OT: 's grocery shopping tips

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Hi everyone,Here's a response to questions I got about my grocery shopping (I shaved about $150 off what I usually spend last month):1. Make a budget and stick to it.2. Make a shopping list and stick to it.3. Plan a menu in advance and make a list of the ingredients you'll need for anything you're eating that week (I did 2 weeks in advance earlier this month, wild for me). I am working hard to use a lot of the stuff that is already in my freezer, fridge and cupboards so I menu plan with those things in mind. I found a couple of cool websites that will let you put in ingredients you have and it will give you recipes based on those items (can't remember what they are but I pinned them to my "adventures in cooking" board on pinterest for those that are on pinterest). Just

using what I already have saved me a lot of money and used up stuff that had just been sitting.4. Buy only what you need and not what you want. Example: I love flatout bread but it is $3.50 a package. I decided I can live without flatout. If it goes on sale I might buy a package but I doubt it. We need flour (I make my own bread in a bread machine), I don't need flatout and I don't feel deprived either. If I was miserable without it, I'd find a way to work it into my budget. If something is hugely on sale too, I might buy more than I need, as long as I know it will be used. For example, I planned to buy 1 or 2 packages of Jennie-O lean ground turkey a few weeks ago. Aldi had tons of it marked down from $3.49 to $1.25!!! We love ground turkey so I bought 8 packs and wish I would have bought more but I was afraid to spend too much. These packs were close to their expiration date but as long as you throw it in the freezer, it is fine.5.

Check the store fliers (that come in Sunday newspapers) for deals and plan menus around those items. Also use the store fliers to find deals on other things you need and buy them on sale.6. I use coupons but I'm very picky about what I buy (as in, I don't buy it just because I have a coupon for it). I also don't use coupons that force me to buy more than 1 of an item to get 20 cents off them if I don't actually want or need more than 1. 7. I'm waiting for sales on things as often as I can, and then if I have coupons I use the coupons on top of the sales. www.couponmom.com is a free site that tells you what items are on sale and/or have coupons associated with them at many stores nationwide (U.S.). I use that to help plan my shopping. 8. I've started making a price book where I keep track of the best prices I see on the items I buy regularly. I can use it to

recognize when something really is a good deal and not just because the store flier says it is. When I see something at a really good price I buy more of it than I need at that moment (but sticking to my budget too) and store it but I don't do tons of whatever because i don't want to store a year's supply of toothpaste (for example) at one time (it would bust my budget too). If that works for you though, it might be good. There are lots of free printable price books on the internet and at least one I found that is a downloadable spreadsheet. Again, I have links to these on my pinterest boards, these would be on the "saving money" board. It is a bit time-consuming to put a price book together but it is so worth it. I walked around Costco one day just writing down prices of items I was thinking of buying there then compared them to some of the store fliers I had and the prices I'd already written down and was surprised to see that I could get great prices

on eggs & cheese but that their meat was more expensive (comparing price per pound or ounce). It was very good to know!9. Buy store brands whenever possible. I am only attached to a couple of brand name products (it has to be Heinz ketchup for me and my family will not tolerate generic pancake syrup, for example). Most of the store brands are equivalent in quality to the brand names but at a much lower price.10. Shop at less expensive grocery stores. We have an Aldi and a Walmart near where I work on Saturdays so right after work, I go first to Aldi and get anything I can there (check out www.aldi.com to get an idea why it is so inexpensive to shop there, their store brand stuff is great too) and anything they don't carry (like Heinz ketchup) I get at Walmart. I know some people have problems with Walmart for various reasons and it isn't my favorite place to shop either but when

you don't have much income to dispose of it works. I only go to the expensive stores (like Kroger, I don't care how much they say their prices are low, they aren't except sometimes on sales) when there is an item I want that is on sale for less than I can get anywhere else (and comparing the prices in the store fliers and in my price book tells me when to go there).11. Going along with #9, don't stick with one store if you can help it. I actually have a Saturday circuit I take as needed: Aldi first, then Walmart, across the street is Meijer which is usually slightly higher than Walmart but not terrible and if I can't find something I really need at Walmart I'll go there and then Dollar Tree. 12. Shop dollar stores. Dollar Tree is the BEST, everything in it truly is $1 except their greeting cards are 50 cents. Dollar General (and other "dollar" stores) is often higher priced than Walmart! I mostly get shampoo and soap and other

cleaners there. Don't buy medicines there, I've read they can be imported from countries without our safety standards. I also get some school/office supplies, some food (especially candy for our weekly family night and other snacks) and miscellaneous other things. Make sure you have a LIST and a budget when you go into a dollar store. It is SO easy to get sucked into buying tons of stuff you didn't intend to buy because it is "only $1" and so cute or cool or whatever. Those "only $1" items add up fast!13. Shop as little as possible. My family knows that if it isn't on the list, it won't be bought until I go grocery shopping again next week. I go once a week and am trying to cut that down further except for milk and produce. The more you go into stores the more likely you are to buy things you don't need.14. There's a website I read about called "The Grocery Game" that helps you not only match up coupons & sales but also tells

you which store has the best price that week (so you don't have to dig through the fliers yourself, which is time-consuming but worthwhile if you don't have a resource like this). I think it costs $5 a week to subscribe but it sounds like it could be worthwhile. They don't have Michigan stores yet so I haven't looked too far into it but it looks very interesting. www.grocerygame.com. I think they're mostly in the western U.S. right now but adding more states.I think that's it for now. If I think of anything else I'll post it and if anyone else has good idea, I'd love to hear them.