Do you want to know what’s the biggest secret of the TV extreme couponers who are able to save incredible amounts of money on their shopping bill? The biggest secret is that most of the savings that they get doesn’t actually come from the coupons that they use. All those coupons that they clip from the Sunday papers, print online from sites like Grocery Coupon Network and store away in complicated fashion in a huge coupon binder aren’t actually where most of their great grocery bill savings come from. How do I know this? Because at one time, I was one of them. The fact is that even if you hate coupons and you know that there is no way that you would ever use them, you can still cut your shopping bill by half or more by simply changing the way that you shop.
The real secret that the extreme couponers use is that they only shop for the very best deals advertised at the stores each week. In other words, they don’t shop for ingredients for the meals that they decide they want to create each week, but instead they plan their meals from what they have in their pantry and freezer. Their meals each week are determined by what food they already have in their house. This may see like a minor difference, but it has a huge impact on the amount of money you will spend on food each week depending on which way you shop.
By cooking their meals from what they already have, their shopping list can be devoted to buying only the very best deals the store has to offer each week. This allows them to purchase food for a fraction of the price that it would normally cost. By simply shopping the best deals, they never pay full retail price for anything at the grocery store. Since most loss leaders and sales allow consumers to buy the product for half or more off its normal retail price, their grocery bills are tiny compared to most. They then use coupons as an added bonus that takes the price of the product from 50 % off down to 80% or more off its normal retail price.
That’s it. That’s the super-duper hidden stealth secret to their shopping savings. By simply changing the way that you cook your meals, you (or anyone) can save 50% or more off your grocery bill even without using any coupons. Take a moment to let that sink in. You can reduce your shopping bill in half if you simply change the way you decide what meals you are going to have each week.
Now, actually changing this habit will take some time and effort, but it’s well worth doing. Cooking meals with what you have on hand often takes a bit of creativity when all the ingredients you usually use may not be available. It also requires that you plan ahead and are a bit more organized than usual with your meal planning. If, however, you can succeed, you’ll be amazed at how your grocery bill shrinks from what you used to be paying. I highly encourage you to give it a try, and I think you’ll be astonished at how simply changing the way that you shop can make such a dramatic difference on what you pay at the grocery store.
This is probably the one thing that I now do which saves me the most money when grocery shopping. What are some of the methods you use to reduce the amount you pay each week at the grocery store?
As part of our ongoing giveaway series, this time we are offering a chance to win $100 in cash. Think about how far that could go in combination with this newly learned shopping secret that you just read. I wish you the best of luck in both the contest and in lowering your grocery bills:
Jeffrey strain is a freelance author, his work has appeared at The Street.com and seekingalpha.com. In addition to having authored thousands of articles, Jeffrey is a former resident of Japan, former owner of Savingadvice.com and a professional digital nomad.
I don’t know if I would be able to create meals around what was on sale at the grocery store. Also, I wouldn’t be able to purchase a large amount of items just because I can use coupons on them. It is just not in my nature. Also, food provides me comfort, so I want to cook certain meals for the week depending on the weather, work schedule, stress, etc. This is what works for me.
Good to know – this is very helpful. Reducing my grocery bills, which have gotten really out of hand, is a big priority for 2013.
I save money when grocery shopping by using a list, keeping track of costs with a calculator, and using coupons.
I started shopping this way a little more than a year ago – it really makes a huge difference. I have such a well-stocked pantry that I could live off the foodstuffs I already have for a couple of months, I think!
I shop the ads and buy from loss leaders combined with coupons, this generally saves me the most money. Other strategies include warehouse stores (especially for dog food!) and shopping at a much cheaper retailer for “basics”.
Our grocery store puts the extra deli rotisserie chickens in the refrigerated section and sells them at a greatly reduced price. I grab them and use in soups, casseroles and other quick meals like quesadillas.
I don’t really coupon much. It’s not as big a deal in Canada and frankly I don’t buy a lot of the processed stuff they generally cover.
Each week I review the freezer and list 5-7 meat options I have. Next scan the fridge and pantry for veggies, rice/noodles/beans. then I mix and match to come up with the main meal and confirm we have the little odds and ends needed. My grocery list is made up of two parts: items needed to complete one of the combinations I made out of things we had, and two, stocking up on the best sales that week which will become the starting points in future weeks.
Intentional leftovers are also a great way to stretch your budget and save a LOT of time. Whenever you are cooking a common item, cook double or triple what you need with the plan to either use it a day or two later, or freeze it. When cooking a whole chicken it’s no more time to cook two. Now you have lots of leftovers for enchiladas, casseroles, or just freeze it in 2cup amounts (or whatever suits your favorite recipes). I rarely freeze a completed meal, just the components we use on a regular basis. When ground beef is on sale I buy 10-15 pounds and fry it all up and freeze for later. A busy week night goes so much faster when you can always skip that first step of the recipe that reads “brown a pound of ground beef). When you cook pasta or rice, do double. Next night you’re half way to a caserole or fried rice with no effort and you saved on the gas/electricity by not cooking the same items over again.
I do a few things. I used to coupon heavily some twenty years ago but now I rarely use a coupon; it’s not worth my time. If you want to save money, the first thing to do is to write down the 30 most common items you buy and then check the prices on those 30 items at 3 or 4 stores in your area. The store with the lowest price, gets my business. If I am going to buy these items week after week, it makes sense to shop for the lowest price on those items. For many years, I shopped for the lowest cost and now I shop at the store where I can get good prices and access to organics.
Whole Foods is very expensive so instead I found a store in my area that offers good overall prices and organics. I try to set a budget of $100 a week and I make nearly everything from scratch. My son eats via a feeding tube and is medically fragile so I took him off of the crappy formulas they give you and I feed him a great diet with 50-75% organic food,all of which needs to be blended for every meal. I created a healthy diet of eleven fruits/veg a day, plus different organic protein sources and omega 3s and all of that costs some money. He’s improved significantly and it’s worth every penny. I don’t waste food but I am frugal. I vary protein sources each day of the week(organic blk beans,organic eggs, albacore tuna, organic chicken, organic beef) and only buy what we need each week. I don’t keep any big freezer stocked but what we eat is very fresh. I make all of our bread, pasta sauce, pizza dough, etc from scratch and using a bread machine and other quality kitchen tools. I spend %100/week like this: $15 on fruit/$15 on leafy greens, $15 on vegetables (half of the money for the fruit/veg and leafy greens goes towards organic produce), $20 on organic protein sources (beef, chicken, eggs, beans, etc, $15 on dairy (kefir, 1/2 gallon organic milk, butter) and $15 on other staples like flour, etc since I make all of my own bread, etc. I stay away from most canned goods (BPA in the containers), from any packaged foods, etc and just eat real foods. Once a monthI go to Costco. I use most of my grocery money that week and purchase some staples for the month, depending on what I need (organic fruit, alabacore tuna, organic diced tomatoes for homemade pasta sauce, organic ground flaxseed, etc.). I plan to grow a garden next year when I purchase a home. I’ll start by growing the most expensive items on my grocery list. I do keep a price book so I know what the lowest price is on an item and I also know what time of the year the different stores offer sales on those items and I stock up at that time. I also am pretty strict about staying within my budget. I could save more money by buying regular over organic and buying more canned goods but I purchase for health and not just price, like I used to.
For health and beauty aids, I shop mostly at Walmart and for cleaning products, I use Earth Friendly Products and get most of them at walgreens.com which has the lowest price-I can save 25% or more on dish soap alone.
Good for you for taking care of your son’s diet. It is a lot more work and he is very lucky to have someone to be able to take such care. Food is the first medicine. I wouldn’t be surprised if it saves you money in the long run with better health outcomes for him- the best way to save money! Best of luck in 2013!
Thank you so much Nadia. Yes, it’s a lot of work but I agree, food is medicine. Good luck to you too.
While I do not have a special needs child (props to you Dream Mom – you’re kicking butt), we too do not eat processed or boxed foods. I use to coupon a lot before when we didn’t eat healthy but it’s not worth it anymore. I buy a side of beef a year, have a deer or two in the freezer, buy eggs from the neighbor and cook everything from scratch. We live the Primal lifestyle so no pastas, grains or rice for us.
I find that I spend LESS money on healthy food than the time it takes to coupon and eat prepackaged/processed box meals. We subscribe to Emeals and we get our shopping list and recipes sent to us weekly and then go shopping.
Emeals also has a few meal plans that center around the big chains and their weekly sales to help save on your bill!
You go girl! When did people lose the connection between food and health, beats me?
kudos to you! where do you live? My biggest issue is trying to shave our grocery bill and we eat exactly the way you do…it would be miraculous if we could save this much! thanks for posting!!
i love to shop cvs pharmacy for all of my health and beauty items. their ecb program heps me to save a ton of money. i use their weekly ads to get only the best deals. many times, i can get snacks and milk for little to nothing.
I have shopped this way forever! We have a large family and live in a very small town where the grocery store is so small it doesn’t even accept coupons, but it is affiliated so there are good weekly sales.
This is what I do…and I’m always prepared for a natural disaster with a stocked pantry!
Jeffrey, I never realized you were THAT Jeffrey! How exciting. You are my hero for what you have done with your charity work and sharing your money-saving tips.
heh — not sure if I should be flattered or concerened that is the way that people recognize me 😉 That was certainly a bet with my sister that got out of hand, but did learn a lot (and was able to help the local food bank quite a bit). Always happy to share money saving strategies.
Ah, the chap whose sister bet him he couldn’t live on $1 a day for a month!
That was fascinating to follow and often hilarious, can I ever forget the tampon story.
heh — Not one of my most illustious moments, but it’s amazing what you will do for peanut butter when you are in a challenge like that 😉
Just my experience, but by using the method of shopping to stock the home pantry rather than the family’s stomachs each week can work, but it takes at least a month before results are really seen. In addition to that method, I do shop around special additional offers or ‘clubs’ associated with certain store shopper cards and still use paper manufacturer coupons, although, to be honest, my coupon usage has dwindled.
I use coupons all the time when I attend the grocery story and other stores.
I always shop the weekly “loss leaders” to supplement my pantry staples.
The biggest way I save money is allow my wife to do the shopping! Who needs amateurs in the grocery aisle when a pro armed with amazing coupons can hit the store? This division of labor saves us since I don’t buy stupid things we don’t need.
I save money by growing a lot of my own food. A packet of lettuce seeds cost me $3. Add in the cost of a little water and I have salad for a year. I grow most of my family’s vegetables from seed. It takes some time for the investment to pay off but when it does it pays off big. Growing my own produce keeps me out of the grocery store thereby saving me money.