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.
I am rather aggressive when looking for prices and shop online often. But how does one save money on food? I don't mean Costco, I mean really save. Food is so expensive now.
Try growing your own vegetables? Buy cheaper cuts of meat, or cut back on meat consumption, and learn to cook those (often) tougher cuts. Make more things "from scratch" instead of buying prepared items such as soup, rice and biscuit mixes or even entire meals.
Does anyone have suggestions for ways to save money these days? I am particularly interested regarding things like, food, pet products, lotions (dry skin in winter)?
By drew from Piedmont, AL
Yes! The best money saving trick is with Kroger. At least with the one in my area, the first Wednesday of every month is senior day. You get an extra 10% off all groceries.
I am not a senior but my mother is. I usually assist her on these days but there have been a couple occasions when I have gone without her. I take her Kroger card and get the discount at check out. If you are not over 64 you can apply for a card for someone who is and ask them to let you use their card. Kroger usually supplies 2 or 3 cards per application so you could hold onto one.
We shop for three and she stocks up at the beginning of the month on these days. She has saved up to $140.00 on one occasion (counting coupons, sales and senior discount).
Also, if you get a Kroger charge card and have spent $100 dollars on groceries you can get 15 cents off the cost of gas at their pump. I drive a full size van so filling up usually saves me 6 or 7 dollars a fill.
Meat always seems to be the most expensive food items in my grocery cart and when my step-kids were younger and still lived at home, I began one night a week making a meat-less meal (like homemade chili w/o the meat). By doing that I saved at least 5 bucks a week. Also, like another poster said, stock up when the things you use go on sale. Yes, it seems expensive when you start doing that but the payoff in the long run is worth it.
Over the course of a year it really adds up. Coupons don't seem like they save you much but if you consistently use them and added the cost up over a year, I think you'd be shocked at how much money you didn't spend. I get coupons from a booklet that comes in our Sunday paper and our local stores offer sales ads with coupons in them every Wednesday.
I know this probably sounds weird but I keep track of every coupon I use, the amounts I save when I buy something on sale or when I buy in bulk and when I get up to the check stand to pay for my purchases, I write the check for the amount I owe plus the amount I saved. I keep a small note pad in my purse and my checkbook has a calculator and I just add up my savings while I'm waiting in line or shortly before I get to the checkout. It just takes a minute. Anyway, when I get home I take the money I "paid" myself - the amount I saved on groceries - and I put it in a tea tin on top of my fridge. I also do this with the money I save on meat-less meal night.
Once every 3 months or so, I put it in a savings account and once a year we use it for something fun or sometimes to pay off something we bought. Right now, we've not spent the amount we saved in 2009 and after checking the balance in there I have almost $500. I've done this for at least the past 15 years and yeah, I admit, it's easier to use a debit card but I tried that and would keep forgetting to "pay" myself the savings amounts so it wouldn't feel like saving does when I have tangible money in the bank.
One last thing: I live in a rural area and once a year we buy either a quarter or half a cow and have it butchered and packaged and that saves a tremendous amount. It's almost like I'm giving myself a dollar (or more even) every time I use a package of meat. It much less expensive overall than what's in the store. Also, I have them put half the hamburger in 3/4lb packages and when I make spaghetti, lasagna, chili, etc where it calls for a pound of meat, I only use 3/4 of a pound.
You don't really miss the 1/4lb and since most people consume more protein than they need, I feel like I'm doing myself a favor health-wise plus for every 4 times I do that, I'm saving a pound of meat to use for something else. (just an aside here: the money I save from this doesn't go into my savings account I mentioned above). I hope this gives you some good ideas! Cheers!
Since the New Year is only a couple of days away, I need help saving money and really becoming frugal, especially when it comes to food shopping. Any ideas? I am only shopping for one, but money is really tight!
By Lynda from Kearny, NJ
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 generally buy a lot for like 2 weeks in a row, then I'm pretty well set for about the next month, with the exception of milk, bread, etc.
There are 4 of us here (soon to be 5) and just my husband works, but his work (factory) is very unsteady. I work private-duty caregiver just 2 days a week, 4 hrs. each day. Then my son and his girlfriend live with us and they are expecting in October.
Good Luck!
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.
You didn't say if you buy convenient-type meals instead of making meals from scratch, but that is one area that really adds up fast. Do you eat out at lunch time or take your lunch? Do you make large quantities? If it is easier to make a large amount, make sure you are freezing part of it so that you don't get tired of the leftovers before they are gone! That also gives you a meal that is already made and paid for to enjoy later! Hope some of these ideas help.
You don't say how much you spend every month, so it's hard to guess, but a couple of ideas you might try are, 1) have a baking day. Bake your bread, treats, etc and freeze what you will be eating next week. 2) when you make out menus, do you see what's already on hand first, and plan to use it up first? 3) When a good coupon comes out, save it until the item goes on sale. 4) Do you own your own place? Can you plant some fruit trees, garden, etc? I know it sounds like work, but there's nothing quite like looking at those shelves of preserved food and knowing you don't have to go buy that stuff. Dried fruit is really easy to do. We dry tomatoes, too. I wish you the best of luck!
my husband and i are both disabled, i just recently lost the use of my right hand and arm up to the elbow, dh is diabetic, back problems, and has had one kidney removed for cancer. i have 4 crock pots, and have to use them often. do you have a scratch or dent grocery, save a lot,or other outlet near you? with the price of gas now, i'm not sure going for the sale items makes as much sense as it used too either. we eat alot of dried beans, peas, fresh veggies. a staple in my home seems to be tomatoes, which i can get the large cans for 4/$1.00, paste 10/$1.00. we eat also a lot of one pot meals. cook a double batch at once and save on electricity, plus have an extra meal when you don't feel like cooking! guess i am lucky, dh would eat a rock if it is cooked and what we consider clean foods, which is our preference.
i am thinking about cooking in bulk on the days i fell up to it and then avoiding the stress when we both feel so tired.
you didn't say if paper products and cleaning products are included in you food bill, if so, check out the dollar stores or the everything's a dollar stores. i use the spray foam bathroom cleaner to clean alot of things, including my oven, also a product called alsome which is great, both for only a dollar each. also recenty bought some microfiber cloths that you wash and resuse, sure cut down on paper towels.
good luck with all the wonderful info you have been given to your request.
