Thrifty Thursday...

thefamilyway904

Tell us about your food shopping style (monthly, weekly, daily, big box stores, farmer's markets, etc) and your best tips for saving money when buying groceries.

thefamilyway904

Right now groceries is one of our biggest line items on our monthly budget. I really need to trim this down.

We currently shop weekly at an average grocery store and for the most part buy all our paper goods and cleaning supplies there. I make a menu plan for our weekly dinners and then devise a shopping lists, but things like breakfast, lunch and snack items are selected as I'm walking down the aisles.

I'm seriously considering a Costco membership so we can buy things like paper goods, cleaning supplies, can goods, meats, etc in bulk and then make a weekly trip to the grocery store or farmer's market for perishable items that can't be frozen (milk, veggies, etc). I think overall this will save us money in the end.

My tip to save $: When I make recipes that freeze well, I always make a double or triple batch and then freeze what we won't be eating for future dinners. This saves both money and time.

 

Mrs._F

Grocery shopping has been such a source of anxiety for us lately!  Our summer turned out to be incredibly busy, putting us out of town most weekends and with long to-do lists during the week. 

We usually go grocery shopping every weekend, sometimes skipping one if we are well-stocked.  I make a shopping list and menu plan based on the weekly sales flier, and try to never buy the more expensive items (meat, snack foods, ice cream [love that skinny cow!]) unless they are on sale.  I never ever pay full price for meat.  When they are on sale - I stock up, to hold us over until the next discount.  We also started getting the Sunday newspaper for coupons, which I try to use with items that already on sale for larger discounts.

Before we got so freakin' busy, we were doing really well with this.  We were saving around $30 each time we went to the store, and  I was cooking larger batches of meals to freeze.

With our summer schedule, it's been like a free for all - trying to squeeze in trips to the grocery store and improvising meals on the fly.  I am SO not into it!  I can't wait to get back into our groove in the next couple weeks as things calm down!

Meegs10.13.06

We shop weekly or biweekly depending on how we're doing with staples. We also buy extra of more expensive items (meats, etc) when they are on sale and freeze them so that we always have some on hand. Trav is the master at saving money at the grocery store... he saves us literally hundreds of dollars a month on our grocery bills.

His tricks: being a stickler about only buying things on sale (besides milk, and anything that is absolutely necessary), cutting tons of coupons, taking advantage of the 10 for $10 deals at Acme, comparison shopping between our three local stores, and buying most of our produce at the local, inexpensive produce market. We also save up our Bed, Bath, and Beyond coupons and use them to buy some things like shampoo, conditioner, and soap... which are the same price or cheaper there than at the grocery store, plus their 10% off coupons, one per item.

He competes with himself to see if he can save more than he spends, and he is pretty good about getting close every time. 

I think the biggest things is just being willing to wait on your favorite meals sometimes if things aren't on sale. You can save a ton just by buying the right things at the right times. And never go into the grocery store hungry!!

Two*True

We do grocery shopping every other weekend.  Sometimes every third weekend depending on sales.  I cut coupons and try to only buy sale items.  We buy all of our cleaning supplies and paper products at a wholesale store.

cookiemonster03

I try to get coupons, and we try to buy on sale, but I cannot handle circular surfing. We DO have a BJs membership for dog food and dry goods. Save a bundle on our fancy shampoo

ssg73

my trick to save on food shopping, have a baby 10 weeks early and let people bring you food!  Just kidding I don't think that is a good idea but I will tell you it does save money on the grocery bill.  Doesn't really off set the $20 plus dollars/day we spend on parking at the hospital though!

My wife can get money out of a stone.  Which is good as we have very limited income coming in right now.  Our trick don't buy stuff and don't have a life.  It sucks but it is what has to happen right now.  This too will pass.

km3mille

thefamilyway904:

I'm seriously considering a Costco membership so we can buy things like paper goods, cleaning supplies, can goods, meats, etc in bulk and then make a weekly trip to the grocery store or farmer's market for perishable items that can't be frozen (milk, veggies, etc). I think overall this will save us money in the end.

We have had our Costco membership for almost a year and it paid for itself in the first 3 months easily.  You can get better products (Kashi/Sabra/charmin/ziplock/glad/kleenex/tampax/advil/Tropicana/tyson/etc.) for cheaper than you can get generic stuff at the grocery store.  Plus it fills up your fridge/freezer so your electric bill is less too.  And if you get the costco AMEX card you get cash back to spend at Costco.  AND they send out sweet coupons every month so that you can save even more!  They also have great deals on bigger purchase things (air conditioners/tvs/computers/ipods/etc).  And a bakery.  AND an eye doctor (cheaper glasses and contacts too)! 

I LOVE Costco.  We go about once a month.  We buy pretty much everything else (which is usually only fresh stuff because if we got this at Costco it would expire before the 2 of us could eat it all) at Trader Joe's.  Which is also amazing.

OK now I am hungry...:)

leapgirl8

Right now we are pretty limited because we don't have a car, so going to CostCo or Trader Joe's involves spending a long time on the train and it's a huge pain to get stuff home. Going to a place like Wal-Mart Supercenter or Target Greatland isn't even an option. So we stock up on meat when it's on sale, buy the produce that is on sale or cheap b/c it's in season, and look for recipes with cheap ingredients. (So many yummy recipes for pork loin and shrimp that never get used ) We also buy produce at the farmer's market, although that isn't necessarily cheaper - just better stuff. We're getting a car in late August - my sister is going to college and giving us her 1993 Toyota Camry, b/c she thinks she won't need it on campus and she knows how much I want a car Yes, she is awesome. So once we get that we will do a big grocery shop in the 'burbs twice a month and just use our local store and the farmer's market to restock weekly on produce and milk. Can't wait!!!!