My 50+ Tips & tricks to save on groceries!

Every family is different when it comes to our grocery budget and how we eat can vary widely, as we talked about in our last post. Small habits and choices have long term effects on what we spend and save. As a family we try to eat healthy with lots of fruits and veggies readily at hand to snack on and I try to serve healthy balanced meals regularly. Nobody is perfect and we are defiantly not. We occasionally grab the frozen pizza and tater tots when things get crazy but lately I have tried to plan for those crazy days as well. We also have our treats and junk food, but I try to keep those to a minimum so that they remain special. Saving money on our grocery bill is completely possible while still eat healthy well balance meals. In fact, I think we eat far more healthy on less of a grocery budget than we ever have. Each little habit and change has far reaching benefits. Here are my tips and trick I have learned to improve our budget and healthy eating habits.

Make a list

• Have a "Needs" shopping list posted where everyone can add needs as they come up. Add items to your list as you are running low, not as you run out. Helping you to not be without before your next weekly shopping trip.
• Make a "Special Occasions Food List" Things that your family members love but that are not critical and you want to keep special. These are things you can get by without but like to have sometimes. By reserving these things to have only occasionally, they become a treat and not just everyday taken for granted items. It could be as small as fruit snacks or cheese-its. Some of my families special occasion items are sugar cereals, soda, chips, candy, fruit snacks, crackers, cookies, yogurt, string cheese, strawberries, grapes, watermelon etc. My special foods are Ice cream, almonds, chocolate, raspberries and fruit juices. By saving these items for family trips, Friday well done lunch rewards, Family nights or camp outs (or when we are having a really crappy day ;) they stay special and we save a TON of money!
• Have a "Household Someday List". Things that you would like but that are not critical. These are things you can get by with out but would like to have someday. It could be as small as new wooden spoons or as big as new dishes or a food processor. These things are optional, but would be very nice to get if the budget allows. These things inspire us to save elsewhere so we can get them! And by having a list and restraining ourselves, we can get what is truly important first.
• Know your prices! If we know what the general price of foods are, we will then know what is a good deal. When we see and get something that is on sale, that we will normally be purchasing over the next few months, we are putting money back into our pockets! Be careful with this though, even an on sale item can waste our money if we wouldn't have normally purchased it. Also, sometimes sale items are not really on sale. They were just marked up so they could them put it on sale. Sad but true.
• Always ALWAYS shop with a list. I am all for flexibility and splurging but it is a very scary thing for a grocery budget to shop without a list. Whenever I shop with out a list, I am almost guaranteed to spend double what I should have.
• Keep an inventory. Even if it is in your head, you need to have a good idea of what you have squirreled away. Once we build up a store of stuff in our pantry and freezers, all we really need to do is glance to see what is running low, but until then it is very handy to weekly check on how things are doing so that you don't find yourself missing something you thought you had.

Store habits for saving

• Shop only once a week. By committing to shopping only once a month we do a few things. 1) We make better shopping lists and meal plans! 2) We stay out of the store, saving money on splurge shopping. 3) Save time driving too and from.
• Never EVER shop hungry! Hungry shoppers spend more! Ask me how I know ;) 
• Shop in the  morning! There are several reasons for this. 1) Sales or reduced items are put out in the morning. 2) We are not tired and more likely to impulse shop. 3) it is much less crowded. I always regret shopping on Saturdays or at 6 pm. I waste so much more time in the crowded store and consequently spend more as I crawl up and down each isle or wait by those darn candy bars at the check stand.
• Learn your layout  The less time you spend in your store the less you will spend. When we miss something the first time we go through, the likelihood of us grabbing additional items as we hunt for it goes way up! By shopping in a store over and over again, we learn it's layout and where everything is.
• Find the store with the best prices. It pays of big time to know which store has the best prices on foods. Each month I shop at Sam's for cheese, meat, flour, sugar, pasta, spices, corn chips and a handful of other items. I do this month after month. Why? They save me major big time. When we lived in North Carolina we lived next to a small bakery. I would stop by on occasion and I would always find day old bread for up to 75% off to put in my freezer. By shopping the stores with the best prices, we can save a ton of money! 
• Buy Generic! In all honesty, often times we find ourselves liking the generic brands better than the name brands, and often we can not even tell the difference. By purchasing off brand items we save ourselves a ton of money. However, there are some things we are name brand all the way! Dish soap and laundry detergent, for instance.
• Buy produce in season saving 30-50%
• Look high and low. Eye level shelf space is a premium. To find better deals, look high and low on the shelves.
• Beware of the end caps and isle stands. End caps are always name brand and never items that are on sale.
• Compare sizes. I just did this today, in fact. I needed a bunch of tomato sauce. An 8 ounce can was $ .37 and a 15 ounce can was $ .57 , no brainer there right. Especially when I need alot for multiplying meals. Did you know there was an even better deal? At Sam's club a large number #10 can (108 oz) of tomato sauce is $2.98. To get the same amount of ounces in little 8 oz cans I would spend $2 more and a dollar more than the 15 oz. While a buck is not that much, it sure does add up if you do many things over time to save.
• Learn sale cycles - Did you know sales are predictable? Sale items can either be tracked by a rotation or by holiday and season. Once we learn them we can know when to plan and expect to stock up on certain items. Misty @ your home stores has a great post on when certain items are typically on though out the year!
• Be smarter than your store. A stores job is to sell. it uses tasty smells, strategic placement by putting often needed items like milk in the back, and lighting to entice us to put yummy looking things into our carts. They even sometimes play slow, mellow music to help us slowly travel its isles. Shop wisely!
• Shop after holiday or season discounts. The time to find great meat deals is after memorial day or Forth of July. The time to pick up a ton of potatoes is after Thanksgiving, a new fake Christmas tree or decorations is after Christmas. The time to get your kids shorts is at the end of summer and their jackets is at the end of winter. I often am found scanning the shelves after Valentines day, Easter  and Christmas for cute stuffed animals or toys at huge discounts to give as kid birthday gifts. By shopping after holiday or end of season sales we can save a TON.
• Watch your purchases. Check your receipts. As the checker rings up your groceries, watch! Pay attention as your food runs across the scan bar. The prices may be wrong, she may have accidentally scanned it twice, and a sad but new trend is that checkers may add cash back when you didn't ask for it, or receive it.
• Price Match at Wal-mart!!! I know many do not like Walmart's produce, and I have seen some pretty less than lovely veggies in some stores as well, but the two that are closest to my house do pretty well. To me it is well worth choosing the bet that they have to offer, so I can take advantage of all the low advertised prices of the 5 store in my area that I price match with. Typically I only have real luck price matching produce, but occasionally I will find a brand name pantry item that I can price match, and some stores are funny about allowing meats to be priced matched. This one tip alone saves me probably close to 6-7 hundred dollars a year. I wrote a post about it HERE.  mygrocerydeals.com is an amazing resource to help with this. If you are going to try your hand at price matching, please read the post I wrote about it HERE. Also, make sure you know the guidelines before you go to the store, otherwise you might find frustrations when they won't accept a match.

Don't buy convenience, create it! Don't let the store do what you can do yourself. 

• Avoid prepared packaged foods. The easiest thing in the world to make is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It is the first thing my little 3 year old's are taught to "cook", and somehow they have figured out how to sell these classic sandwiches in the freezer section.
• Do your own chopping. Did you know that in the refrigerated produce section they have  fresh chopped onions and bell peppers? When I first saw this I was curious what they were charging. For what would normally cost me about 25 cents to chop my own they are charging $2 or more. People must buy them though or they wouldn't be there.
• Box mixes verses homemade. There are some things that are just worth having in your pantry! Like a brownie mix or pancake mix ready to go when you are needing it. Did you know you can make those yourselves for just pennies on the dollar? By making many at the same time you allow yourself to have the convenience of easy grab mixes and making it worth your time.... and saving a bunch of money.
• Reevaluate your price habits. We all do it. get into habits of what we grab off of the store shelf without checking prices. Our family buys a ton of apples! No lie we probably consume 30-40 pounds a month. One of my favorite times of year is the fall because we get amazing apple deals. I love it also because we make chunky cinnamon applesauce, crisps and pies too. (well, my husband makes the pies, That's his job.) Sometimes the individual priced per pound apples are much cheaper, for tastier apples than we will normally find in a bag, sometimes not. Every once in a while we need to spend a few minutes to do the math. Again.
• Shop your pantry first occasionally. Every once in a while it is good to peruse the shelves of your pantry to see what you have in there, and figure out what you can make from it. Things slide to the back over time and if not used, eventually will expire, all sad and lonely in the back nether-reaches of your shelves.
• Skip the salad mixes. I'm very guilty of the simple pleasure of buying a salad mix. but did you know that we spend 50% or more by letting them chop and gather those items for us. Plus it is sprayed with all kinds of preservatives to keep it from going wilty and slimy. Lovely thought huh?
• Grow fresh herbs. There is nothing I like more than working with fresh basil. (well maybe fresh ginger :) I would always just buy my basil in those fresh ready packs until one day I realized that one little pack was the same cost as a whole potted one, and it had 4 times as much too! That was the start of my herb garden on my sill. And it smells SO good!
• Learn to garden. This is a do as I say not as I do. :) My big dreams of tomatoes coming out my ears have fallen short a few years in a row, and I haven't been feeling well enough to attempt in many years because of chronic health junk. However, I know you CAN multiply and magnify your expense by gardening. Plus everything is so much tastier as well!

Buy in bulk, Join a club!

• Join a warehouse club and share it with a friend. I know this is a tricky thing to do, especially if you are a small family on a small budget, but even small families can save the cost of a membership by being careful what you purchase there. I have a business Sam's club card that I share with a friend. By upgrading my membership to a business account I have the ability to add a friend to share this cost. To qualify for a business account all you need is a business card with your name on it. I have an etsy shop and gave them one of my cards for that. The great thing about it is that you can add up to 4 pairs total, so 8 friends, each pair costing $45 on the same account. Out of 8 friends does someone have a business?
• Be wise at warehouse clubs! Sam's saves me a TON of money! I have learned what to buy and what not to buy however! By being wise in what we spend and only purchase things that are less expensive in bulk I same probably $50-75 or more each month. Do your research and price compare before you lay down your cash at the check out. The things I have found to give me the best buys are: milk, eggs, 5 pound grated and block cheese. 4 pound real butter, 3 pound bacon, 2 pound breakfast sausage, Whole un-sliced boneless turkey or hams (to slice yourself). meats. Also purchase some spices, flour, sugar, pasta, dry ranch mix, toilet paper, paper towels and laundry soap there. In addition to my deal stuff, i sometimes splurge and get a few special lunch items that I give my kids on Fridays too.
• Skip deli counter for lunch meat and cheeses. Did you know you can save as much as $5 a POUND on your deli lunch meats? By purchasing your deli meat in a whole uncut package we save drastically on the cost! The crazy thing is, sometimes you can even get the meat department to slice it up for you! The drawback is that you have to spend it all up front. But $20 -$30 bucks for ham or turkey that would normally cost triple that is perfectly fine to sit in my freezer for when we need it.  Or share the cost with friends!
• Buy meats in bulk! When you cant find meats on sale there are still ways to save a huge amount of money. Typically club prices are much better than the prices you get at your regular grocery store. A trick I have learned to save even more on meats is to purchase them by the case!  These are 80 or so pounds generally, but give you 25 to 75 cents off per pound! Saving a ton overall. Go in with friends to split up the cost. Ask about how to do this at your clubs meat department. Typically they have a list of current costs and discounts for cases. To learn what to do with all that meat when you get home read this post HERE.
• Spices in bulk. We have a little spice shop that is not to far out of my normal stomping grounds that sells bulk bags of spices. I'm talking big bags of dried oregano, cumin, basil, and anything else you are looking for for super inexpensive! Sure I need to store it, but the price savings is too unbelievable to pass up. Its well worth a trip there a couple times a year. Also purchasing bulk spices and other hard to find items online is another good option too.
• By staples in bulk. I cant believe how prices have gone up everywhere! By buy all our staple things such as flour, sugar, pasta, oats and rice in bulk we are actually able to make back several dollars each verses just getting small packages of them at the store.
• Buy bulk in season fruits/veggies and freeze or preserve it! When fruits and veggies are in season and on sale, it is the perfect time to stock up and get a bunch. Each year when green bell peppers hit their lowest price I purchase about 40 big beautiful ones to chop and slice for my freezer. If I do a good job getting all the air out they will last most of the year for our family. We put them in all sorts of dishes we create, and while chopping them all at once takes a bit, I put on a movie and don't have to do it for a long time. Some items we also buy in season are for things such as freezer jam, canned peaches, apple sauce, homemade salsa, canned spaghetti sauce and even homemade mashed potatoes.

Eat well!

• Cut out soda and coffee, especially purchasing them out and about. At the risk of offending anyone (sorry if I do :) life can be lived without caffeine. I know many that the world will have to end before they stopped having their cup of Joe or Dr Pepper, but think of how much you really spend on that little cup of addiction? And is soda and coffee all that good for our bodies?
• Ditch the cold for hot breakfasts. I know that I am hearing groans and moans all over at the thought of this, but oatmeal (or homemade granola) or cream of wheat is so much better for our bodies than sugared up, vitamin pumped cereals. An added benefit is the cut in cost!
• Eat meat sparingly. To save money in our house we have chose to eat less meat. The meals we are now choosing do not rely heavenly on the meat portion. We still occasionally eat homemade burgers, pork chops, roasts, or meatloaf but they are few and far between. Instead we have been treating the meat portion equal to a side dish. These are meals like stir fry's or different sauces with our meats over rice, or pasta and many others too. We also have soups in the winter, and salads in the summer, which require less meat. We then add to it alot of in season veggies, rice, pasta, beans or a bread. We also have started planning two days a week where we don't eat meat at all. These are some seriously yummy meals such as fancy salads, cowboy salsa, stuffed shells, garden chili and garden spaghetti. Even in comparison to the increased veggies and fruits we are eating, this has really saved us alot of money.
• Eat your veggies! I think it is probably a toss up wither veggies or meat are less expensive pound per pound, depending on what you buy. However, I have found that we feel better and save money by eating more vegetables. I also buy vegetables that are in season to save as much as I can. Another thing that drastically reduces your produce costs per week is when I Price Match at Wal-mart. 
• Drink water! It has taken me many years of slowly weaning my family off having some sort of colored liquid (soda, milk, juice or koolaid) for our dinner meal. The real switch came when we consciously started to eat healthier as a whole family and my husband and I started to track our calories in an effort to understand better what we were eating. We still have juice on occasion, in Friday rewards lunches and on our Sunday dinner meal, but other than that we drink water. It has been so very nice and has saved us hundreds of dollars.

Don't waste!

• Wasting food is just throwing money in the trash. We might as well rip up our money verses letting it spoil after we purchase it. Being aware of the life of foods in our refrigerators, freezers and pantries will help us know how long we have to use it up before it spoils.
• Have a plan for what to do with left overs. We have chose to do several things to handle our leftovers. 1) Try to plan our meals to be the right size. This isn't always easy, but cutting my family meal recipes in half has helped us tremendously to getting the right amount for each meal. 2) freeze left over single meal portions for lunches. 3) Have a left over meal once or twice a week. This could be taking leftovers routinely for lunches, or having a family smorgasbord of all the random stuff in your fridge.
• Eat half size recipes. If we know that a certain meal is to big for our small family,make half the recipe and freeze the other half for a next time! By doing this for our family we save a ton of time and money by not being wasteful. You do have to be committed in making the meal in the first place so that it won't just go bad sitting in your fridge.
• Make big batches of freezable side dishes. When I make brown rice, I make a huge batch and freeze in meal portions for a next time. This allows us to have less waste and saves me time in the future. We do this on all sorts of freezable side dishes.
• Use your short lived produce first. When we shop once a week, we need to plan to use our leafy greens early on. You can prolong the life of them by preparing them properly and when we do they can easily last 7-10 days.
• Use your freezer wisely. As you know from reading my site that I love my freezer. By storing what you put into it in compact zip bags flat and removing all the air out of it, we can not only fit more, but it will last longer without freezer burn. Learning your freezer well can save you a ton of time and money!
• Find tricks to preserve your food longer. Learning the best way to keep your produce is a great way to prolong its life. You can also learn to freeze items and meals to extend life as wel as reducing costs by purchasing it when it in in season. Another way to preserve your foods longer is by learning to can (or bottle) your finds to keep them good for 6 months or more on your pantry shelf. All these ideas can help you save alot of money.
• Time is money! I know you hear it. Well it is true. Sometimes it is worth NOT doing some of these things because our time does not allow us to.. Another option is to figure out ways to save time while spending time, such as multiplying your efforts with large batch cooking.
• Cook in bulk, prepare in multiples. In all honesty, this is how we survived some very hard years when I was not able to do much. In my one little moment of having energy I made a huge batch of something and froze it. It could be a bunch of meal starters, a pot of beans, 5 pounds of taco meat, or seasoned up rice. These small efforts saved my life when evenings rolled around and it is what I could grab together to make dinner. Small efforts guys, one thing at a time. Every bit helps.

Network!

• It's not what you know, but who. Gather some of your friends that live close to you and in some way set up to share the deals you spot! You know what I'm talking about, like that sale you saw on chicken after the 4th for a buck a pound. The one you bought all you could afford but there was still  alot left. or the huge things of hot chocolate that normally cost $10 and are on sale for $2. Shout it out to your friends, I'm sure they will love you for it and return the favor!
• Get to know your grocer. Maybe ask him to discount the bruised bananas or when he puts things on "reduced for quick sale" You could also ask if you and some friends could go in together and get multiple cases verses single cans of items if they could reduce the cost. We did that one time and they were very willing to give us discounts. You never know unless you ask
• Earn while spending. There are apps out there these days like Ibotta, SavingsStar and Checkout51 that you can earn cash back rewards. These services offer kickbacks on a range of items when you show your purchase receipt. It might be worth it for you to check it out and give it a try.

I hope that this helps you! I know its a ton of information and that it can be quite overwhelming. Just pick one or two of these items to do and start with. Learn as you go along. All these ideas have been implemented over my whole lifetime. At times I am better than at others and there are still times I find myself grabbing a box of pizza rolls and a bag of tater tots with a bag salad because that is just the way life is that day. Good Luck in your efforts. You can do it!