Saving money at the grocery store

[Anonymous]

I've been trying to do the coupon thing. After hours of searching on line and going through the newspaper I saved a whopping 35 cents on soup we probably will not eat I still haven't figured out how people save so much but DH and I finally found a good approach. We used Giant's on line peapod service to build a list. We could sort by what was on sale, add to the cart and then print it out. I then compared it to the coupons we had clipped over two weeks. We didn't do the delivery but went to the store and ended up saving over $50, everything we bought was things we use and it was all sale or had a coupon. I was so happy to finally get this to work just wanted to share.

Anyone else have any advice on ways to save money? We are waiting to buy clothes and replace a few appliances until after Thanksgiving or even Christmas in anticipation of better sales.

[Anonymous]

Brilliant idea. Thanks for sharing!

[Anonymous]

I like your idea a lot... I will try to incorporate it with my approach. I recently began to plan my weekly menu ahead of time and making a shopping list based on it. Then I check my pantry and refrigerator to see if there is anything on the list that I already have home.

I buy all the stuff I need for the week, come home and cook all the meals for the incomming week and freeze it all. Every night I take the meal we are having hte next day and put it down to defrost.

I don't have much time to cook on a daily basis and we were ordering take out a lot (or eating snacks, etc)... Or if I decided to cook something last min., I would just go to the grocery store and get the ingredients and would end up buying extras that I didn't plan before.

It has been great to cut down the trips to the grocery store and to make us stick to a list....also we are wasting much less food, almost none goes bad (veggies/fruits). We also know how much we are spending exactly, since we only go to the grocery store once a week now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I like your idea a lot... I will try to incorporate it with my approach. I recently began to plan my weekly menu ahead of time and making a shopping list based on it. Then I check my pantry and refrigerator to see if there is anything on the list that I already have home.

I buy all the stuff I need for the week, come home and cook all the meals for the incomming week and freeze it all. Every night I take the meal we are having hte next day and put it down to defrost.

I don't have much time to cook on a daily basis and we were ordering take out a lot (or eating snacks, etc)... Or if I decided to cook something last min., I would just go to the grocery store and get the ingredients and would end up buying extras that I didn't plan before.

It has been great to cut down the trips to the grocery store and to make us stick to a list....also we are wasting much less food, almost none goes bad (veggies/fruits). We also know how much we are spending exactly, since we only go to the grocery store once a week now.

Do you mind sharing some of your freeze-ahead meals? Thanks.

[Anonymous]

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/31644.page

I took lots of ideas from this post for this week menu planning for instance:

Chicken "casserole" - chicken breast cut in cubes, carrots, celery and celery cream soup - I added some grated parmesan cheese on top

I made the salmon with Dijon mustard (didn't buy the salad dressing, used regular Dijon mustard) + honey; the one with honey and chili powder. I usually make the standard one (rosemary, olive oil and salt).

Other things I have tried so far: shrimp stir fry; beef stir fry (don't cook much, because when you heat up it finish the cooking); grilled chicken filets; "baked/roasted" (whatever) chicken breast (coat with mayo and pour cream of onion soup - from those little packages); pork tenderloin on the slow cooker (1 bottle of black beer + 1 package of onion soup OR brown sugar + regular seasoning); pot roast (also with 1 bottle dark bear + onion soup + carrots and potatoes); meat loaf (I tried with group beef and turkey ground meat) - mix it with 1 egg + plus my standard onion soup and if you want it to be moist, put one bacon strip on top of it.

So, usually I freeze the protein dish, and cook veggies on the side (just steam them or boil for a few min).

I also tried to freeze before with great results: mashed potatoes, mashed butternut squash (mash it and put some olive oil/onions, salt.... let simmer for a few min. Sometimes I like to add 1/2 can of coconut milk - it is a great success here); butternut squash soup; chicken noodle soup; rice; beans.

I didn't know how to freeze food properly, so I was very cautious: I would wrap each chicken filet on plastic wrapper, then separate each filet with wax paper, and wrap all on heavy alumni foil. Then would put it all inside a zip lock back...lol Now I am a bit more relaxed. Foods that have sauce (like pot roast for example), I would just put on one of those glad containers and then put it inside a zip lock back.

Hope it helps

[Anonymous]

Harris Teeter:
-They double coupons up to .99 every day and sometimes have triple coupon days.
-They accept coupons printed off the internet, many stores won’t.
-Enroll in their frequent shopper program: you save quite a bit on many items and they have special programs such as $5.00 off each $35.00 you spend in seafood.

Coupons:
-I buy mostly organic so I go to www.organicvalley.com and www.stonyfieldfarm.com to print their coupons.
-I register on various websites (Annie's Organic, Tide, etc.) to receive coupons in the mail.
-I have been meaning to Google a website I heard about on which you choose exactly the coupons you want and they mail them to you for a small fee.

Other:
-We have commissary privileges on base so we take advantage as much as possible for staples; they are beginning to have more and more organic as well.
-I plan to join a CSA (community supported agriculture) for the 2009 season to receive local, fresh, sometimes organic produce at a pickup point in the D.C. metro area. You can find local CSAs by web search or at www.localharvest.org.
-We shop at local farmer's markets as much as possible for great deals on local, fresh, sometimes organic produce and more.

I hope this helps -- I'm always looking for great ways to save $$ on food.

[Anonymous]

I read the grocery store circulars every week and decide my menu based on what is on sale, i.e. if ground beef is on sale, we are having spaghetti and meat sauce. It also helps me decide where to do my shopping - if safeway has better sales than giant, thats where i'll shop. I also will make sure to use coupons on stuff that is on sale at the store - even if I dont need detergent, if the tide is on sale and I have a coupon, i'll just buy it, so I dont wait until I run out and its full price with no coupon. LAst week I went to safeway and I save $98 ($24.50 in coupons) and the rest based on buying stuff on sale - my total bill was $180, so it was about 35% and now we have what to eat, as well as a lot of basics stocked up.

[Anonymous]

We've cut back on eating meat (for health reasons but it has also saved us quite a bit of money). I also use an online service -- www.thecouponclippers.com to order only the coupons I need for a small fee.

[Anonymous]

I shop at Shopper's and Harris Teeter when they triple coupons and save LOTS of money!

[Anonymous]

Actually Magruder's always sends out coupons for free bread, eggs and milk as well as save $10 on $50 coupons. If you sign up for Giant's Post point they send a $10 off $40 at Shoppers too.

[Anonymous]

Try grocerygame.com. My sister does it with her friends.....you eventually will save hundreds a month on your bill. I just started last week.

[Anonymous]

PP here...its www.thegrocerygame.com