How Others Save When Shopping

[pennypinch]

I just read an article where this reporter went to a grocery store and asked random shoppers how they go about saving money shopping and on food. Here is what a few of them had to say.

Taisha says she likes to use coupons and search the ads for the best deals. She had just finished taking advantage of Fry’s Buy 8 Items Save $4 deal.

Toni also likes to use coupons and takes advantage of the shoppers card discounts at both Fry’s and Safeway. She says without using them you will notice a sizeable difference in savings if you weren’t to use them at all.

And Jamiaya says she likes to buy generic. She says she can’t even tell the difference in taste between the store brand items and the major brand label items. She feels you are paying more for the name, than the actual product.

I'd have to say I agree with what all three of them had to say.

Coupons are a must. I always get the Sunday newspaper just for the coupons. The paper costs me $1.25 but I typically save at least $15 using the coupons.

Shoppers cards are the thing these days and they aren't going away. You may as well sign yourself up and start saving money!

Last but not least I buy generic as well. I refuse to pay more because of the characters on the box!

[moneysense]

I also tend to buy generic. As was previously stated, theres no difference in the taste of generic brands, what you pay for when buying name brands is just that, you are paying for a name.

I dont use many coupons as I usually leave home without them. But I do have a Kroger card that does save me some money. When I pay for my purchases they just swipe the card and the savings are automatic.

Dont ever go grocery shopping when you are hungry as you tend to buy stuff you dont really need. And will spend more money that you want.

I also stock up on the costlier items when they are on sale. For instance coffee, at our local store it costs $11.49 a can but if I buy it on sale it is only $5.99 per can so I buy several and it lasts us till the next time its on sale again.

And at those savings on coffee its almost like buy 1 get 1 free if you wait for the sales.

[beaston]

There's two things I have to disagree with on generic stuff. One being tea, the other, hamburger helper.

I don't know if you've tried the generic version of either, but when it comes to them, you get what you pay for....ick. At least that's the case with the generics that my store has.

One thing that I do when I'm out grocery shopping is to keep my cell phone handy with its calculator program going and keep a running total of everything that goes in the cart. Mainly, I do this because I have a limited food budget, but it also gives me a 'reality check' while I'm going through the isles. Plus, you're never in for a surprise at checkout and left wondering "how in the world did I spend that much..."

[moneysense]

Hey beason, great idea with the calculator. While I can pretty much judge how much I am spending while shopping, guess thats because Ive been doing it for so long, a lot of people do need the "reality" check you were talking about.

Our generic tea is really good. I get the can of instant tea with lemon added at Aldis and I really like it and the price sure is a lot cheaper than at other stores.

I also get my tea bags there and cannot taste any appreciable difference between it and the name brand that I used to buy for more.

And depending on where you get the hamburger helper, some tastes just like the name brand while others, I have noticed, leave a lot to be desired as the pasta in them just doesnt seem to cook up right.

[DynoDollar]

My wife and I use to not worry about saving in the grocery store (well, I'm always looking for some kind of savings, it's how I was brought up and I've lived through hard times before), but now we hold on to cereal box coupons and my wife will go online to print-out coupons for savings.

After our once a month two hours of creative shopping, we can use nearly all the coupons on foods and items we need. We'll save from $30 to $50 on a $400+ shopping bill.

I didn't think much of it at first since the grocery bill is so high, but that much savings will nearly fill a car's gas tank and sometimes it does.

[dimetime]

I also am one who buys the generic brands of groceries. These taste just as good to me and saves me money.

I also plan my meals out a month in advance, including snacks and leave room for a few surprises. This way when I get to the store I know exactly what I am going to need and of course once I have my meals planned out I also look for coupons for those items I am going to need for further savings.

I also have reward cards at just about everywhere and this really does help you save money. There are even still some stores that offer double coupons which is also a nice deal. That can really help extend the grocery budget a bit more.

Another thing I refuse to do when grocery shopping is to travel to 10 different stores to save .10, to me that is a waste and you will burn up more than that in gas. I try to do all of my shopping in stores that are really close together instead of driving all over town.

I haven't started printing coupons from online, though this is something I probably should. I would save a lot more money.

Anyone know where there are some good sites to print coupons for common household items as well as grocery items??

[2cents]

I love the calculator idea! Will have to try it the next time I go shopping!

While we don't plan our meals a month in advance, we do plot it out for the week. With three little ones, we seem to go through gallon after gallon of milk (including Dude and I, we go through about 6 gallons a week. And my kids are all under the age of three!!). Needless to say, we are non-discriminatory when it comes to who has milk on sale. Pharmacy? Ok. Gas station? You bet. We drink it fast enough that I don't have to worry about an expiration date.

Another big tip we found? Shop at international markets!!! The meat is fantastic and a fraction of the price and the produce is really good. We tend to do two grocery runs--one at the international grocery store for all of the perishable items and one at the chain grocery store for the boxed stuff. I can't tell you how much money this has saved, and it has opened our eyes and stomachs to a whole host of new fruits, vegetables, recipes (there's always some kind of sample being prepared), and ways of shopping. True, it is a different experience than some are used to; it does smell a bit more like "food" (and I'll be honest, this completely turned me off at first, especially since I'm so used to bright, well ventilated areas).

[beaston]

Great ideas When you mentioned meat, that reminded me about this: I found that ground turkey is not only healthier for you and has less fat than ground beef, but you can get the 93/7 ground turkey for at least half of what 93/7 (or comparable) ground beef would cost you. And the best part is that the taste really isn't that much different. I know that when I use it with hamburger helper, I can't taste the difference at all... For reference, the store I go to usually has ground turkey on sale for about $2 a pound or less if you get the family pack which is 3lbs worth.. I got about 12 pounds of it like 3 months ago and stuck it in the freezer....I'm almost finished with it all, and the last batch I used tasted just the same as if I bought it that day...

[pennypinch]

I just read an article about a woman who orders her groceries on the internet from her local grocery store and has them delivered. She says the money that she saves this way is pretty good.

She says the store that she uses also excepts electronic coupons so basically she can probably find a coupon on the internet for just about everything that she orders!

She says the store keeps a past history grocery list so that she doesn't have to do a whole new list everytime. She also says that if she orders a certain amount of items her delivery is free!

I would probably save money by having food delivered because I wouldn't be walking up and down the grocery aisles being tempted by everything!

The store she uses is called Safeway. I wonder if any of my local grocery stores offer delivery.

[beaston]

Nice...but I found out that they don't deliver in my area, yet..

You can check via their website, here: http://shop.safeway.com/superstore/sixframeset.asp

Just enter your zip code and click on "Browse the site." If home delivery isn't available for you, they have a form that you can fill out and they'll send you an email once they start delivering in your area...