Learning to keep food costs under control is a necessity for every family, ours included. I am always on the lookout to find new ways to feed my family nourishing, tasty food without spending more than I have to. Do you have any special tricks that you use to save money on food? I’ve got a few that I thought I’d share with you.
Use a shopping list – I’m a firm believer that you have to have a shopping list to keep your food expenses in check. Otherwise, I feel like I just wander the store aimlessly looking for foods that strike my fancy. I forget things I need; I buy things I don’t need. I have to have a list.
Put the internet to work – You know how important it is to take grocery store sales into account while you’re composing your shopping list, right? I hate, though, having a pile of newspaper pages lying around the house for days. What’s the answer? I browse through the stores’ online ads instead of using the paper ones. I’ve even found that some stores have “internet only” specials that aren’t included in the ad. Don’t you love the internet?
Check out the final call section – Every grocery store has a section where they hold the products that need to be sold right away. Sometimes, they are seasonal items like Halloween candy or rubs for grilling meat. Other times, the products are close to their expiration dates. I always make a point to check out that section to see if there is anything that I can work into this week’s menu plan.
Avoid service-heavy departments – My favorite grocery store has a deli, a salad bar, a bakery, and even a “produce-plus” (they specialize in produce that has already been washed and cut) department. The foods out of each of these departments are wonderful, but they require a lot of labor. If you purchase foods from these departments, you will pay for that labor. Unless I really need the help in preparing our food (before a birthday party, perhaps) I prefer to do that work myself and save our money.
Related Posts Related Websites
- Automated Tithing: A New Way to Give The following is a guest post by PT over at...
- Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-10-18 Ebay postage http://bit.ly/o4qMl # Citizen L. on Social Web: eBay.fr:...
5 responses so far ↓
1 David // Jul 31, 2009 at 6:24 am
I personally feel that most households can save more money by focusing on their grocery shopping habits than almost any other expense. Think about it–for most of us, is it not the second biggest monthly expense behind our mortgage/rent?
In a nutshell, here are the things that I do:
–Use two outlets. By at least checking out two major grocers, you can save a ton of money. Identify items at each that you buy all the time, and move forward accordingly.
–Find a Farmr’s Market Near You!!! The savings are out of this world.
–Go generic. Even for those who don’t necessarily like this, there HAS to be some items you don’t care about that you could buy generic. And if buying generic doesn’t bother you, factor it in more.
–Stock up. Find an item on sale that you buy a lot of? Stock up.
And the list goes on. I personally think grocery shopping s a science, and if you do it right, your savings can be quite substantial.
2 Yo Prinzel // Jul 31, 2009 at 10:49 pm
I love the, as you call it, “final call” section. My grocery store also has a discontinued section where they sell non-perishables that they will no longer be carrying. Farmer’s markets offer great savings too.
3 Free Website Hosting // Aug 3, 2009 at 2:45 am
I completely agree with “Final Call” section. Whenever I go to a store, I make sure to hunt down their Clearance section and spend some good time there. I am always surprised to see what I sometimes end up finding (today only I got 12 donuts for just over a buck from a department store – because the box carrying them had cracked a bit!)
4 sheila // Aug 5, 2009 at 6:01 pm
Hello. You’re definitely correct in saying shopping online can help you save some extra cash. I’d highly recommend it for the grocery items. Not only do you get free shipping on most purchases, you also get access to the best discounts in town. Some sites like http://www.savingswatch.com (my personal favorite) even offer cash back programs where you earn a % of what you spend. You can easily browse through more than 50 grocery stores listed on the site for the best deals. Best of all, no crowd, no traffic jams, no lines, no hassle! I highly encourage people to try it.
5 make money online tricks // Aug 11, 2009 at 8:46 am
A person spends most of his earnings for food.This site enables a person to save some part of his earnings providing nutritious food.
Leave a Comment