Monthly Grocery Buying Guide

I know that some have good luck writing to specific brands and requesting coupons. Sometimes they are even coupons for free products. I have also had good luck asking them at the produce department for deli counter etc. Also heading to these counters right before they close can also score you some deals as they often sell things that they have to throw out at the end of the day at greatly reduced prices.

Growing as much produce as you can also helps. We are an hour away from a large city that even has a farmers market in the winter. I was there yesterday and it had a large amount of veggies available. We are also blessed to be in an area that has access to farmers who will make deals with us for whole, halves, or quarters of beef, or pork or should we want it goats or sheep.

We have always been able to find grass fed antibiotic free meat and have it processed ourselves or they will have it done for us for much less than the groceries charge and fresh is always better. You are so right about that. We are blessed to have such a stand right up the street. We have also split a cow with family before, and the taste certainly has no comparison. Thank you so much for the tips! NO To dented cans! This can be a serious botulism risk aka severe food poisioning. I stopped reading this article when i got to this.

Sounds like it is definitely worth asking about and looking into before purchasing. Some really good tips and I have to say I love Ibotta and Shopkick is pretty good if I remember it while I am in stores. If only I lived in a place that offered coupons, credit cards, store gas stations,….

Check your sales papers and mail. The perimeter or the back pages of ads especially can be a gold mine at times! I would really love to see bloggers focus on saving on groceries without using places like Aldi. Even so, the prices are nowhere compared to what people are paying in other areas. It would be nice to see ways that people can feed their family within a reasonable budget without the big discount chains.

Grocery Outlet has discounts, but at least more than half of what they offer costs the same at the regular grocery store. I agree with the person above who mentioned dealing with local farms.

I want to try the half a cow next year to see how much we can save there. Meat is ridiculously expensive where I am at. I hope there are bloggers who can focus on that. For me, I can only share the things that I personally experience so that I can write in an authentic way. I have heard good things about people who buy portions of cows so that seems like an excellent place to start. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email. Leave this field empty. Email Facebook Instagram Pinterest Twitter.

July 31, by Jennifer 20 Comments. Fill in your email to get started! Now check your email for further instructions! There was an error submitting your subscription. Now check your email to confirm your subscription.

We use this field to detect spam bots. If you fill this in, you will be marked as a spammer. Frugal Life , Saving while out and about , spending Tagged With: Comments Sinea Pies says: I really like the information you provide here and can't wait to take a look when I get home. I'm amazed at how fast your blog loaded on my mobile.. I don't know why I can't join it.

Is there anybody else having identical RSS issues? Anyone who knows the solution will you kindly respond? As said above, the only reliable tool is a shopping list and sticking to it. I use the one on my phone so it is always with me and also with my kids and partner. Cheaper items are almost always on the bottom shelf Don't forget to check out your local farmers market!

I know that's how I save a ton on eggs and veggies, just don't get drawn in by the neat nicknacks. You can save a lot of money in general by simply being aware of where your money is going. I use an app called expense manager. Once you eliminate the "where did my money go" syndrome, you start to avoid impulse buying naturally, knowing that you'll have to face the charts and graphs at the end of the month, there's no buying and then quickly forgetting about it. Just because it is not 'fresh' and is day-old does not mean they are not as good as the fresh produce.

Frequently, reduced produce may be found on a separate shelf, but could also be mixed in with the regularly priced produce. Be aware that other items in the grocery store 'could be reduced to clear'. This could include facial tissues, toilet paper, dish and laundry soap, etc.

Our top tip is organizing a swap with other parents so you can get your shopping done without the kids! One thing that I recommend doing is 'keep your receipts'!!!! If you pay full price for something and it goes on sale the following week, you can always purchase the brand new product 'on sale' and then go back the next day with the 'older' receipt I do it all the time I just don't tell the cashier what i'm doing These tips are not all that great for people who really need to have a small food budget. First don't buy juice or soda at all and drink water.

Get your own water filter so it's not bottled water. Tea is the next cheapest thing to drink. Buy only enough milk for cereal and dont buy boxed cereal. Don't buy snacks of any kind. No chips crackers cake etc. Buy baking supplies and bake your own cookies and cakes and pancakes and waffles. Older kids can learn how. Don't buy lunch meat buy a half ham instead.

Oatmeal is almost the perfect breakfast. I usually just add whatever fruit is on sale that week to the oatmeal to make it delicious. The trick here is to avoid those pre-flavored instant oatmeal packets. Instead, buy a big tub of unsweetened and unflavored oatmeal, which is dirt cheap, and sweeten and flavor it yourself to taste. As I said above, I usually use fruits that are on sale from the grocery store for this purpose. Store brand whole grain pasta is pretty inexpensive per serving and can be incredibly filling. I can eat several meals myself out of a single box of whole grain spaghetti, for example.

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A bit of olive oil, some garlic, and some diced tomatoes work great as a topping for whole grain pasta. Sweet potatoes and regular potatoes, for that matter are really cheap for the amount of food you get and can be prepared in a huge variety of ways. Myself, I like mashed sweet potatoes. They need literally nothing extra in order to be delicious, though some like just a bit of butter with them. Mashed sweet potatoes work well as a side dish for almost anything you might make.

Chicken is cheap, easy to prepare, and works well in infinite ways. The cheapest way to buy chicken is to buy whole chickens and learn how to cut them up yourself. A whole chicken provides two breasts, two legs, two thighs, and two wings, and if you compare that to the price of pre-cut chicken, the savings is tremendous.

A tub of cottage cheese is another excellent way to get protein for cheap. Our refrigerator always has some cottage cheese in there as it works great for a quick snack and as a side for most meals. The amazing thing about cottage cheese is that it works plain, it works as a savory food put a little pepper and a dash of salt on it , and it works as a sweet food put some fruit in with it. Not only that, it can work as a lasagna ingredient as a substitute for ricotta cheese, driving down the cost of a pan of lasagna. Every week gives you the opportunity to try something new and mix things up a little bit.

The center of your meals should always be the fruits and vegetables and meats that are on sale, especially when the discount is deep. Most fruits and vegetables have a wide variety of uses, so take advantage of them. This is a huge tip. Your drinking water should come out of the tap, period.

The reasoning here is simple. The primary purpose of beverages is to hydrate you. Water does that more efficiently than anything else. Water is also incredibly inexpensive if you just get it from the tap.

These are the secrets I use to do my grocery shopping on a budget of just $250 a month.

Not only that, water is filling and keeps you from overeating. A big glass of water before a meal, combined with slow eating, will reduce the amount of food you need to feel full. Frugality Getting Started Meals. In a situation where my food budget was extremely tight, here are the measures I would take. Find Free Food Resources and Meals in Your Community Many people who are struggling with their food budget often think that they simply have to squeeze their dollars at the grocery store, but a truly cheap food plan begins elsewhere.

Community Freewill Meals The first step is to identify sources of free meals in your community. Where can you find free dinners like this? Community Gardens Another strategy for finding free food in your community is to look for community gardens. Low-Income Services There are a number of additional services that can work well if your income is suitably low. Prepare Everything You Can at Home Free meals and food options can be useful, but they often only begin to help with the problem of getting enough to eat when a food budget is super tight.

Make Simple Meals, Especially at First The first rule of preparing food at home is that the more basic the ingredients, the cheaper the meal will be.