Lower your grocery bill with the right strategy

Hello! I trust you had a great weekend! So, I talked to a college friend of mine the other day. She has a family of four and her grocery bill is $150 per week. I can only imagine. My grocery bill could be lower too. I talked to Mama McNeal (who raised a family of four) about what my friend should do. Her advice? Shop strategically. Saving on groceries isn't so much about what you buy as HOW you buy. Here are my mom's tips:

1) Don't buy your goods at eye level on the grocery store shelves. The food that is above/below eye level is cheaper
2) Buy your meat in bulk and just freeze the unused portions
3) Buy fruits that are in season because they are cheaper
4) Don't buy bagged salad. Make it yourself
5 Use coupons. (Coupon's scare me, but Mom's a big fan.)
6) Wednesday or Thursday papers have the best weekend sales
7) Become a fan of buy one get one free items (I do that for my seasonings and bread.)
8) SHOP WITH A LIST
9) Plan your menu for the week before you go shopping
10) Don't take hungry children with you (I guess my brother and I drove her crazy at the store with the requests)

Here's another link I found about strategic grocery shopping.

What is your strategy for grocery shopping? How much do you think you save?

Comments

[savvy]

I have started planning my menu before I shop but that's because it makes it easier/quicker to cook during the workweek. I don't go out of my way to clip coupons but will use them if I come across them.

Grocery shopping is one area where I actually don't try too hard to save. I want to eat what I want, when I want, price be darned. If something I know we'll use is on sale, I will stock up but that's about as far as I go.

I've heard of people who have great success using The Grocery Game but I'm only shopping for two and I don't buy a lot of the foods that have coupons anyway.

[Lou Elliott Jones]

I saw something on TV earlier this year that said items go on sale in 12-week cycles. And I've found it's pretty much true for the stores in our part of Florida. I also coupon and the internet is a good place to start. If you have favorite products you cannot live without, sign up for their emails and give them some personal info. I live for Coffee-Mate's peppermint mocha which only comes out at this season. The coupon for a free bottle just saved $3.75 on the grocery bill and I have the stuff I love!!!

[Product Junkie Diva]

Clearly Mama McNeal should be blogging too! Love the tips.
PJD

[Lima]

Thanks for the tips, Mama McNeal!

I can commiserate with your friend. We have a family of 4 & my goal is $100/week, but somehow, with or without the kids & always with a list, I always end up spending $25-50 more... and that's with very few luxuries. I must add, however, that I make breakfast everyday, send a lunch to school & the little one & I eat lunch at home so we probably come out on top in the long run.

I use coupons, but only for things I normally buy. I heart BOGO! I think I need to start meal planning because I've heard it helps. I think, however, that's just what our average bill will be & probably not much I can do about it.

I will add that my favorite grocery store has their weekly flyer online as do a few other chains & that helps me plan before getting in the store.

[Coco]

Good tips. Saving money on groceries requires so much planning :-/ I'm bad with coupons (clip them then they litter my apt) and buying bulk (I live alone and can't plan far enough in advance to defrost) I do save by buying sale items and not shopping hungry.

[Natalie]

Coupons help -- but the list is the best tip!! Oh how I save money when I meal plan!!

[Tela]

I too make menus and use a grocery list, but before I make the list I take an inventory of what I already have. Just because it's on sale doesn't mean I need to buy it, I may already have it shelved or frozen.

[The Frugalista Files]

Savvy: Grocery shopping is a worthwhile indulgence!
PJD: Please, don't encourage Mama Mac!
Lima: Have you tried Aldi? I hear their food is way cheap.
Coco:Angst of the single woman!
Namesake: Now, I'm all excited about meal planning
Tela: I so agree. My biggest concern with coupons is that I rarely find my favorite product. Or, the size of the product is so large, it will go rotten before I can use it all!

[Work/Life Balancing Act]

I can't believe she spends only $150 a week. I can't get out of the grocery store for less than $250 a week for five of us. ( And I use coupons!)

[Vanessa]

The list has saved me. Every time I want to grab some random thing I stop myself because it's not on the list. And it's usually junk anyway

[AJA BROOKS]

I work part-time for SUBWAY, and I am asking everyone to take the SUBWAY CHALLENGE... eat a $5 foot long, every day, for one month...and your grocery bill will only be right at $150 !!
(That's if you fast breakfast, drink no coffee, and drink only water). Your wallet will be heavier, and you will lose about 5-6 lbs. !! Imagine how much money you will save every month eating at Subway and how much healthier you will be!

[Ellen]

I agree with your commenters here. A list is crucial! Make the list by starting with what you have, then use whatever's on sale for a great price. Plan a vegetarian meal now and then and a Clean Out the Refrigerator meal once a week to use up those leftovers. Keep track of prices so you know what a good deal is. And plan based on price per SERVING rather than price per pound.

[MirrorImage]

I get so I hate walking into the grocery store. I go about every two or three weeks, it's just me, and I always seem to walk out $100 lighter. UGH! I hate coupons, I hate planning ahead... My mood changes from day to day, I'm hopeless... LOL I do make a list though, but those vanilla cream oreos always seem to sneak in my cart any old way.

[GLM]

I do two things - I look at the sale circular and plan the meals for the week (or AT LEAST one thing that I can cook that will work for 3-4 meals) based on what's on sale, and then I make a list.

I'm also trying to cook and bake more, so I am trying to develop more options there, too.

[Kristen]

I could not agree more! That weekly menu plan makes it super-easy to know what is for dinner each night, but it also makes it easier to shop because we know what to get and do not get a lot of extras. We feed a family of 5 on about $125/week. We have gone mostly generic, buy meats in bulk, shop at Aldi when we can, etc. But the meal planning is the biggest thing!

[Geoff Russell]

Meat? Bulk meat? Since when is this frugal? As a vegan, I could road freight my food overland from
Southern Spain (to Australia!) and still have a smaller greenhouse-food footprint than a person who raised a cow in their backyard and slaughtered
it in the garage.