SERIOUSLY Cutting Your Grocery Costs

One of the biggest questions I get asked, it:
"How can you keep a $100 a month grocery budget for the four of you (3 people - 1 cat), that includes your personal care items?"

Yes, I am a couponer - but I will share a few tips here BESIDES couponing, that will help you cut your grocery bill in half!

1) Selling cycles.
EVERYTHING at the store has a selling cycle. That means there is a HIGH price and a ROCK BOTTOM price over a period of time to purchase that item. It might take a bit to figure out your favorite store's selling cycle but is easy to do if you simply save the weekly ads for a few months. The trick it to find things at the low end of the cycle, add a coupon and purchase it.

Here is a quick guideline of what I consider decent prices to pay, combining sale+coupons
Dairy:

Cheese -- $1.25 for 8 ounces
String Cheese -- $1.00 for 6 ounces
Sour Cream -- $1.00 for 16 ounces
Yogurt (multi-pack) -- $1 (but I aim for free)
Yogurt (single cup) -- $.25/individual cup
Eggs -- free

Boxed items:
Cereal, granola bars, cake mixes, crackers, cookies, fruit snacks -- $1.00 or less
Hamburger Helper, Boxed Potatoes -- $.50 or less
Pasta -- free

Other Grocery:
Canned/jar pasta sauce -- $.75 or less
Peanut Butter -- $1.00/16 oz jar
Salad Dressing -- $.50 or less
Canned Soda --$1.00 a 12pack, or less
Frozen veggies -- $.50/# or less

Misc items:
Personal Care Supplies -- FREE
Laundry detergent -- $2.50 or less for 100 oz bottle
Air Fresheners/candles -- FREE
Foil/waxed paper -- FREE
TP -- $.25 or less per double roll, 2 ply (Whomever invented 1-ply should be shot...)

2) Here comes the dirty word: Stockpile.
It is simply a FEW extra items that you pick up at the store, at the lowest part of that selling cycle, to tide you over until the next time they are that low. It is NOT supposed to be a shrine to your shopping skills, or a reason to kick your children out of their bedrooms. Forget what you see on the crazy TV shows - we are talking 1-2 shelving units in your basement, that is all.
Why do it?
Easy: when you get an item FREE, pick up a few extras so you don't have to pay full price for it the next time you want it.

3. Meat.
Meat is one of those items that rarely has a coupon...so, what do you do?

Again, Look for your grocery store selling cycle! Most stores have a 6 to 8 week cycle for meat, except Lent and the holidays.

What does this mean?

This week ground beef is on sale for $1.99 a pound. It normally is $3.75 a pound. If you usually eat 1# a week, you need to invest in 8 pounds at that sale price. This will save you $14.08 on ground beef.

$14 is $14 in my world, LOL! Just think of saving $110+ over 8 weeks on meat!

The next week, whole chickens might be on sale for $.79 a pound when they are normally over $2.75 You can get a whole chicken for about $3.00, cook it off and harvest the meat. This should get you 2-3 pounds of meat which tastes a LOT better than the 8oz can of chicken for $4.00

**Just think of this: by using the sale pricing on whole chicken and cooking it off, that means the same amount of canned chicken would cost you $22 - you save $19!! (per chicken this week!!)

We like chicken for tacos, enchiladas, quesadillas, chicken chili, chicken ala king over biscuits and more so we need to buy at least 8 chickens when they are on sale.

8 chickens x $19 savings is $152 savings over the 8 weeks that we add to the $110 you saved on ground beef. See how this adds up? 2 weeks of buying meat on sale has saved you $250 so far and we haven't seen pork, turkey, ham or beef roasts go on sale yet!

If you are not keen on this -- just keep this rule in mind...4-3-2-1

• $4 or less for seafood (frozen)
• $3 or less for beef roasts and bacon
• $2 or less for pork, ground beef, ham and boneless skinless chicken
• $1 of less for whole chicken, split breasts, turkey, ground turkey or ground chicken

4) Fresh Produce.
I had a reader comment on my post about my $1 a pound or less guideline for fresh, seasonal produce. Here is a quote:

Personally, I pay quite a bit more for produce than $1 per pound. Some produce isn't even done by pounds... blueberries, raspberries, etc. that are done by pints/half pints or some are 6 oz. You would have a limited amount of produce you can buy, ie lettuce, you can't find for $1 a pound most of the year. What do you do not have any salads? I mean, you can't stock up on produce. Non-prebagged apples tend not to be $1 a pound except in apple season, fall. Other than Aldi's I haven't seen any $1 a pound strawberries and I doubt you will much in the summer either. Sometimes I think these ridiculously low price points are more depressing to couponers who pay more than anything else.

My thoughts on that?

Maybe you just aren't looking in the right places!

There is a LOT of FRESH, in season produce for under $1/#...let's look at the current ads this week (they all run 5/31-6/6):

Aldis:

Celery $.79 each

Carrots $.35/# in a 2# bag for $.69

Russet Potatoes $.15/# in a 10# bag for $1.49

Zucchini $.99/#

Mushrooms $.99 for an 8oz pack

Yellow Onions $.33/# in a 3# bag for $.99

Copps/Pick N Save

• limes $.25 each
• Texas Grapefruits
• Navel oranges
• cucumbers $1.00

 You get the idea -- I could add Pierce's IGA, Piggly Wiggly, etc.

Now let's talk deals with produce coupons!

I have seen coupons for ALL bagged salad blends (Dole, Fresh Express, etc), Hass Avocados, even the generic $1 off produce when you buy 2 Hidden Valley salad dressings. My favorite place to look for produce coupons is the liquor department of the grocery store - where you often find coupons that do NOT require you to buy that beer or wine. Yippee!

As for apples, oranges, onions or even potatoes.... it is ALWAYS cheaper to buy them in the bag!! Buying ANYTHING where you pick out only one or two will cost you more, from product to meat. Bulk packs are ALWAYS cheaper.

:)

You have heard me say it before - weigh a few bags to get the heavier one!!! I have had 5# bags of potatoes really be 7# and 3# bags of apples really be 4#. Even the boxes of strawberries can weigh heavy. The grocers do not say:

"That bag is .25# too heavy, cut an apple in half..."

I am talking SEASONAL produce -- so yes, those apples would be cheapest, in their season: fall. I got apples for $.25 or less at a local orchard last fall. (remember applesauce-a-palooza?)

:)

When fresh produce fails to meet your needs, you can almost always find a great deal on frozen!

Add a coupon to a sale price and you EASILY pick up your favorites for $.50/# or less. They are picked at the height of their growing season, cleaned and cut for you - saving a little prep time. However, March is the best month to stock up- - it's National Frozen Food Month.

:)

Now - this is a different picture if you are looking for Organic items.

Obviously, they will be a little pricier and that is why I talked about the Dirty Dozen and Clean 15 last year. You don't have to buy ALL organics, just focus on buying the "bad ones" as organic and go crazy on the "clean" list!

Keep in mind that everything in the local sales ads is for sale, they are not always ON sale. Just because a fruit or veggie is in the sales ad - it doesn't mean it is a deal for the consumer. I hope this clears things up for those of you who read along and were confused too, but haven't been to one of my coupon classes where I explain it in detail.

My family eats the perimeter of the store - very little pre-processed foods and produce is a big part of that. We STILL make it work on our $100/month shopping budget, but have been working a fair stockpile for quite a while. We DO grow some of our own fruit (apples, cherries, rhubarb, raspberries, mulberries, and crabapples) and swap out for things like tomatoes, green beans and cukes - if my summer is too crazy to grow them ourselves. I freeze these things, can them, turn them into jam/jellies and pie filling that is also used for coffee cakes.

5. Coupons.
Yes, I know they can take a little time to clip and use - but they are FREE money from the manufacturers (People who make the products). If you are lucky enough to have stores by you that double coupons - you are getting even MORE FREE money!

A quick example on this?
When my Copps store has Double Double Days, I can get up to $120 off my grocery bill. That is $120 of possibly FREE stuff for our family or to bless others with.

6. Gardening!
I am not talking about something full farm sized that is hard for you to manage. I have a brown thumb myself and do "container" gardening in the summer. A few pots of tomatoes and a few pots of beans are easy to do. If this is totally NOT your thing, make friends with someone who DOES have a garden or post on FREECYCLE that you are looking for garden leftovers. I have scored some amazing zucchini, lots of heirloom tomatoes and more! Zucchini, grated and put into 2 cup bags, freezes beautifully for those winter bread baking urges. We make cranberry zucchini bread (recipe HERE)
:)

7. Gardening leads to Canning/Freezing.
I am not talking about huge blocks of time devoted to a tedious job... my apple butter is made over night, in the crock pot! I simply add it to clean jars and process. Your home made jams/jellies are going to be SO much tastier, SO much less expensive and SO much healthier than what you find in the stores.

8. Bring Your Own Bags

Most stores will credit you $.05 for each bag you bring to use. Not only is it better for the planet, but it adds up! 10 bags @$.05 = $.50 a week. That is $25 a year off your grocery budget!
Just one thing - please wash them occasionally. You could make your family slightly ill with the issue of cross contamination.

Life is about choices.

YOU get to choose what is right for your family and how you spend your money. People like me simply give you a rough guideline that you can CHOOSE to follow or not follow. I am just sharing what works for us - and is working for many other people.

:)

Blessings to you -
Dannelle