To keep my groceries organized so I know what I have and don't have, I have been doing the following:
I placed my groceries into plastic containers that I can pull out like drawers to check so nothing gets forgotten on the shelves. It also helps me to keep rotating my stock.
I designated certain rows or shelves in cabinets or even the freezer for distinct items, like the soup, vegetable, or canned fruit row, meat drawer in the freezer or the quick meal shelf.
I create a list of what potential meals I already have in the house and distinguish lunch or dinner meals so any of us can check it quickly know what's available and what we have to make a meal.
Example of list:
Lunch- peanut butter, tuna, soups, grilled cheese, ravioli, veggie burgers, ramen noodles, lunch meat/burritos.
Dinner- 6 hamburger patties, 8 drumsticks, 2 lbs. ground beef, turkey breast, pizza dough, and 2 lb. ham
This helps me to rotate my foods and not let something sit in the freezer while I continue to purchase meals.
Watch the store sales and take the time to cut your coupons. I usually save between $30-40 each trip to the grocery store. It is worth the time.
Take advantage of a store's "loss leaders." These are sale items the store is selling at such a low cost they may even be losing money on them. These items are priced so low to get you into the store, with the hope that you will keep shopping for regularly priced items.
Buy cranberries early in the season and put them straight into the freezer. The closer you get to the holidays the more expensive they get.
Remember to shop at grocery stores after the holidays. They will sell the seasonal foods for cheap. -- breads, cakes, cookies, meats, etc. (and of course seasonal candy.)
Here in the Great White North life is not always easier. But one area that helps out is the scanner "code". When I go grocery shopping - I check every receipt - every time.
Check with your grocer from time to time to see about any greatly reduced meats or fruits that he'd be getting rid of. You could put those fruits to good use making batches of homemade jams, jellies, preserves ...
Through the years, I've read at least one hundred different articles with tips and tricks on how to cut your grocery bill. With a large family, I've followed most of the advice at one time or another.
It seems like our grocery bill (family of 2) is growing out of control. We shop off a list and get only what is needed, generic mostly, and also split our time between the surplus store, farm market, discount stores and our regular grocery. We've also gotten into a great habit of eating our leftovers and not wasting. However, it all adds up at the check out line!
I love going to the grocery store, just wish someone else would want to pay for it!! Isn't it getting outrageous??
I, like you, go to surplus stores, Dollar General, Save-A-Lot, and the local flea market and farmer's market.
Used to be able to rough figure how much you would spend before you left the house, but not anymore.
Do you use coupon's at all? Our grocery store here, once in a while, will triple the mfg. coupons. We also have sometimes, a special in the meat dep't. where you get a big brown bag, and all of the meat that you put in it will be like 10-20% off at the register.
I have a family of 5, and have learned a lot of strategies over the years. Probably the one that is most helpful in regard to groceries is making a lot of casseroles, and ground beef recipes. I also try to have eggs or omelets one night on the weekend. Not only is that easy to make and nutritious, but it's much less costly than meat. The added advantage of casseroles is that you can freeze the leftovers and have an easy supper ready some night in the future.
Kelly, are you near a Trader Joe's in New Hampshire? I know that there are some in the Boston area. They have some very good deals, especially on produce. I also like to buy meats, cheese and canned goods at Costco and plan ahead. This is only a good deal if you get stuff you would buy anyways and avoid the frozen convenience foods and snacky stuff. I usually get home and prep meals: cut meat up for meals and freeze them, freeze cheese in usable packets (I get shredded as it is even cheaper than the big block), etc.
I also try to cut up and freeze any veggies that I get but don't have time to use them up before they go bad. I usually make up stir fry veggie packets and ones ready for soup. I also freeze leftovers if I don't think I can get the family to use them while they are still good.
There are a lot of great tips on this site as food and the grocery budget are a favorite discussion topic. Keep it up and good luck.
Jess
maybe several of you could go into together and buy from sams in bulk?
sometimes its cheaper there sometimes not
worth thinking about
It sounds like you may already be doing a lot of things to keep your bill down. You didn't mention if you cook from scratch a lot, so that may be something to try. You can even make bisquik and creamofwhatever soup from scratch.
Are there other areas in your budget that you could cut back on instead? My husband and I spend about $250 per month on groceries for the two of us here in TN and we don't feel guilty about over spending or feel deprived. I used to focus on buying what was on sale and then I realized we weren't eating a lot of fresh veggies and fruit so I started buying that, sale or no sale, and our food bill went up a little, but it's healthy, so I don't feel bad about it, but when the food bill went up I did look for other areas to cut back on.
So, I guess my belief is that if cutting back on food expenses means cutting back on nutrition, it's not a good idea. Good nutrition is worth the money. Like, some people on here talk about eating mac and cheese for dinner every night to save money, and that just sounds like a bad idea from a health standpoint.
As long as you are eating healthy, non-processed foods and not tossing out lots of leftovers, you're probably doing just fine in the grocery department, in my opinion.
ive always had the same problem. my cabinets are full, my freezers are overflowing, yet i was still spending oodles at the check out. then i learned to make a menu. i have a months worth of menus on my icebox, recipes starting with what i already had on hand. then i look to see what else i need to finish those recipes and make a list. as long as i stick to my list, i should only spend $50 for this week, as opposed to the $150 i usually spend.
I usually have my grocery list and check off items as I put them in my basket. Instead of a calculator, I just put a slash mark on my grocery list, for the price of the item, rounded out to the dollar.
Keep a small list of what you pay for items that you buy often. Then, when you're at another grocery/department store, you'll know if their special is really a special.
Before heading out to shop, make a list. Put a list of items you want, plus the sale price and any coupons you have. Total the costs before leaving the house and only bring that much money.
The number one way I save money on my groceries is menu planning. I write out what we will have for dinner the whole week, make up the grocery list, and add to it any necessity items such as toilet paper, detergent, etc.