Save money at the grocery store

Food is where we spend a TON of money. Especially if you have big eaters in your home. I found one of the best ways to curb the over eating and therefore save money is to eat at the dinner table. At the table you can either have serving bowls and people will see how much food there is to go around and eat their share first before going back for seconds or you can fix everyone's plates and no one is dishing out more then they need that will most likely go in the trash.

When I grocery shop on a budget I ALWAYS make a list and eat some crackers before going to the store. People always buy more than they need when they shop hungry. I also pull out my notepad and plan the meals for the week. That way I can see what we have and use it before buying more things to cook.

Next you need to look at the weekly grocery store ads and any coupons you might have. This can now be done online also to save you time and the cost of the paper. One of the most important things about saving money at the grocery store is to forget brand recognition. I can tell you that Kroger store brand cereal is made by General Mills. Most store brands are made by large brand companies. I know this two ways, one I worked for Kroger before, and two I was a truck driver for awhile and picked up those store brands from the large companies.

This doesn't mean you need to switch to all store brand but you need to understand it's an option. When it comes to coupons the paper is not your only source. There are many places on the internet that offer coupons or you can go straight to the product page of the coupon that you want. If they don't have a coupon listed know that you can sometimes send them a message or comment and they in appreciation will send you a coupon. Also don't use all your coupons at once. Only use the ones you need and hold on to the others. Then you can save more if the things go on sale. If not then you can still use them before they expire.

Also know that you can stack coupons. I know you're thinking what the heck is she talking about! Stacking coupons is where you use the manufacturer's coupon, like the one's in the paper and online, then you also use a store coupon for the same product. You can do this because it says only one "store" or one "manufacturers" coupon. It doesn't say you can't use these coupons together. If you are truly gifted you can learn how to do extreme couponing also but I don't have the funds to start that at this moment.

On an average week with a family of four I can spend as little as $30 for all my groceries but I also stock pile sale items. If you have the resources I advice everyone to buy a deep freezer.See if I budget $75 a week for groceries and then spend $30 that means I still have $45 to go into my stockpile. This is great for when they have big sales on meat and frozen veggies because all those things you buy now on sale means your budget will be better another week when you might not have enough money for extra groceries.

There are other great resources out there to lower your food costs but I'll put that in the next post.