Try to avoid packaged and frozen prepared foods, and frozen foods that don’t make any sense (aka, frozen carrots, which can be had fresh- and tastier- year round). Don’t buy drinks – drink water. Only exceptions are tea, coffee, and some (organic) frozen juice concentrate to be used “occasionally.” Most juices are really just water and food coloring and soda is horrible. They are bad for your health, the environment and you wallet- single biggest waste!

Also, learn to cook. Really cook. I recommend Bittman’s how to cook everything – I just bought the vegetarian version and it is amazing. Learn to enjoy cooking and eating too- make it a hobby. Have a glass of wine and have fun with it!
Catherine responded:
Posted: January 23rd, 2008 at 10:28 pm
I blogged here about powdered milk: http://catholicstewardship.blogspot.com/2007/12/money-saving-change-powdered-milk.html Amy Daczyzn, of The Tightwad Gazette fame, recommended it, and I think there was a post at Get Rich Slowly that also endorsed it. If you have good water, it’s a great bargain, with the bonus that you can eliminate even more trips to the store when you’re “out of milk.” I’d need to add that you should always store reconstituted powdered milk in a glass container. I haven’t tried it in a plastic one, and I’m told I really don’t want too.

I love Aldi too. Reading the ads (they are mailed to me here without subscribing to the local paper) is enlightening now. Aldi’s regular price almost always beats the “sales” at the regular stores.
Deby responded:
Posted: January 23rd, 2008 at 11:32 pm
Before you walk out of the store, check your receipt. You may find an item is more than what you thought, and you can return the item right then if you decide you don’t want to pay that price for it. Also, many stores will refund the full purchase price of an item if they overcharged you for it. I’ve gotten several refunds that way, but you need to check before you actually leave the building.
Marcy responded:
Posted: January 24th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
Be open to purchasing your groceries at non-”grocery” locations. Open up your phone book and take a good look at every listing that is the least bit connected with food retail sales that may be worth considering. Look at the prices of what is on your shopping list at any retail venue you happen to run errands (i.e. — CVS, Target, Dollar Tree, Big Lots, KMart, etc). Separate out non-food items from your grocery list and shop for them elsewhere. In my local area, paper and cleaning goods as well as pet food are almost always less expensive at Target or Kmart, for instance, than at the local grocery chains.
JvW responded:
Posted: January 24th, 2008 at 8:49 pm
Keep a running total as you shop to be sure to stay under your budget. My grocery store (Stop & Shop) has a handheld scanner where you scan your items as you go and it gives you a total. When you reach your budget, either stop picking items or start putting things back.
Cheryl responded:
Posted: January 25th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
I am a family of one, and my plan is simple, I check the weekly flyer for items I normally buy or need, then check to see if I coupons for the items on sale – if I don’t have a coupon, I then go to the internet and search for one (usually works). I average $10 in coupon savings on a $50 grocery bill. I ALWAYS have my coupons with me when I go to the grocery, or Target/WalMart – you never know when you are going to find a good markdown deal or clearance rack – adding a coupon can make that deal even better!If a non persihable item is on sale that I know I am going to use, AND I have a coupon – I buy it, because it WILL get eaten, and it saves me from buying it later. (I do this with cereal a lot, when they are buy one-get one free, and it’s something I like, I can always put it in the pantry!)
As far as meats, I buy when it’s on sale as well, and I usually buy the chicken with bone-in, it’s much cheaper than the boneless skinless breasts, and you can de-bone it at home and freeze it as you wish.
Samantha responded:
Posted: January 25th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
This is really not about groceries but Pet food. I usually buy science diet pet food even though it is really pricey. I try to go to Petco and places like that on the weekends because usually the pet food reps are there. 9 out of 10 times if you ask them even the most basic question even if it is “where is X product” they will give you a coupon for 3-5 dollars off! Yeah it’s a little shameless but it saves me money!
Rob Madrid responded:
Posted: January 26th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Hi Tricia Your On!

I’ve been thinking of doing a post on my best shopping tips for a while now. It would also help me get back on track, been a bit lazy and slipping on sticking to lists etc. In general I’ve keep the amount on track in spite of bending my rules abit.
Full Grown Single responded:
Posted: January 27th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
Call your county extension agent (they exist even in urban counties) to see whether there’s a community garden in your area. I volunteer in the one in my city. I regularly spend a few hours outdoors in the sunshine and working with at-risk kids, and from this get a share of the harvest year round– what a great deal!
FranticWoman responded:
Posted: January 30th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
You guys are good. I average $350 a month for just ME – ack! I’m trying $300/mn but food prices just went up and I’m failing this first month of the new year already.

Anyway, what has helped me: When I get home with my receipts, I dissect them for “luxury” items, i.e. the stuff I can live without but am in the habit of buying. At one point I realized I was spending $30 a month on Vitamin Water! Absurd!

So, nix the luxery items.

I also do cheap meals a lot; lots of egg dishes, lots of rice and beans (which is really good when done right), and lots of rice consumption as a side or a main event with sausage in it for instance. Buying a huge bag of rice is pretty cheap around here and dry beans are a godsend of cheap. I also will pancakes for dinner some nights or some such thing – it is still good but it is cheap! I eat v. well 3-4 nights a week and have uninteresting stuff the other nights to round things out. I only eat meat or fish 2-3 meals a week anyway, so I support that notion as well. Meat is soooo expensive and many of the ‘same” meals w/o meat are just as good (like lasagne; I never miss the meat).

I often see comments re: processed food is more expensive, but I found the opposite to be true unfortunately for many things. Enchilada sauce and mac & cheese from scratch cost me three times what buying a box or can would do. You would have to do your own evaluation, but don’t always assume just because it is pre-made or close to it that it is more costly.

Tricia seems to have real challenges based on location and availability; I wish I could be more helpful.
DJ responded:
Posted: February 2nd, 2008 at 9:15 pm
I try to limit the number of times I shop so when I don’t know what to make with what I have on-hand instead of going to the store, I go to http://www.recipematcher.com. When you type in what you have on-hand, they will give you recipes that match what you type in. I’ve never tried it but they also do matches for cocktail recipes.
First Step responded:
Posted: February 4th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
The best solution I’ve found for saving money on groceries is to plan my meals around what is on sale for the week. I check ads online for all of the stores that I drive by on other errands, and I stop at each store to buy the loss leaders for the week. I try to buy only what we will use within one month. I buy chicken and hamburger in bulk each month and freeze them. Also, I always have a few quick meals on hand (spaghetti, sausage & rice, or soup & sandwich).

There are four members of my family, and I’m trying to get the grocery bill under $500. I will probably meet that goal for the first time in March because we’ve needed a lot of non-food items in January and February that I count toward groceries (toilet paper, razor blades, detergent, softener, etc.). I’m hoping that over the year we’ll average $500 or less per month.