Saving Money - Food Shopping

Knowledge is power when it comes to saving money when you are grocery shopping.  The key is to know what a good price is for the items you buy on a regular basis and then buying it (and hopefully one or more extra) when you see a good sale price.  If the item is a name brand item you can find coupons for that item and combine them with a sale for extra spending power.  There are many sites that will match up coupons and sale prices for you for FREE and a good many more that will do it for a charge.  Some free sites are:  Pinching Your Pennies, A Full Cup, Bargain Blessings, Denver Bargains, and Coupon Mom.

Some basics for knowing a good price point:  Meats should be under $2/pound, Fruits/Veggies under $1/pound.  Go through your receipts and add items into a price book for yourself as you purchase items.  Find out what Costco, Sam's Club or Wal*Mart sell these items for (these are often the lowest non-sale prices) and then buy up when you see an item go lower.

Tips You Probably Know:
- Check for "reduced for quick sale" items when you're shopping.  Even the club/warehouse stores have them!
- Look at the price per ounce when you compare brands and packaging.  It is not always the bigger package or the store brand that is the cheapest.
- Don't shop when you're hungry or distracted by a cartful of kids (when possible!).  You'll buy more, forget something, and not stick to your plan which costs you more money.
- Buy in bulk and then separate and store in more usable portions.  This goes for anything from chicken, to chips, to cheese that you can grate yourself, to frozen veggies and pesto sauce, etc.

Tips You May Not Know:
- Albertson's (haven't checked this since ours were bought out) used to discount their "ground fresh daily" beef each evening to half price at a certain time.  Check with your butcher to see if your store participates.
- King Soopers sells "B" grade eggs for a cheaper price by the dozen than their regular eggs.  These are the eggs that were repackaged from egg packages that had a broken egg.  Rather than toss the batch, they make a dozen from the whole eggs from many packages.  You may get a mix of medium, x-large, brown, cage-free.  On a week where eggs are selling for $1 or less this isn't the best deal, but in a regular week it's your best bet.
- Not all bakery clearance items are the same.  Wal*Mart's aren't even half off.  King Soopers and Albertson's almost always are.  Find out where your clearance racks are in your store.  I can't beat King Soopers for a quick loaf of bread, flowers and a pie or brownies for a sick friend (all available in the discounted section).  My King Soopers also keeps a section of their cooler for discounted dairy items - I've been able to find some nice deals on milk - even organic - and yogurt, and half-and-half.
- Hands down the cheapest way to buy food is to buy is in bulk.  Did you know Sunflower Market and Natural Grocers have a bulk section?  I've not found a cheaper place than NG to buy my spices and dried veggies for rice mixes.  And if you really *need* chocolate covered pretzels SM's price beats a package at Wal*Mart by a lot!
- Get friendly with the Dollar Tree!  Pretzels are cheaper there than anywhere else, a balloon for a friend's birthday is far less than half what you pay at the grocery store, jarred red peppers are $1, as are glass sundae cups for a fun family night tradition!  If you choose not to make your own cleaners they also have toilet bowl cleaner and an all-purpose cleaner called The Works that is supposed to work really well.  Even their pregnancy are known to be accurate and a great buy.  I buy my toilet brushes and shower curtain liners there.  They also have paint trays, rollers and tape for less than anywhere I've seen.
- Food co-ops are also often a good deal.  I use one called Bountiful Baskets that sells you a basket full of fruits and veggies for $15.  The cost for an organic basket is $25.  They also offer "extras"  when they can find them like large boxes of tomatoes, peaches, apricots and other seasonal offerings.  They offer packs of bread, granola and other goodies as well for a competitive price.