There are so many excellent ways to save at the
grocery store! One of the obvious ones would be clipping
manufacturers coupons and taking them to stores that double or triple
them. This is probably one of the greatest ways to save money
on name brand items. Throwing a coupon away for something you will
buy anyway is like throwing away money. Be sure you use a
store that will double or triple the item. Many times, manufacturers will run
their ads deliberately simultaneously with a promotional sale, which makes the savings all the
greater.
Yes, coupon clipping is time consuming and it
helps a lot if you have a system to organize them. However, the
savings really can be great . There are a lot of other ways to save
too!
Deli Ham just got
cheaper!
This is one of my favorite
tips. I find very few people take advantage of this one, and it's so
easy. Find a grocery store that offers free slicing of
meats. Many of the regular grocery stores, not the super stores,
offer this. The next thing is to wait for boneless ham to go
on sale, which it does frequently. You can have an entire boneless
ham thin sliced or chipped and walk away from the meat department with a
bag full of deli ham for $1 to 1.50/lb. versus the over $4.00/lb.
you would pay for the same ham a few steps over at the deli
department!
Now, I have four kids that take packed
lunches to school everyday and I simply split up the ham into
freezer bags and defrost as needed. If you find this is too
much sliced ham for you, ask the meat department to cut half the ham
into ham steaks or leave half to bake. You get the
idea. We do this all the time and it's truly an amazing
savings.
If you can't find a
store that slices, consider purchasing a meat/food slicer for your
home. If you frequently do this, it will definitely pay for
itself. More
Meat and Fish Savings!
Store Brands
This one may
seem obvious too, but it's amazing how many people purchase name brand
items because they believe the off brand or store brands are not of
equivalent quality. The truth is most are made either by a
major label manufacturer or a smaller plant that specializes in that
particular product producing a high quality product. If you
compare the prices of even one little item, such as a 2 liter bottle
of Sam's Choice Twist Up at Wal-mart at 68 cents and
compare that to the same 2 liters of Sprite at somewhere around
$1.30, you can see how this can add up.
Most large grocery stores and
super stores will have quality store brands in almost everything and the
value versus the name brand competitor is outstanding. If you don't
have a coupon that is knocking the price of an item below even the store
brand version's price, this is the best way to get your dollar to stretch
farther in the grocery store.
Stock Up
When you see a really
good clearance or sale item, stock up as much as possible. This is
especially true for non-perishables. If you know it's an
outstanding deal, and you know it will eventually be consumed, then stock
up. Food prices are only going up. Many times a clearance of
non-perishables will simply be because the manufacturer is changing the
look of their label or, perhaps, the store is phasing out that particular
product. Sometimes it's just a rare find sale. Regardless,
this is the time to make room in your food pantry and stock
up.
This photo, taken
in our family pantry, represents about half of the Campbells Chunky
Clam Chowder we purchased last summer for a mere 50 cents a can at
our local grocery store. Finds like this are always fun to
find. If you keep your eyes open, you can find them. We
only have two grocery stores in our small town, if we can find these kind
of deals, surely anybody can!
This is one of my favorite
tips. I find very few people take advantage of this one, and it's so
easy. Find a grocery store that offers free slicing of
meats. Many of the regular grocery stores, not the super stores,
offer this. The next thing is to wait for boneless ham to go
on sale, which it does frequently. You can have an entire boneless
ham thin sliced or chipped and walk away from the meat department with a
bag full of deli ham for $1 to 1.50/lb. versus the over $4.00/lb.
you would pay for the same ham a few steps over at the deli
department!
get the
idea. We do this all the time and it's truly an amazing
savings.
This one may
seem obvious too, but it's amazing how many people purchase name brand
items because they believe the off brand or store brands are not of
equivalent quality. The truth is most are made either by a
major label manufacturer or a smaller plant that specializes in that
particular product producing a high quality product. If you
compare the prices of even one little item, such as a 2 liter bottle
of Sam's Choice Twist Up at Wal-mart at 68 cents and
compare that to the same 2 liters of Sprite at somewhere around
$1.30, you can see how this can add up.
This photo, taken
in our family pantry, represents about half of the Campbells Chunky
Clam Chowder we purchased last summer for a mere 50 cents a can at
our local grocery store. Finds like this are always fun to
find. If you keep your eyes open, you can find them. We
only have two grocery stores in our small town, if we can find these kind
of deals, surely anybody can!