What do you do to save $$$ on grocery/shopping bills? (appointed, sale)

[unknown stuntman]

I do a lot of speciality food shopping for many meats, beer, speciality sauces. But otherwise, I see no reason why most basic foods and toilitries, you wouldn't shop at Market Basket as opposed to other chains where the prices are better w/out sacrificing quality. I'm lucky also to live close to Stratham- Market Basket, Shaw's, Stop & Shop are literally w/ in 1/4 mile of each other. I can compare weekly the deals on chicken breast. Yeah, hormone induced, but I eat very healthy and it still beats most anything people will ingest into their bodies. Once in a while I'll pay more for top-of-the-line chicken breast (generally $4.99/lb.), but the $1.99/lb sales equate to immense savings to those of us who don't have plenty of time to cook and need our major dosage of protein. Regularly it is any where from $2.79 to $3.69 a pound. Stock up for about two months and you are literally saving $50 or more when those $1.99 sales roll around every few months!
Another tip is to look for those outlet bread shops that sell nearly expired breads and some times cereals, eggs, and the like. You just need to eat quickly and if you want to stock up, have freezer space available for the extra loaves of bread. Huge savings as well!
Finally, I'm amazed the people I come across who are just getting by, who eat out every day at work. It usually is just fast food, but people seem to be totally aloof as to just how much it is costing them extra to spend $6 a day as opposed to packing their own food (utilize one of those $10 Coleman cooler bags if necessary). It adds up to many hundreds of dollars, if not thousands in the course of a year! Not to mention, the majority of fast food is crap! That money would pay for many far superior meals dining out on the weekends amongst the seacoast's excellent restaurants.

[LoveSnow]

Hmmm.... Maybe eating less?

Eating out is the biggest drainer. Or buying prepared food.

Once we cut meat consumption (not for economical but health reasons), our grocery bill got smaller.

But to me it is very important what we eat, so I look more at the nutrition label and ingredients and then on the price. It is hard to save on groceries other than cook at home.

[buck naked]

organic foods are also a ripoff...there are no regulations as to what qualifies as organic except that they don't have pesticides.

Shoppers are being led down the garden path by the health claims made for organic food.


(broken link)
A few studies show that organically grown fruit and vegetables have marginally higher levels of some nutrients such as vitamin C than ordinary foods. But there is a larger number of studies showing no difference at all.

Organic food is no lower in fat, saturated fat, salt and sugar than ordinary food.
Sticking an organic label on salt, pies, crisps and even vodka does not transform them into healthy food.


Customers shopping at the big-name retailers are being asked to pay 60 to 70 per cent more for organic meat, vegetables and other foods than for the ordinary equivalents.


personally, I wash everything with SOAP and water. I'm not convinced that eating food that was fertilized with poop is any safer than pesticide.

[daniellefort]

I just work more. No really, I use coupons too but even they are not helping much anymore. Seems the coupons have reduced their amounts. 10 or 15 cents off doesn't cut it anymore and half the time i have coupons to use but end up buying a cheaper brand that costs less than if i used a coupon for the other brand. I do find vegetable stands are much cheaper to by produce but in my town, we have 1 vegetable stand that has very slim pickings. Can't wait to get to NH so i can grow my own. It's quite hard growing anything in FL when all you have is sand 2 inches below the ground. UGH....

[countrylv22]

EXCELLENT THREAD MY FRIEND!!!


GOOD FOR YOU!!! I am going to really enjoy everyone's input on this

one!! COOL!! LOL! THANK YOU "DTD"

When I was growing up, my Father would give my Mother his paycheck,

and she would give him & herself a very small allowance for petty

expenses (gum, newspaper, etc.) And later she would STRETCH that

paycheck sooooo much, it was AMAZING!! Several years later she

SURPRISED him with HOW much $$$$ she had saved up & invested the

extra savings and he was in SHOCK because he did not think there could

be anything left over, after paying the mortgage, utitlities, food, etc. etc. It

was truly AMAZING, how she managed the household finances, yet we ate

healthy, there was always planty of food, we went on vacations, had fun on

the weekends, etc. etc. However, she would check every single newspaper,

to find out where she could find the best price for everything, she would cut

coupons, she would make sauces from scratch, bake bread from scratch,

bake cakes & cookies from scratch. She even made yogurt, pasta at home.

She never wasted money on sodas, soft drinks. We grew up drinking milk,

fresh home made juices and WATER . She would buy different fruits and

make them into juice. I NEVER saw a boxed cake, or boxed cookies, or boxed

anything

And my Father would take his lunch from home with something my Mother

made for him. One of the biggest WASTES of money is buying your lunch

outside or going out to lunch.. I tend to take my lunch to work as well, one

because its HEALTHIER, and its cheaper than going out, and I save time as

well, because of not having to drive somewhere for lunch .

When you ADD how much money it takes to eat out everyday, WOW!

WOW!!!

Another thing is, I have noticed, that if I make a LIST of what I need to shop

for, I SAVE money, instead of just going and shopping for what I think I

need . LOL! LOL! And I SAVE TIME as well!!

Also, when it comes to cleaning products, its cheaper to buy generic, or

use different mixtures of VINEGAR, HYDROGEN PEROXIDE, LEMON JUICE,

BAKING SODA, just to name a few....

instead of your regular cleaning products that typically have cancer causing

agents, like CHLORINE The INHALATION & TOUCHING of Chlorine

products causes cancer over a long period of time

My Mother has always been a Stay at home Mother, so obviously she

had the time to make everything from scratch. However, if you can get a

bread machine, yogurt machine, pasta maker, you can still make home

made bread, and other things where you can CONTROL the ingredients

of what goes in, so you are eating healthier and saving money in the long run.

We always had a big FREEZER as well, so a lot of times she would make

big amounts of something, and freeze them, in case she would get sick or

something. I personally do not advise on freezing things for a long period of

time because they lose their nutritional value, so you are just eating empty

calories

Also, my Mother and I have NEVER bought FROZEN foods, like LEAN CUISINE

or similar ones, just because its not as healthy, they are all full of MSG,

and they are EXPENSIVE

Oh, My Mother has even ventured out into making cheese, its not that hard

to do either LOL! .

Oh, also, we NEVER bought cold meats, because of the Chemicals, MSG,

NITRATES, cancer causing agents etc. etc.

She would make a Turkey, or Chicken, and slice it for sandwiches

Also, if you want to save money, and eat healthier, you can buy more

legumes, different types of beans and cook them yourself, they have a great

amount of PROTEIN, FIBER, and are cheaper than eating MEAT everyday

There are so many ways to SAVE money, and eat HEALTHIER, but the catch

is that it takes TIME to do theses things.

Planning your meals ahead of TIME, making LISTS when shopping, buying

GENERIC when possible, making things at HOME, FREEZING things that you

can use later. :0)

Also, always remember that going back to the BASICS of everything

seems to be HEALTHIER and CHEAPER in the long run!! LOL!

THANK YOU "DTD" for this GREAT THREAD!!! I hope we can keep it alive

for a long time And that everyone contributes to it as well!!!


Take good care "DTD"

Countrylv22

Originally Posted by DareToDream

With the rising cost of groceries, I was wondering if anyone does anything special to save money on their grocery bills, and if so, what do you do? I guess it could also be a question of what do you do to save time for when you don't feel like cooking? <g> For example:

When the ingredients for making a spaghetti sauce go on sale, we buy a ton of it. This weekend we cooked up a batch and froze it in pint jars - we usually have spaghetti or some variant once a week - we made and froze enough to last for 6 months.....cost for the ingredients was about $15, could have been less, but hubby likes a meat sauce and not a marinara sauce

Our store (Shaw's) gives out points at various times of the year for turkeys or hams - we get the biggest one we can for "free" - cook it, make individual portions out of the leftovers and freeze them for future meals. With the turkeys, we make a big patch of soup and freeze them in individual meal size servings. If we buy a whole chicken, same thing - then make soup....great to have on hand if you want something light or need "medicinal food."

A friend has been bubbling about the joys of baking bread (with a machine) rather than buying it. We just ordered a breadmaking machine with a GC, should be here by the weekend, so we'll start making our own bread. We had made it occasionally without a machine, but found that too time consuming. Machine cost us nothing, so figure we'll try that. She buys the ingredients in what I would call bulk, she doesn't think it is <g>, and bakes a bunch of bread and freezes it.

The dollar store in town has dishwasher detergent and "hand-washing" dish detergent for $1 - we can't see any difference in the outcome between what they carry and what the grocery store carries, so we buy it there - it's on the way to the grocery store, so no extra gas is used. We "merge" the two stores, so to speak.

When I make dinner, I usually make enough for two meals, sometimes three and freeze what's left for another "quickie" meal. Example - When I make meatloaf, it's usually enough for 4 or 5 meals - leftovers are packaged separately for individual meals the next time - same with macaroni and cheese, pork roasts, etc., etc.

We have a freezer we bought, oh gosh, 5 or 6 years ago? It's paid for itself many times over.

Anyway, you get the idea - what do you do?

[nicolem]

Originally Posted by daniellefort

I just work more. No really, I use coupons too but even they are not helping much anymore. Seems the coupons have reduced their amounts. 10 or 15 cents off doesn't cut it anymore and half the time i have coupons to use but end up buying a cheaper brand that costs less than if i used a coupon for the other brand. I do find vegetable stands are much cheaper to by produce but in my town, we have 1 vegetable stand that has very slim pickings. Can't wait to get to NH so i can grow my own. It's quite hard growing anything in FL when all you have is sand 2 inches below the ground. UGH....

I too use a lot of coupons- however they used to be so much better. I remember when my husband and I first got together, we would save sooo much in coupons. I would purposely get a few Sunday papers because the savings was enormous-the coupons were for things that we actually used. Then I remember around 96-97 reading an article in the paper how companies were really going to cut back on coupons-a major cut back and they did just that. Now in the Sunday paper-half the coupon booklets are for non-grocery things like mail away pants, slippers, Christmas ornaments, etc.

Nicolem

[dzmjp]

Where we live and thanks to my husband's job, I am able to stay at home with our daughter, and work part time, online. Needless to say, saving money on groceries is one of my things that I love to do.

As sad as this may sounds, I actually have the price memorized for our staples that we always need...so I always hit up the sales and use any SUPER coupons,12 hour sales, or just sales. I always get the Sunday paper for the coupons, and also use online coupon sites too! (Not all stores accept online coupons though). There are times where I save up to 67% of my grocery bills, just by hitting up the sales and doubling that with coupons... also knowing when there is a good price on something. )

Like so many of you have already said, generic items are usually very close to the name brand! Buy Generic... you usually end up adding your own spices anyway! )

Also, Costco and Sam's Club do have some things that are cheaper to buy there than in the store, but you do have to watch their prices because the seem to change once in awhile, where buying in bulk may not be better!

[nicolem]

Originally Posted by countrylv22

EXCELLENT THREAD MY FRIEND!!!


GOOD FOR YOU!!! I am going to really enjoy everyone's input on this

one!! COOL!! LOL! THANK YOU "DTD"

When I was growing up, my Father would give my Mother his paycheck,

and she would give him & herself a very small allowance for petty

expenses (gum, newspaper, etc.) And later she would STRETCH that

paycheck sooooo much, it was AMAZING!! Several years later she

SURPRISED him with HOW much $$$$ she had saved up & invested the

extra savings and he was in SHOCK because he did not think there could

be anything left over, after paying the mortgage, utitlities, food, etc. etc. It

was truly AMAZING, how she managed the household finances, yet we ate

healthy, there was always planty of food, we went on vacations, had fun on

the weekends, etc. etc. However, she would check every single newspaper,

to find out where she could find the best price for everything, she would cut

coupons, she would make sauces from scratch, bake bread from scratch,

bake cakes & cookies from scratch. She even made yogurt, pasta at home.

She never wasted money on sodas, soft drinks. We grew up drinking milk,

fresh home made juices and WATER . She would buy different fruits and

make them into juice. I NEVER saw a boxed cake, or boxed cookies, or boxed

anything

And my Father would take his lunch from home with something my Mother

made for him. One of the biggest WASTES of money is buying your lunch

outside or going out to lunch.. I tend to take my lunch to work as well, one

because its HEALTHIER, and its cheaper than going out, and I save time as

well, because of not having to drive somewhere for lunch .

When you ADD how much money it takes to eat out everyday, WOW!

WOW!!!

Another thing is, I have noticed, that if I make a LIST of what I need to shop

for, I SAVE money, instead of just going and shopping for what I think I

need . LOL! LOL! And I SAVE TIME as well!!

Also, when it comes to cleaning products, its cheaper to buy generic, or

use different mixtures of VINEGAR, HYDROGEN PEROXIDE, LEMON JUICE,

BAKING SODA, just to name a few....

instead of your regular cleaning products that typically have cancer causing

agents, like CHLORINE The INHALATION & TOUCHING of Chlorine

products causes cancer over a long period of time

My Mother has always been a Stay at home Mother, so obviously she

had the time to make everything from scratch. However, if you can get a

bread machine, yogurt machine, pasta maker, you can still make home

made bread, and other things where you can CONTROL the ingredients

of what goes in, so you are eating healthier and saving money in the long run.

We always had a big FREEZER as well, so a lot of times she would make

big amounts of something, and freeze them, in case she would get sick or

something. I personally do not advise on freezing things for a long period of

time because they lose their nutritional value, so you are just eating empty

calories

Also, my Mother and I have NEVER bought FROZEN foods, like LEAN CUISINE

or similar ones, just because its not as healthy, they are all full of MSG,

and they are EXPENSIVE

Oh, My Mother has even ventured out into making cheese, its not that hard

to do either LOL! .

Oh, also, we NEVER bought cold meats, because of the Chemicals, MSG,

NITRATES, cancer causing agents etc. etc.

She would make a Turkey, or Chicken, and slice it for sandwiches

Also, if you want to save money, and eat healthier, you can buy more

legumes, different types of beans and cook them yourself, they have a great

amount of PROTEIN, FIBER, and are cheaper than eating MEAT everyday

There are so many ways to SAVE money, and eat HEALTHIER, but the catch

is that it takes TIME to do theses things.

Planning your meals ahead of TIME, making LISTS when shopping, buying

GENERIC when possible, making things at HOME, FREEZING things that you

can use later. :0)

Also, always remember that going back to the BASICS of everything

seems to be HEALTHIER and CHEAPER in the long run!! LOL!

THANK YOU "DTD" for this GREAT THREAD!!! I hope we can keep it alive

for a long time And that everyone contributes to it as well!!!


Take good care "DTD"

Countrylv22

Sounds great Country-but don't you have to eat prepackaged astronaut food on the mothership?

Nicolem

[countrylv22]

LOL! LOL! LOL!

THANKS NICOLE LOL! FOR MAKING ME SMILE & LAUGH TODAY I really

needed it! LOL! LOL!

Actually, I BEAM UP EVERYTHING from WHOLE FOODS TRADER JOES

and from all of the NH FARMERS MARKETS to the MOTHERSHIP when you

guys are NOT looking that way its healthier & cheaper

LOL! LOL! LOL! That way I do NOT have to eat prepackaged

astronaut food on the MOTHERSHIP LOL! LOL! LOL!

YOU ARE TOO FUNNY NICOLE!!! LOL! Thanks for the laugh

Have a GREAT DAY my friend!

Countrylv22

Originally Posted by nicolem

Sounds great Country-but don't you have to eat prepackaged astronaut food on the mothership?

Nicolem

[buck naked]

I have never had good luck with generic brands or store brands. They don't even compare for the most part.

I will buy generic flour and sugar, band-aids, but that's about it.