Cutting Your Grocery Bill - The Series - Episode 11

I'm getting back on track with the grocery bill series, and hopefully I'll wrap it up soon! :) How about two more tips today? Here they are:

Use your Crock Pot! Even the cheapest cut of beef comes out of a Crock Pot tender and moist. You can also spend 10 minutes in the morning putting everything in the Pot and when you come home that evening, dinner is ready to go. This is another way to avoid the temptation to go out and grab a meal.

Make ground beef go further than you thought - if the recipe calls for 1 1/2 lbs. of ground beef, chances are you will be fine with just a pound. Another trick is to mix healthy fillers into the ground meat to stretch it further. I've made sloppy joes and pizza pockets with cooked bulgur mixed in with the beef and the kids never even knew! Rice is another great way to stretch ground meat, and makes chicken taco filling go further, too.


I've got my Crock Pot going today, and plan to use it at least once more this week. While cooking in the Crock Pot is incredibly convenient (throw your ingredients in early in the day and it's ready at dinner time), using the slow cooking process also allows you to make wonderful, tender meat from much less expensive cuts. I frequently take inexpensive cuts of steak and cook them all day with a can of diced tomatoes or a can of cream of mushroom soup. We have incredibly moist meat for dinner that just falls apart!

Another appeal to the Crock Pot is its versatility. You can just throw together what you have and out comes dinner. If you discover you forgot to thaw your meat, no problem! You can simply throw the frozen meat in the crock and allow a little extra time for cooking. When I worked, I almost always put in frozen meat and allowed it all day to cook to perfection. Tonight's dinner is an experiment. I have pork chops and a cup of orange juice in the pot right now, and about an hour before dinner, I plan to add sliced peaches and thicken the orange sauce with a bit of cornstarch and cold water. It's a non-recipe dinner, but I know we love orange-apricot pork chops on the grill, so I bet we enjoy this, too!

Last year, a blogger named Stephanie O'Dea committed to using her Crock Pot every day for the entire year. She has a blog filled with wonderful and unique recipes. Check it out here. The recipe she has that I use most frequently is Rotisserie Style Chicken. I generally wrap potatoes in the foil that goes under the chicken for an easy meal.

If you don't use your slow cooker, you really should try it. A few minutes in the morning can result in a lot of time saved in the evening, and we all know time is money. :) Check out Stephanie's blog or do a Swagbucks search for Crock Pot recipes and get started!

Now, let's briefly visit ground beef. The tip, as written, has most of the information, so I will only elaborate a bit (shocking for me, I know!). I never use the amount of ground beef called for in recipes. Generally speaking, I use between a half-pound and a pound per full meal, even if the original recipe calls for a pound or more. Meat loaf is an exception, but even that gets stretched with uncooked oats when I prepare it. I love making sloppy joes and bierocks with cooked bulgur mixed in with the hamburger, and Minute Rice has a wonderful recipe for chicken taco filling that I have used with great results even substituting shredded chicken for the ground. Chances are, your family will never think twice about the ingredients being "filler." My kids, who "hate" bulgur, don't even know that I sneak it into some of their favorite dishes!

So, now you hopefully have some new perspective on cutting your meat budget. What other tips can you share? Please leave a comment!

Cutting your Grocery Bill - The Series - Episode 10

I'm going to do two tips in this edition of our series. They go pretty well together and I'm feeling like skipping ahead. :-)

Plan your menus a week at a time. Look in your pantry and freezer to assess what you have on hand. Look at the grocery ads to see what is on sale for the best price. Plan your meals so you can buy mostly sale items, and only buy what you need.

Keep a list in your kitchen of simple meals you can prepare in 10-20 minutes (i.e. spaghetti, chicken tetrazzini, casseroles, burgers and fries). Keep the ingredients on hand for these. On especially busy nights, or when you just feel too tired to spend an hour cooking, pick something from the list and you'll have dinner quicker than the wait in a fast-food drive through, and won't have spent $25 on a "cheap" dinner out.


Menu planning is a wonderful thing. If you've been reading my blog for long, you've probably seen many "Menu Plan Monday" postings. Literally hundreds of bloggers participate in the meme every week, outlining what they plan to serve for meals that week, and often including recipes or links. It's a great way to find new recipes to try out to keep your menu fresh. I start my menu plan by assessing what I have on hand that needs to be used. I look at what nights DH will be available for grilling and when I have crazy days where a Crock Pot meal will be a blessing. I have a master notebook I use for menu planning. In it, I have pages of ideas for meals using specific ingredients, as well as recipes I found in cookbooks that I want to remember to try.

It does take a little time to get a menu all figured out for the week, but it is a major timesaver all week long! It also saves money because you aren't faced with the "I don't know what to make for dinner" dilemma that results in going out and spending money on something that is convenient and sounds appealing at the time. Making a plan gives you the freedom of knowing what you're going to prepare for each day of the week so you can plan your other daily activities accordingly. It also gives you flexibility, though, as you can always tweak it as you go along. I frequently do this if I find a great sale on something that I need to incorporate or if something just didn't sound good or I forgot to thaw an essential element (this happens quite often, unfortunately!)

If you don't meal plan, start by making a list of the meals you eat most often. This is a great way to start, because chances are you have many of the ingredients on hand. As long as you are making a list, let's visit the other tip. Make a list of meals that you can put together in a matter of minutes, either quick-prep items that then get popped into the oven for a time (ham and scalloped potatoes, chicken and rice casserole, bbq chicken packets) or that are very quick and easy to assemble and cook for when you get into a time pinch (spaghetti and meat sauce, beef stroganoff, tuna casserole).

I keep my quick meal list on the side of my refrigerator and it has come in very handy. I always have the ingredients for most of these meals in the freezer and/or pantry, and if I have something that messes up my plan, I turn to this list. As a rule, I can have these on the table in less than the time it would take me to get in the car, drive to a fast food chain, wait in line, get my food, and drive home. And it's definitely cheaper and healthier, too!!

I had surgery earlier this year. My easy dinners list was what we lived on for the weeks of my recovery. They were meals my husband could put together without difficulty and eventually meals I could actually make without being on my feet too long. And they are family favorites, too, which made it easy for someone else to feed them. So menu planning helps out in more ways than you even realize!

If you decide to jump in and start planning, and you're a blogger, please come over to Org Junkie's Menu Plan Monday. And then leave me a comment to let me know you joined. I would love to know how much menu planning helps you!!

Cutting Your Grocery Bill - The Series - Episode 8

This next tip is pretty simple, so I figured I could do two tonight:

Shop with cash only. You are much less likely to make impulse purchases if you only have $x to spend. This also adds an element of challenge to your shopping - how low can you go and still feed your family nutritious meals??


If you only take your cash to the store, and leave the credit cards and checkbook at home, then you can only spend what you have. How easy is that?? You just have to go in with the right mindset - think of it as a challenge! Go with a list and know what you need, and then only buy what you need and/or can afford.

A debit card is NOT the same thing, even if you think it is. Only cash can completely limit your spending, and if you're serious about sticking to your budget, then get serious about cash. See what you can get with the money that you have. You won't be able to go over budget since you are carrying what you can spend, so you will be acutely aware of every penny you spend. This might even help keep your purchase healthier. You might not be able to get that half gallon of ice cream, or those yummy-looking donuts, or even a candy bar at the checkout. If you can't afford the junk food, your body will thank you!

It won't be an easy transition, but cash spending will be a great benefit to you and your budget. Give it a try for a month and see how you do. You just might be pleasantly surprised!

Cutting Your Grocery Bill - The Series - Episode 7

Here's another tip from my Post article:

When a food item you use often is at the lowest price you've seen, stock up! If chicken breasts drop to $1.49 a pound or your favorite macaroni and cheese mix is offered for $.25, buy as much as you can afford. Review the grocery ads every week and look for rock-bottom prices.


Every week, grocery stores have what is commonly called "loss leaders." These are the items that the store is offering to you at their cost or below. The idea is to bring you into the store to get these amazing deals, and while you're there, you will purchase the rest of your grocery needs. However, as the savvy shopper that you are (or are becoming), you won't fall into this trap, will you?

As you look at the ads, note these items that are at rock-bottom prices. I've seen boneless, skinless chicken breasts for as little as $1.17 a pound, 4-pound bags of sugar for .99, pork loins (sliced to your specifications free) for $1.28 a pound, and many other similar deals. If something is at the lowest price you've seen (or seen in some time), you should stock up on as much as you can afford and can use between now and the time it goes on sale again. You might not need 20 lbs. of chicken breasts right now, but maybe that will supply you with chicken breasts for the next 2-3 months!

What I generally do is keep a list of the items that I need to keep my kitchen stocked, as well as any ingredients I need for the week's menu plan. I assess how much I need to spend on those items, and then I take what is left of my budget and decide how much of the bargains I can buy. Recently, chicken breasts were $1.48 a pound. I found that I had $13 available in my budget to spend on the chicken, so I bought 5 packages that added up to $12.98. I won't use all 5 packages this week, but that will give me chicken for several meals. This week, I've spent a little money (though not much) on Kool-Aid. It is on sale at my local HyVee store for .05 a packet, and I have managed to acquire 4 of the coupons for "Save $2.00 on sugar with the purchase of 10 Kool-Aid packets." So by spending a total of $2.00 on Kool-Aid packets, I've managed to get 40 packets of Kool-Aid AND 16 lbs. of sugar. All that for $2?? That's a deal! I've also bought several containers of Dannon yogurt. It's on sale 10/$1.90 at HyVee, and I have $1/10 coupons - so .90 for 10 yogurt. Deal!

The basic idea is to have a constant supply of food on hand, and have it all have been very inexpensive. If you have coupons that match up with the rock-bottom prices, you will do even better with your budget! And then when things get a little tight, you can probably cut the amount you spend on food for a time without feeling the pinch - you will have a nicely supplied kitchen and a generous stockpile. This month, I've cut my spending to $50 a week, and I've been doing fine, and still taking advantage of the best deals.

I do tend to go to a couple of different grocery stores to pick up the loss leaders, but I know that isn't something many people want to do, or have time to do. If this is the case, you can take your grocery ads to Wal-Mart SuperCenter OR SuperTarget for an ad-match. Unless it's a brand specific to your grocer, you can get all the deals in one location. I don't have a SuperTarget close enough to me (it's less gas for me to go to 3-4 stores than drive 30 minutes to it!), and I hate shopping at Wal-Mart, so I prefer to visit the stores. I especially like HyVee because they are so friendly there! My Price Chopper is extremely unfriendly, especially when you try to use coupons, but I do go there for loss leaders. I enjoy knowing that they didn't really make a profit from my visit. :-D Yep, I'm a little warped!

It's not easy to change how you shop in order to stockpile like this, but even a few dollars a week can save you lots in the long run. I won't be buying sugar for some time with the deals I've gotten this week, and I'm very well supplied with chicken breasts and lovely pork chops. By buying items at their lowest prices, we eat VERY well on less in a month than a lot of people spend in a week! You can, too

Have you gotten any great deals lately that made you stock up?? Tell us about them....

Cutting Your Grocery Bill - The Series - Episode 6

Today's tip is one that I already discussed in Episode 4 when I talked about buying in bulk, so I will just add a point or two.

Check your grocer's bulk bins. You might find that products such as oats, nuts, grains, and many other items are considerably less expensive when you bag them yourself. I purchase all of my spices at bulk rates and pay much less!


The main thing I want to add to what I said earlier is look around whenever you're out shopping. Recently we were at the City Market in downtown Kansas City. We wandered into a cute little kosher shop because it appeared busy and we were curious. I found that their store was full of bulk items! A lot of it was nuts and trail mixes and the like, which was still too high per pound for my budget, but further into the store, they had spices and seasonings, and a few other odds and ends. The spices were the unbelievably low price of $1 for a good-sized scoop! They had many selections available, and the fragrances were fantastic. We even found some very interesting spice blends, including Arabian spice. I have no idea what is in it, but it smells wonderful, and we bought one scoop because we just had to try it. I never would have imagined I would find spices cheaper than my favorite bulk-spice shop, Planters Seed, but there they were! I only went in there due to curiousity, and I'm glad I did.

I used to think that only health-food stores carried bulk bins, but in looking around my usual stores, I have found that they all have some sort of bulk, particularly in their own healthy eating section. I am not able to buy a lot of my grains and such in bulk, but I know some stores carry extensive bulk bins. If your store is one of those, definitely check them out! I have read blogger's tales of great deals in these bins. You might also get to try things you wouldn't have otherwise. Perhaps you've never had farina or quinoa. You can buy just enough to make it once and see how it goes over. If it's a hit, then you can get more. If it isn't, you haven't wasted money on a full package.

Give bulk bins a chance. It's always a good idea to explore all of the money-saving options offered at your grocery store!!

Cutting Your Grocery Bill - The Series - Episode 5

I know I've been a bit inconsistent in discussing these tips. Sorry about that! I've really got to stop letting life get in my way of blogging! :-) Today we'll talk about WHERE to shop.

Shop for your basics at a "no frills" grocer, such as Aldi. You can get great deals on items like milk, sugar, pretzels, chips, cheese, and other items you use frequently. You won't find name brands here, but the store will most likely guarantee the quality of your purchases.


If you've never been to Aldi, you should definitely check them out if they are in your area. Use the locator at http://www.aldi.us . Every Aldi I've visited is clean and well-organized. They don't carry name brands on a regular basis, but their products are all of great quality. They do guarantee every product. I've only bought one thing that we hated (it was a weird German bread that tasted terrible), but I have had them replace defective items. Not too long ago I bought a can of pan spray that leaked. I talked to a manager and received a new can...no questions asked! It was easy and they were very friendly about it.

Some of the items I buy regularly at Aldi are chips and pretzels ($.99 to $1.29 a large bag), honey ($3.79 for a big bottle), flour and sugar (always cheaper than the regular grocery store), milk, sour cream, plain yogurt, rice, pasta, and lots of produce! They carry products that most people use every day, so you won't find too many fancy items; however, they do carry some of these things on Special Purchases. Every week they have certain things that they offer for a limited, while it lasts, time. They might have Italian specialties, or Mexican foods, or Asian cuisine. They also have non-food items in their purchases, so you never know what you will find. Their ad is usually in the paper, or you can find it at their website. You can even sign up to receive the ad each week in your email.

Aldi doesn't have a lot of "extras" so they can keep prices low. You have to put a quarter in the cart to use it (but you get it back upon returning the cart), they don't give you bags (you can buy them for .06 for paper or .10 for plastic), and they don't bag your items for you. They will move them from the conveyor belt to a cart, and then you're on your own. They also only accept cash or a debit card to avoid heavy fees on charges and bad checks.

If you don't have an Aldi, you might have another store that is similar. I know Save-a-Lot is another store similar to Aldi. I've found that their prices tend to be just a little higher since they will bag your items and do accept checks and credit cards. They also have a website at http://www.savealot.com where you can view the ad. Those are the only two stores of which I am aware, but I am sure there are others...if you know of them, please share the information in comments. I've never lived anywhere but the midwest, so I'm only familiar with what we have here.

The way that I do most of my shopping is I keep a list on the side of my refrigerator with staples that are low or out (usually I write them down when they are getting low). Each Wednesday, I review the local grocer ads and write down what items are on sale for rock-bottom prices at the stores I visit. If something on my list is on sale for a price that is less than Aldi's regular price (I do keep track), I will purchase it at the store and take it off my Aldi list. I visit Aldi about 3 times a month for my basic supplies.

I know some folks swear by the prices at Wal-Mart, but beyond the fact that I can't stand even walking INTO my local store, I have found that prices tend to be less at Aldi. They're even cheaper than Sam's Club on a lot of things!! If you don't have a no-frills store near you, then Wal-Mart might be your best bet. The only perk of which I can think in shopping at Wal-Mart for your basics is that you can ad-match the grocery store ads and get everything in one place. Of course, if your store is like mine, asking for an ad match is grounds for the cashier to treat you like a thief. Good luck to you!! :-)

Where do you get your basic staples? Share your strategies to save all you can!!

Cutting Your Grocery Bill - The Series - Episode 4

Buy in bulk when it makes sense - examples include yeast, which is very cheap in bulk and can be stored indefinitely in the freezer; flour, which also stores long-term in the freezer; and eggs, which are often less expensive in larger packages. Also, chicken and beef soup bases work just like bouillon cubes, but can be purchased at the warehouse store for a lot less.


I never buy yeast in the packets you get at the store. Instead, I pay a few cents more and get a HUGE amount of bulk yeast. Now, when you look at the warehouse packages of 1 lb. or more, it might seem a bit daunting. I remember wondering if I would ever use that much yeast! But I learned quickly that the huge packages last indefinitely in the freezer with no negative effects. I do bake a lot, but it takes me awhile to go through them. So what I used to do was buy a two-pack at Sam's and share it with a friend - we each paid $2.xx and had enough yeast for quite a bit of baking. Nowadays, I buy it myself. As long as you store it in the freezer, you're good to go!

I also often buy my flour in 25 lb. bags at the warehouse club. I calculated the cost per pound and it's a bit cheaper than what I can buy at Aldi, plus I get bread flour instead of all-purpose flour. If you regularly buy the small 5-lb. bags of bread flour, you most definitely need to look at your bulk options!

Another way that I shop "in bulk" is buying as much as I can of a commonly-used product when it hits a great sale price. Examples might be cereal when I can get it for less than a dollar a box (combining sale and coupons), pasta at a .50 or less a pound, chicken breasts below $1.50 a pound, etc. When I see very low (loss leader)prices, I buy as much as I can afford within my budget constraints. This week I see a great price on chicken breasts, and I have calculated that I can spend $12 on chicken and stay on-budget. Last week I spent $13 on a fantastic deal on lean ground beef. I figure what I need and what that will cost, then divide what is left among the great deals so I can take advantage without breaking the bank.

Spices are something that it almost always cheaper in bulk. There is probably a place in your area that sells spices by the 1/4 lb. or larger, and I've found that it's a much better deal than most grocery store prices on the same spices. Plus, my bulk store is constantly replenishing stock, and I have no idea how long those jars have been sitting on shelves at the store.

A lot of grocery stores have bulk bins, and I know several people who swear by these. My stores don't have great deals in the few bins they offer, but I know some areas have fantastic options. Here, I've found mostly organic/natural products in the bins, and they are priced higher than their packaged counterpart on the shelf. I do occasionally buy these products, but not too often. Check your store to see what is offered in bulk and do your own comparison.

No matter how good of a deal you get, however, if you aren't going to use the product before it goes bad, you haven't saved anything. Be sure you either have good storage options in your house or that you only buy what your household will use in the time that the products are edible. If you have a lot of freezer space, you will be able to take better advantage of sales, but even if you don't, you can still do some bulk buying - you'll just have to be organized with your space.

What do you buy in bulk? Do you find deals online, too? I'd love to hear about it!!

Cutting Your Grocery Bill - The Series - Episode 3

For today's tip, I have some recent examples! :-) Here is the tip as I gave it to the Post:

Look outside the grocery store for cheap prices on food - your local farmer's market is likely to have "drops" or "canners" that are very inexpensive (and still perfectly edible!!), your neighborhood convenience store might have the cheapest milk, and a bakery thrift store you pass every day offers fresh breads at half or less of the supermarket price.


I definitely utilize stores other than my grocery store on a regular basis. I have to admit, the farmers markets near me are extremely expensive, so I do not frequent them. However, the downtown area (which isn't too far) has a huge City Market on the weekends with vendors that offer great deals. In addition, I found an orchard just outside of town that has very reasonable prices on pick-your-own produce. We plan to get a bushel of peaches (48-50 lbs.) that I will can to last us quite awhile, for $35. And on top of the good price, it will be a fun family activity. The kids are very excited about it! If I lived closer to the farm, I could have gotten an even better deal - they had a bit of hail damage, and I was offered a bushel of already-picked slightly damaged peaches for only $25! I sure wish I could have done that, but it would have been so out of the way that I'd have spent $12 in gas to make the trip. I will be in that area in a couple of weeks so it won't cost me any extra in gas then.

Tonight we went to Big Lots, which is an over-runs kind of store. They do have a food section, and often there are very good deals to be had there. Tonight they offered a 20% discount for their email subscribers. I love those sales! We got snacks for the kids, Special K bars, pretzels, and several other food items for less than I can find them at the grocery store on sale.

There is also another store not too far from me where I get some food items. It's technically a thrift store, but they have an entire section of groceries. Some of them are out-dated, but if you look carefully, you will find current products. I've gotten boxes of name brand cereal in dented boxes for $1, Pop Tarts where only the outer packaging was damaged for $1, potato chips for .33 a bag, bottled minced garlic for $1, pudding mixes for .25, and the kids' favorite, Little Debbie Snacks for .50 and .75 a box. There are many other deals, but those are the first ones that come to mind. It takes some looking most days, since I won't buy out-dated products, but I do get some great deals here!

As far as bakery thrift stores, I definitely love those! At the one closest to my house, I get Sara Lee White Wheat bread for .75 a loaf, and it's almost as fresh as the $2 plus loaves at the grocer! They offer a free item from a specific shelf if you spend $5, and often have great sales. The store I used to visit, which was a Dolly Madison that was close to my old house, always had current coupons in a mail publication and every week had something on sale VERY cheap. I love bakery thrift stores, and if you haven't been to one, you must go!

Look around you when you're out running your errands. You never know what you might find. Check out stores to see what they have - I never would have guessed that the thrift store I mentioned above had groceries, but I'm so glad I checked it out. You might pass someplace every day that will help you on your quest to cut your grocery bill. A few minutes might save you a lot of money.

Do you have unusual places you go to save money? Please share!

Cutting Your Grocery Bill - The Series - Episode 2

Welcome to our second installment in reducing your grocery costs. As before, please add any comments and ideas that you have. This one is about coupons, and I know there are LOTS of shoppers out there with coupon tips and strategies. I'm only going to scratch the surface on this topic, as I know coupons could be a 20-part series in themselves.

Tip #2

Clip coupons - but don't buy something just because you have a coupon! Collect the ones you might use, and then review the sale ads each week and match up your coupons with the sales for the best deals. Combining your coupons with in-store specials can often result in products that cost you little to nothing (or even result in a profit!!).

I have a particular mindset when it comes to coupons. I know people often say things like you should only clip coupons for items you use anyway, but my thought process is.....if this item were free, would I get it? I do actually clip and file coupons, rather than using a whole-insert method because having them filed in my box is the system that works for me. My coupon box is organized by sections of the typical grocery store, so I can pull out one section at a time and see what I have on hand. When deciding which ones to clip, if it's an item that we would use for the right price, I clip it. I'd much rather end up tossing a coupon because the item was never on sale for a good price than wish I had clipped it because I COULD have gotten a deal.

Each week, you probably receive sale ads for your local grocers. Since I've clipped and filed my coupons, I do have some recollection of what I have (though I don't depend entirely on my lousy memory!). As I peruse the ads, I often see items for which I know I have a coupon. Then I go to my organizer, and remove the applicable coupon, and note on my shopping list that I have it. If I'm not sure about an item, I pull that section from my coupon box and see if I have a coupon for a particular item. Once I have pulled all the coupons I know I need, I attach them to my shopping list with a paperclip. If I only find one or two things that aren't great deals or that I don't really want/need, I don't go to that store that week. It might sound a little silly or complicated, but it's an easy system that works for me. I do still carry my entire coupon box into the store with me (after all, better safe than sorry, especially if the store has a Markdowns area), but I like to have handy the ones I know I am going to use.

If you have a store that doubles coupons, you can really get some good deals, but generally only if you're using a coupon on an item that is already on sale. The regular prices at the typical double-coupon store are quite inflated. Still, though, they do likely run great sales and loss leaders, and that's the time to use your coupons and buy as much as you can. If you followed the link above about making a profit, you'll see that I bought several months' worth of pasta on that shopping trip. I didn't NEED that much pasta, but they were literally paying me to take it home with me, so I bought as many as I had coupons. I don't usually have that high of a quantity of a single coupon, but in that case, I had a bunch of the one, so I took full advantage of the deal! Those bargains are so rare that I'm still thrilled about it - and that one wasn't even a double-coupon deal!

I remember a long time ago when I lived in Arkansas....we had a store called Consumers. My friend and I used to get a bunch of ladies together to caravan about an hour away to shop at that store because they occasionally TRIPLED coupons! It was such fun to see those long receipts with the small totals. One of my receipts was about 5 feet long, and my total was about $26. I actually think I STILL have that receipt in my filing cabinet - talk about a coupon high!

At the end of every month, I go through all my coupons and remove the expired ones. I know that these can be sent to the military overseas, but I don't have any information on how to go about doing that. It makes me a little sad to see coupons go to waste, but I would have been happy to have them if the deals had been right. I really do knock a lot off my grocery bill by combining my coupons with sale items - and rebates if I find them. It's a little puzzle that adds up to big savings.

Now how about your tips??? Comment away!!!

Cutting Your Grocery Bill - The Series - Episode 1

As I mentioned a few posts back, I'm going to do a series of small posts revolving around the grocery tips that I compiled for the Washington Post. I thought it might be helpful to expand on the tips I listed, and hopefully my wonderful readers will comment about their own experiences, or how to improve how I do things. I know I have plenty of room for improvement, and maybe we can all learn together! Every bit saved is more money in our pockets - let's make it grow!

Tip #1

Shop in the morning - you are likely to find significant mark-downs on meat, produce, and bakery items that are still perfectly fine, but close to their freshest date. Freeze meat that you won't use right away.

I have found this to be the case at almost every store I visit. Sam's Club is the best, with markdowns of about 30% every morning on meat that is close to or on the freshness date. It's mostly beef at my Sam's here, with some pork and very rarely chicken. My local grocers all mark down meat in the mornings. Hen House prices the meat, bakery products, and deli items at 1/2 price in the morning and puts them in a specific area in the meat department. Price Chopper puts $1 and $2 off stickers on them to discount the prices. If you get the least expensive packages with the stickers, you get the best deals. Even Aldi marks down meat - I've found both $1 and $2 off stickers, as well as 1/2 price stickers. I bought several slabs of ribs there when I found them for half price. Always take a tour of the meat department!

Along with meat, there are often items in other areas as well that offer discounts. I've found that both Price Chopper and Hen House put discount stickers on items in the produce area (salads, jarred fruit, etc.) and in the dairy case. I love to find milk marked down, especially when it's Roberts brand and I can combine it with one of their .50 coupons. Often a pinch of salt dropped into the milk will keep it fresh longer - I have tried this many times. There are also markdowns on bakery breads from the day before at Hen House.

HyVee has their own method of "marking down" in my area. In the morning, at some random time, they set out Grab Bags in a cart at the front of the store. The bags are full of shelf-stable products that might be dented, close to date, or missing part of the label. They are a STEAL for $3, but I've only been lucky enough to nab them once! I think they usually come out between 8 and 10, so I am always on the lookout.

Now, to reverse this theory, and just to confuse you, shopping late in the day can also lead you to discounts! So if you can't do the early-bird shopping, it's okay - you can still save money by shopping late. If your store has a deli, find out what they do with the leftover rotisserie chickens at the end of the workday. I've known of two stores that simply put them on the counter marked free. Maybe you'll get lucky! (The stores near where I live now DON'T do this, but in previous locations, they have. One I remember well for doing this is Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market; however, your mileage may vary.) Also, we LOVE to visit the bakery in the evening. Most stores will take all the donuts and pastries that were not purchased and box them up in variety boxes for a great deal - usually $2.99 or $3.99. Wal-Mart does this in the morning, from what I understand - I don't go there. The kids think it's great to get bakery donuts the next day for lunch and don't even notice they are "day old."

These are just some tips and ideas from my experiences. I would love to hear from you - do you save money by shopping first thing in the morning? Is it better to go late in the evening? Which stores give you the best discounts? How full is your freezer? Chime in by leaving a comment!

Next tip is about coupons....be sure to come back tomorrow!!

Cutting Your Grocery Bill

{Note: Some of my tips found here were published in a blog on the Washington Post's website - how cool is that???}

Take a look at what you spent on groceries last month. Is it more than you realized? Do you wish you could cut your grocery costs, but the very idea brings to mind images of bowls of beans and stale bread? It doesn't have to be that way! Cutting your grocery spending is probably easier than you realized. Here are a few tips to help you get started saving your hard-earned money while continuing to eat the foods you love.


Shop in the morning - you are likely to find significant mark-downs on meat, produce, and bakery items that are still perfectly fine, but close to their freshest date. Freeze meat that you won't use right away.

Clip coupons - but don't buy something just because you have a coupon! Collect the ones you might use, and then review the sale ads each week and match up your coupons with the sales for the best deals. Combining your coupons with in-store specials can often result in products that cost you little to nothing (or even result in a profit!!).

Look outside the grocery store for cheap prices on food - your local farmer's market is likely to have "drops" or "canners" that are very inexpensive (and still perfectly edible!!), your neighborhood convenience store might have the cheapest milk, and a bakery thrift store you pass every day offers fresh breads at half or less of the supermarket price.

Buy in bulk when it makes sense - examples include yeast, which is very cheap in bulk and can be stored indefinitely in the freezer; flour, which also stores long-term in the freezer; and eggs, which are often less expensive in larger packages. Also, chicken and beef soup bases work just like bouillon cubes, but can be purchased at the warehouse store for a lot less.

Shop for your basics at a "no frills" grocer, such as Aldi. You can get great deals on items like milk, sugar, pretzels, chips, cheese, and other items you use frequently. You won't find name brands here, but the store will most likely guarantee the quality of your purchases.

Check your grocer's bulk bins. You might find that products such as oats, nuts, grains, and many other items are considerably less expensive when you bag them yourself. I purchase all of my spices at bulk rates and pay much less!

When a food item you use often is at the lowest price you've seen, stock up! If chicken breasts drop to $1.49 a pound or your favorite macaroni and cheese mix is offered for $.25, buy as much as you can afford. Review the grocery ads every week and look for rock-bottom prices.

Shop with cash only. You are much less likely to make impulse purchases if you only have $x to spend. This also adds an element of challenge to your shopping - how low can you go and still feed your family nutritious meals??

When buying pre-bagged produce, weigh a couple of bags on the store's scales. A 10 lb. bag of potatoes might actually contain 12 pounds. A pound of carrots may be a bit short. If it's a set price, the heavier, the better!

Plan your menus a week at a time. Look in your pantry and freezer to assess what you have on hand. Look at the grocery ads to see what is on sale for the best price. Plan your meals so you can buy mostly sale items, and only buy what you need.

Keep a list in your kitchen of simple meals you can prepare in 10-20 minutes (i.e. spaghetti, chicken tetrazzini, casseroles, burgers and fries). Keep the ingredients on hand for these. On especially busy nights, or when you just feel too tired to spend an hour cooking, pick something from the list and you'll have dinner quicker than the wait in a fast-food drive through, and won't have spent $25 on a "cheap" dinner out.

Use your Crock Pot! Even the cheapest cut of beef comes out of a Crock Pot tender and moist. You can also spend 10 minutes in the morning putting everything in the Pot and when you come home that evening, dinner is ready to go. This is another way to avoid the temptation to go out and grab a meal.

Make ground beef go further than you thought - if the recipe calls for 1 1/2 lbs. of ground beef, chances are you will be fine with just a pound. Another trick is to mix healthy fillers into the ground meat to stretch it further. I've made sloppy joes and pizza pockets with cooked bulgur mixed in with the beef and the kids never even knew! Rice is another great way to stretch ground meat, and makes chicken taco filling go further, too.

Substitute ingredients. Don't have cream? Use milk. Recipe calls for an expensive cut of meat? Try making it with a less pricey one. Use recipes only as a guideline and let your own tastes and creativity rule. Also learn tricks like substituting applesauce for oil and soy flour for eggs in baking recipes. Your checkbook will benefit, as will your waistline!

Use those leftovers! Your family doesn't like to revisit the same meal? Then turn it into something else. Leftover chicken breast can be shredded or cubed and used in another recipe. Pasta sauce becomes pizza sauce. Bread can become breadcrumbs or croutons. The possibilities are endless. Just use your imagination or google your ingredients for new ideas. There are websites that allow you to enter the food you need to use, and it will generate lists of recipes for you to consider. You can also find LOTS of great ideas for leftovers on my other blog, Not Just Leftovers - Brand New Meals. Try to never waste food, and you might be surprised what you can do with your "leftovers."

Find new uses for things you previously tossed. Cereal crumbs make great toppings on homemade muffins. Crushed cookies are wonderful sprinkled on ice cream. Try to use it before you throw it out.

Make "freezer soup." If you only have a few bites of meat left, or a small amount of veggies from dinner, and there isn't enough to put into another meal, put the food into a specific container in your freezer. When it gets full, add it to broth and make a soup. This may sound a bit strange, but we have found this makes some of the best soup ever. You get a "free" dinner every few weeks this way.

Don't buy individual snacks or 100 calorie treats - make your own! Buy the snack item you want in a large package, and divide it into bags for individual servings. Just want 100 calories? Look at the nutritional information to gauge how much to put in the bags. You may get fewer chips or cookies than you would in the 100 calorie packs, but the taste is much better so it's usually even more satisfying.

Take advantage of online free samples when they are offered. Not only will you get a sample you can use in your cooking when you need just a bit of something, but you will know for sure if you like the product or not. If you don't like it, you won't spend money buying something that will go to waste. If you do like it, the sample probably came with a coupon, and maybe you'll catch a good sale!

Give gardening a try. No need to dig up part of your yard - you just need a few pots on your back patio with tomatoes, peppers, or whatever you like. The freshness of your own produce will amaze you, and save you money, too. And even when you think it's a total disaster, you'll probably be pleasantly surprised by what grows!!


Even if you just make a few changes to your shopping strategy, you will see a difference in your spending. One good coupon trip will leave a smile on your face the rest of the day. It really is fun to save money, and it isn't all that difficult. Start with one or two changes, and add more as you go along. Before you know it, you'll have cut your grocery spending by 20...30....even 50 percent. Think of what you can do with all that extra money.......