Know your food costs: Track food costs for about a month so you get a fair idea of where your money is going. Divide the costs into necessary foods (bread, milk, eggs) and unnecessary food costs (cookies, soda, dips). You should also keep track of how often you eat out and those costs too.

Set a target: Do you want to cut $50, $100, more? Set a target then start thinking about how you can manage to meet that goal.

Make some decisions: After looking at your food bill costs, decide what’s necessary to keep and what can be tossed. For example, hummus is not a totally necessary food, but lots of people like it, and it’s healthier than say chips if you use it as a dip for whole wheat crackers or veggies. Soda or energy drinks or candy would all be better to cut. Don’t cut in access though which can lead to splurging.

Have a solid plan: Get a decent cookbook with low cost healthy meals and browse through. See what’s manageable and what’s not. Make your grocery list accordingly. Don’t buy stuff you won’t cook – you’re overshooting. Once you know some meals you will cook, make your grocery list, and when you go shopping don’t get other items – unless you see a killer sale on a healthy item, say black beans or veggies stick to that list.

Make the plan stick: Easy ways to make sure you stick to the plan include cooking in bulk and freezing meals – you’ll be less likely to impulse buy if you know you have dinner ready to go in the freezer. Eat dinner as a family. You can also shop while NOT hungry, and shop without the rest of the family, if that’s possible.

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Track regular buys: I used to track all my grocery store buys, but that was EXTREME. It took a lot of time, although it did save me money. Instead make a list of the 20 or 30 items you buy most often and just track those. I.e. track bread costs at various markets you frequent so you know when you’re getting the best deal.

Locate bargain rack days: Most stores stock new goods on a regular schedule which means older goods hit the discount shelves on specific days as well. Ask around to find out which days your fave store slash prices on meat, muffins, and other perishable goods. Then hit the stores on those days.

Wear high heels or flip-flops: Well, not really but making yourself taller or shorter than average is smart. Stores place the most expensive products at eye level with lower cost versions of the same item (just different brands) higher and lower. Try not to buy anything that’s too easy to see.

Don’t go so extreme that you lose money: Dried beans rock when you consider price and health benefits, but did you know you have to soak those suckers for a good few hours (or even overnight) before cooking? Yes, if you buy goods like dried beans, non-instant rice, and cans of tomato paste for homemade sauce and use them correctly you’ll save lots BUT if you buy the cheapest option and then end up getting take out because those cheaper options take too long, you’ll lose much more. A smarter move is to be realistic and buy a ready made jar of sauce or cooked beans.

What extreme grocery tips do you have?

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While many items are still good for a while past their best by date, it’s important to get fresh products so that they’ll last longer and taste better.  If you like to stockpile groceries while they’re at rock bottom prices (or buy ahead), it’s especially important that you pay attention to the dates.  It doesn’t really help to save money if the products you buy go out of date before you can use them.

One way to get the best date is to look around on the shelves.  If you find an item that’s soon to expire, move the items around and look towards the back of the shelf.  Stores put the newer items at the back so that they can sell the older items first.

Honestly, there are some products that I don’t check the dates on.  These items are usually things with a long shelf life such as cereal, cookies, and canned goods. 

Items you should definitely check the dates on are:

• mayonnaise/Miracle Whip
• salad dressing
• cheese
• coffee creamers
• coffee
• premade foods
• medicines
• meat
• dairy products

Do you check the dates on the food while in the stores?

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For the past few weeks, I have been looking for a great sale on hamburger meat.  I wasn’t able to find one but while I was cleaning out my van, I found my old coupon pouch.  I am so glad that I found it because inside it I found some rainchecks and one of them was for ground beef.  Hooray!

Yesterday I went to the grocery store.  I got 18+ pounds of hamburger, 3 pounds of boneless chicken breast, 6 cans of chicken noodle soup, 1 gallon of milk, some grapes and bananas and I only spent $32.  Oh yeah!  Gotta love those rainchecks.  The ground beef, chicken breasts, and soup were buy ahead/stockpile items. 

And here are a few tips for using rainchecks: 

• See if there is a limit on the item.
• Check to see if there is an expiration date on the raincheck.
• Try to find a coupon to match with the sale price of the raincheck.
• Give your cashier the raincheck before she rings up the item.
• Check your receipt before you leave to see that you were charged the correct price on each item.

Do you remember to get rainchecks?

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Bloom also has some great buy 1 get 1 free specials this week.

• Perdue Perfect Portions chicken breast
• Olivia’s organic salad
• Eddy’s ice cream
• Weight Watchers and Smart Ones dinners
• Progresso soups
• Orville Redenbacher popcorn
• Scott paper towels
• Thomas English muffins
• Hormel chili master
• and much, much more!

There are many items that you could get for free with a coupon.  As always, you should check your local store for current sales.  Happy saving!

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Now, I can start back up with The Grocery Game.

Some of you already know this, but last year my husband and I worked and lived at a ministry for a while.  Before moving there, we lived off our stockpile of groceries.  There was no sense in buying more groceries, when I had a pantry full of things I got at awesome deals.

Now that we’ve moved away from the ministry, it has been difficult to start over again.  I am not the kind of person that walks into the grocery store and only buys what I need for that week’s meals.  I was not raised that way and it’s simply not thrifty!  After all, why would I want to pay $4.99 for meat this week when I could have bought it last week for $1.99?

Shopping the sales with coupons is the best way to stockpile and to avoid paying full price for groceries.  When using The Grocery Game (TGG), I can easily save 50% or more on my grocery bill each week and have a pantry full of items.

So, here I am . . . All ready to start looking at TGG list each week and clipping coupons.  I’m ready to start saving again.

In case you’re wondering what the big deal is or how you can save 50% or more on your grocery bill, please check out these links:

How to Play The Grocery Game
10 Tips for Using Coupons
An Interview with Teri Gault, Founder of The Grocery Game
Time is Money and Money is Time

If you do decide to play The Grocery Game, please use me as your referral. knowhimwell at hotmail dot com. The introductory membership is $1 for the first month.

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As you can imagine, grocery store visits were taking a lot of time. I had my grocery list from the grocery game and my coupons, and I was trying to find the best deals while dealing with a 2-year-old. I decided I’d better find a quicker way to get out of the store.

Here’s what I did to save time:

First, I looked over The Grocery Game list for the week. I printed off only the items that I was interested in purchasing.

Next, I matched and clipped the coupons to the items I was going to buy at rock bottom prices and some other coupons I was interested in using.

I separated the coupons that I definitely wanted to use from the coupons that I might use. The coupons I might use depended on price per item and if I have reached my 20 double coupon limit at the store.

I wrote a list of the things I wanted to buy and put the list in order, according to how the store was arranged. I also put my coupons in order by my list.

Now when I walk through the grocery store my list is in order and I’m not fumbling through coupons.  These few extra minutes at home of putting things in order have saved me at least 30 minutes in the store.  This makes Cuddlebug and me much happier.

What do you think of this system? Do you have some tips for saving time at the grocery store?

Images by me. See more Works for Me Wednesday ideas.

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Recently, I wrote about how Lowe’s Foods is allowing their customers to purchase reusable grocery bags with their green points.  And not only that, they’re giving 50 green points for each reusable bag you bring back in to use. 

Two weeks ago, I purchased one more reusable bag for 1000 green points.  I also received 250 green points because I brought in 5 bags.  Now I have 6 bags of my own!  I’m so excited!!!  I have enough bags now that I haven’t had to get any plastic!  Hooray!  Don’t worry, I still have a large enough stash of the plastic ones at the house in case I need them.

All this talk of reusable bags has been a great conversation piece at Thrifty Mommy.  We had a poll to see who was using the bags, who wanted more bags, and who wasn’t giving up their plastic bag ways.  Here are the results.

Do you have reusable bags that you take to the grocery store?

36% - Yes, I have a lot of them and they are awesome!

28% - Yes, but I’d like a few more.

26% - No, but I’d really like to try them.

10% - No way, I’m sticking with plastic.

According to the results, most of you have reusable bags or would like to use them.  Thanks for working to keep those crazy little bags out of the landfills.

What do you think of the results?

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• Betty Crocker Warm Delights  @ .25 – had just gone out of date
• 39 oz canister of Swiss Miss hot chocolate @ 1.25 – the can was dented.  This will be perfect for church, since some people prefer hot chocolate instead of coffee.
• Honey Maid graham crackers @ .50 – I got these for the children’s class at church.
• 24 oz bottle of Honey @ 1.10.  Yay, I’ve been going through a lot of honey lately with my hot tea.
• 6 pk of triple blade razors @ 1.25.  What a deal!
• Boudreaux’s Butt Paste @ .75.  Yes, it is still in date.  The box was slightly dented on the corner.  BTW, this is good stuff.  Oprah even recommends it.
• Oral B CrossAction power toothbrush @ 1.25.  I’m sure that this toothbrush normally costs at least $6-7.
• 250 ibuprofen @ 1.00
• Nyquil @ 1.00
• Tidy Cat cat litter @ 2.50 – This beats paying $4.00 anyday.

These are just a few of the deals we got.  We had a very nice experience at this store. 

I encourage you to ask around and see if there are discount grocery stores in your area.  Yes, there are some bad ones out there, but finding a good one is worth the effort.

Do you shop at discount grocery stores?  What kind of experiences have you had?

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I haven’t used The Grocery Game in about a month.  In December, there were a few sad weeks where there were no coupons in the paper.  It was ok though, because I was busy with preparing and shopping for Christmas.

Last week I spent a few hours going through all of my coupons.  They needed some weeding out and organizing.  I clipped all the coupons that the list recommended I use.  Then I also included some coupons I had that would be expiring soon.  I wanted to see if any of them would be worth the buy.

I headed out to Lowe’s Foods (with a 2-year-old).  We shopped around the store and first I bought things that we absolutely needed and things that were on my list as the best bargains.  At Lowe’s Foods you can get 20 coupons doubled per day, so long as the coupon is 99 cents or less.  After using my grocery game list I still had some room left to use other coupons.  I used whatever I could to equal my 20, plus I had some other coupons for $1.00 or more that would not get doubled.

I ended up spending about $75, but I saved $90! 

Take a look at all the stuff I got for the money.  Although there may be some unhealthy choices here, please remember this isn’t stuff I’ll use all in one week.  This is how I stockpile.  I buy things when they’re rock bottom prices, with the intent to use them in the next few months. 

Stay tuned because for this week’s Frugal Friday I plan to show my system.  I’ve got pictures of how I file my coupons for easy retrieval. 

If you would like to join The Grocery Game, please use my email address knowhimwell at hotmail dot com.  I can get free weeks if you use my address.    The first introductory month is only $1.

Click here for more articles on The Grocery Game.

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