Tip for saving at the grocery store

[disneysteve]

When buying prepackaged produce items like berries or mushrooms or items sold by the piece rather by weight, weigh the items and pick the heavier ones. For example, our store sells strawberries in 16oz containers but the actual weight can vary by a couple of ounces from package to package. Same for heads of lettuce - flat price per head so pick a few good solid ones and weigh them and buy the heaviest one. This can knock down the unit price a bit. Over time, doing this with multiple items week after week can really help stretch your food dollars.

[marvholly]

I have been doing this for YEARS but can go you one better. After 20+ years of working in a microbiology lab I can hold an item in my hands and detect couple oz difference.

[disneysteve]

I can tell, too, but weighing them is still a confirmation. I picked out two dense heads of lettuce yesterday after checking several. I took the two to the scale and they were within 1 oz of each other.

[mfriedl1]

This is a great idea for a thread I think.
Its funny...my wife is obsessed with the show "extreme couponing" but she always says the same thing.

"Yeah they got 300 cans of soda and 15 frozen pizzas for $5.75, but where's the produce and the meat?"

Seriously, its all garbage, and what do you need 300 cans of soda for anyway?

I think money saving tips on healthy food items that we actually need to buy is great!
Thanks disneysteve!

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

When I am paying for produce by the pound, I will shake the water off leafy greens that have just been misted by the automatic "rain" freshener. That way I won't pay for water instead of vegetable. An added benefit is that they'll keep better in my refrigerator without quite so much water trapped between leaves.

[ktmarvels]

This is a great idea for a thread I think.
Its funny...my wife is obsessed with the show "extreme couponing" but she always says the same thing.

"Yeah they got 300 cans of soda and 15 frozen pizzas for $5.75, but where's the produce and the meat?"

Seriously, its all garbage, and what do you need 300 cans of soda for anyway?

I think money saving tips on healthy food items that we actually need to buy is great!
Thanks disneysteve!

I agree, most of the stuff they buy isn't very healthy. However, if they get overage (product costs .99 and they have a 1.00 coupon, they have 0.01 overage) OR if they get catalinas (coupons that print out at the register which can be for $ off your next purchase) they can apply it towards fruits and veggies. While the show might not show it, you can coupon and buy healthy food.

[GREENBACK]

Not that this isn't valid but I'm satisfied to look at a produce item and go from there. If it looks bigger it probably is! If you miss out on a couple of extra slices of lettuce so be it.

[disneysteve]

If it looks bigger it probably is! If you miss out on a couple of extra slices of lettuce so be it.

I partly do it out of principle. Our grocery store sells almost everything by weight but certain items get sold by the piece. Why not charge by the pound for everything? Why is it okay to go by the pound for cucumbers but by the bunch for radishes? Why is spinach by the pound but green leaf lettuce is by the head? And prepackaged items are the main ones I was talking about. The clamshell cases of strawberries all say 16 oz. Obviously, they can't all be exactly 16 oz. Some are a little under. Some are a little over. A few are quite a bit over. I won't go nuts and weigh every package, but I'll pick out 2 or 3 that feel heavier and check those.

It helps that at our store, there is a scale on each end of every aisle because you can weigh and label things yourself which speeds up checkout and ensures you get charged properly. If the store didn't have all the scales, I wouldn't bother with this.

[disneysteve]

When I am paying for produce by the pound, I will shake the water off leafy greens that have just been misted by the automatic "rain" freshener.

I hate those things. All they do is make the stuff rot faster.

[marvholly]

When I am paying for produce by the pound, I will shake the water off leafy greens that have just been misted by the automatic "rain" freshener. That way I won't pay for water instead of vegetable. An added benefit is that they'll keep better in my refrigerator without quite so much water trapped between leaves.

I do the same for this reason and Steve's.

[Frugal]

Thanks, DisneySteve, for sharing that tip. I found that out last week, as the berries I had bought did not weigh as much as what they little bin seemed to indicate that they came in! They do settle, and it is a really good idea to simply stick berries and things like that on the produce scale and weigh them.

By the way, berries are much cheaper frozen, as I have found out lately!