Post your best ways to save money on groceries

[james.hendrickson]

Guys,

Most Americans spend a ton of money on groceries. For the benefit of the hundreds of lurkers the forums get every day, lets post the best ways we have to save money on groceries.

I'll start:

1. Use coupons: check out the krazycouponlady.com

2. Utilize store reward points: I regularly get 1% to 5% my grocery bill by using Fred Meyer reward points when I shop there.

3. Buy non-name brand products. For example, a half gallon on Horizon Brand organic milk costs $4.69 versus Kroger brand milk which retails for $3.99 - that's a 15% discount for pretty much the same product.

[msomnipotent]

My biggest savings come from not buying what I don't need, and using it up before it goes bad. I had to throw away $30 in filet mignon once because it got buried in the fridge.

[DaveInPgh]

Shop at Aldi

[kork13]

Agreed with most of the above.... here are my additions:

1) A good cash back rewards credit card. I use the Sallie Mae credit card (no longer available), and get 5% cash back on all of my purchases at a grocery store (including gift cards, household items, foods, etc). I believe Chase Sapphire is another good one (6% back) IIRC.

2) Use a shopping list! If I wander the store, I'll walk out with who knows what, and half of it I don't need. My wife & I use an auto-synch smartphone app that allows us to add/check off items from our grocery list. Works wonders for us, because it keeps us on track in the store, and it also helps us to not forget what we need -- as soon as we realize we need something, we can put it on the list (or return it to the list, since our app saves "completed" items).

3) Compare unit prices. There are over a dozen different brands & variants of peanut butter (for example) in our grocery store. How do we pick between them? Check the unit price (cost per ounce/pound/count). Sometimes there truly is a quality difference between options, but after eliminating any known low-quality options, I always select the one with the lowest unit price, and easily save 15% or more on every shopping trip. Sometimes the bulk sizes are cheaper per ounce, other times it's the little containers.

4) Know the unit prices of items you get regularly to recognize a true sale. Manufacturers/retailers play silly games with sizing & packaging specifically to trick consumers into thinking they're getting a great deal. Fight back -- knowledge is power! Dry cereal, for example... I know that most cereals, I can get for between 13-15 cents per ounce. If it's 20+ cents/oz, I pass it by. If it's below 11 cents/oz, I stock up, because it's on sale. Same for bread, eggs, fresh produce, dairy, meats, and so on. As a reminder for myself, I've started adding the "average" unit cost to the names of items on our shopping list app.

[james.hendrickson]

Shop at Aldi

Aldi is only marginally cheaper than Costco, and sometimes the quality isn't that great. Plus, rumor has it they inject their meet with filler liquid.

[kork13]

I remembered another idea I use all the time -- ALWAYS shop the bargain bin! I get some incredible deals on day-old bread, butcher meat that's been frozen from the previous day, and yogurts that are approaching the "use by" dates... Often on the order of 50% off or more.

For example, we use plain greek yogurt all the time in making smoothies for a healthy, portable breakfast. We use a quart tub of yogurt in a week or two easily, and yogurt tends to last well beyond its "use by" date anyway. So when I saw tubs of it on sale in the bargain bin (fridge) for nearly 60% off because the "use by" date was 5 days away, I snatched it up with a grin...and was sorely tempted to buy two. But not knowing if you can freeze yogurt, I restrained myself. lol

[DaveInPgh]

Aldi is only marginally cheaper than Costco, and sometimes the quality isn't that great. Plus, rumor has it they inject their meet with filler liquid.

Never shopped at Costo. I have shopped at SAM's and was baffled why anyone would shop there. The prices were not impressive to me at all. Plus I have a family of 3 and really don't need to by food in bulk.

I have never had an issue with the quality of food at my Aldi stores. Out of about 7 or 8 cereals, my child disliked only one in which she likes the comparable national brand.

Eggs, milk, cheese, bread, butter, etc. etc., no stores in my area beat Aldi's prices. Ice cream & ice cream novelties are even better than many of the top brands.

As for meat, we eat very little of it at home. We buy chicken by the case from Weiss meats. What we purchase comes in individually sealed packs of about 1lb, so no repacking necessary for us to freeze.

[HundredK]

Use a shopping list! If I wander the store, I'll walk out with who knows what, and half of it I don't need. My wife & I use an auto-synch smartphone app that allows us to add/check off items from our grocery list. Works wonders for us, because it keeps us on track in the store, and it also helps us to not forget what we need -- as soon as we realize we need something, we can put it on the list (or return it to the list, since our app saves "completed" items).

I would recommend Google Keep for this. We have gone through so many apps for keeping our list, and I generally don't love google, but I have to admit, they got it right with the Keep app. Plus it's free.

[kork13]

I would recommend Google Keep for this. We have gone through so many apps for keeping our list, and I generally don't love google, but I have to admit, they got it right with the Keep app. Plus it's free.

Yep, we have used Google Keep (and my wife still does for other things), and currently use Wunderlist. Quite happy with both, though I prefer the functionality of Wunderlist somewhat.

[MonkeyMama]

Never presume anything.

Most our friends think we shop at the hoity toity grocery store (we do), BUT, over the years the other stores like Safeway have become crazy expensive in comparison. It amazes me how much people rely on appearances/advertising versus actually walking into a store and looking at prices. Or they just assume that pricing is the same as it was 10 years ago.

Along the same lines, my husband has done most the shopping for 13 years and keeps our grocery bill very low. I've been shopping with him for the past year or so, though I mostly feel useless. So I was amused one day when the premium meat was on sale for about half as much as the cheap meat we usually get. He hadn't noticed. I told him to "look up" if he wanted to pay half as much.

[DaveInPgh]

For those of you that fanatical about Girl Scout cookies, you can find these at Aldi. One website states they are $1.49/box compared to $5.00 for the box that provides a very small benefit to actual girl scouts.

I am not a fan of the cookies, but one mom I know swears that the Aldi thin mints are just as good.

[HundredK]

I am trying to think in terms of breaking every item down to the staples, because then you're not paying for fancy packaging and marketing and probably for a bunch of crappy ingredients you don't want anyway. For example:
-If I want seasoned rice, I use plain rice and spices that I bought in bulk
-Refried beans are easy with a can of pinto beans and a can of chiles
-You can easily make ground sausage with ground meat and spices
-I make bread with my breadmaker (and am soon going to experiment with making my own flour in my vitamix for it using bulk bought wheat berries)
-I use dried milk powder in baked goods in lieu of fresh milk - mostly can't tell any difference
-Toffee is super easy to make with just sugar and butter
-Make french fries out of potatoes
-Make stuffing out of bread (which is also homemade)

What I haven't figured out how to consistently buy cheaply is fresh produce that actually tastes good. The best I can come up with so far is to shop at the farmer's market and buy what's in season when shopping in regular grocery stores. I could eat cruddier produce, but there's a huge taste difference to me and it's not worth it. Bought some corn and green beans the other day from a discount store, and they were totally tasteless. Bleh.

[Claudia Bob]

When going to groceries, I always make it sure that I purchase only what is important. To save more, I also see to it that products or brands are within my budget before I buy.

[bjl584]

I do a lot of shopping at Aldi.

I also do meal prep, so I will cook in bulk. It's cheaper and healthier than eating out of a can or a box on a daily basis.

Certain things I buy in bulk as well. I go to Sam's Club for bulk items that won't spoil.

[scfr]

Buy more ingredients and fewer prepared items.
Look at dollars spent more than "percentage saved."

Buying a pound of sweet potatoes at "full price" is almost always a better deal than buying a bag of sweet potato fries with a $1 off coupon.