Hasn’t the price of groceries just astounded you lately? I know I’ve been shocked. Everytime I go in there to get groceries, I come out with a little bit of stuff and it’s at least $40-50 just about every trip. We used to take for granted that bread, milk and eggs were staples that most could afford to have around all the time, but even those items are getting out of sight! The state of our economy is pretty alarming to me, so I thought it would be fun to share some grocery tips with each other. How do you save money on groceries each week? Do you have any great ideas on buying groceries and keeping the costs down?
It definitely pays to shop around. This chili mix that we love is $1.00 cheaper at Walmart than it is at Publix. That adds up!
I used to be pretty good about clipping coupons, but have gotten out of the habit in the last few years, as I have gone to using store brands for so many items now, that cutting coupons for national products just doesn’t seem to be such a great deal anymore. Now, I still buy some name brand products, but I try to buy them on sale. For instance, our main grocery store here in B’ham is Publix. I love this store and have been shopping with them ever since they came to Atlanta in the early 90’s. Great store, great service and the products are wonderful. So, that’s my favorite grocery store to shop in. Unfortunately, their prices are not the lowest all the time and their meat prices are definitely not that great. So, I shop them for weekly specials and meat specials and go to other stores, like Bruno’s and Winn-Dixie to stock up on meat buys for the most part. Wish we had Kroger here, as in Atlanta they have to compete with Publix prices.
I do buy a lot of Publix store brands, whenever I can and I can honestly say their store brands are excellent. Everything from milk, bread, frozen foods, crackers, and even that cheese ravioli you see above. Good stuff! So, that’s one of my ways to save money. Buy store brands whenever possible. 
Frozen veggies
Their milk is fine too, but I will get milk on sale sometimes at Walgreens when they put the local dairy milk, Barber’s, on sale, so I will try to pick it up on sale whenever possible. At over $4.00 a gallon, you have to look at saving money wherever you can, even on milk! Who would have thought we would be paying that much for milk?? It’s crazy!
My hubby likes 1/2 and 1/2 for his coffee, so we get that at Publix too. Now, I do shop at Walmart the rest of the time for staple items, like canned goods, name brand crackers or cheese, paper products, cleaning products, soft drinks, etc. I will pick up a lot of items there and then fill in with Publix specials each week. I look at the weekly grocery sale papers when they come out each Wednesday and make note of meat specials first.
For instance, this week, Publix had sweet potatoes for 49 cents a pound, so I bought some of those. We love sweet potatoes, but when they are about $1.00 a pound, I usually pass on them. Asparagus is another favorite, but I will only buy it on sale too. I think it’s coming in season now, so we should be able to get it reasonably priced for the next few weeks. This week it was $1.99 on sale. I won’t pay $4.00 a lb. for asparagus. I try to work my cooking around what is in season for fresh veggies and fruits. Then stock up on things then. And during the winter, we eat mostly frozen veggies.
Their milk is fine too, but I will get milk on sale sometimes at Walgreens when they put the local dairy milk, Barber’s, on sale, so I will try to pick it up on sale whenever possible. At over $4.00 a gallon, you have to look at saving money wherever you can, even on milk! Who would have thought we would be paying that much for milk?? It’s crazy!
My hubby likes 1/2 and 1/2 for his coffee, so we get that at Publix too. Now, I do shop at Walmart the rest of the time for staple items, like canned goods, name brand crackers or cheese, paper products, cleaning products, soft drinks, etc. I will pick up a lot of items there and then fill in with Publix specials each week. I look at the weekly grocery sale papers when they come out each Wednesday and make note of meat specials first.
For instance, this week, Publix had sweet potatoes for 49 cents a pound, so I bought some of those. We love sweet potatoes, but when they are about $1.00 a pound, I usually pass on them. Asparagus is another favorite, but I will only buy it on sale too. I think it’s coming in season now, so we should be able to get it reasonably priced for the next few weeks. This week it was $1.99 on sale. I won’t pay $4.00 a lb. for asparagus. I try to work my cooking around what is in season for fresh veggies and fruits. Then stock up on things then. And during the winter, we eat mostly frozen veggies. Publix has a lot of items each week, Buy One Get One, so I definitely go for those items that I need when those BOGO’s run. For instance, I was almost out of mayo and they were running BOGO on Kraft mayo, so I got a new one and saved 1/2 that way. That’s how I do most of my shopping at Publix, buying the specials for the most part and then supplementing from Walmart, since they are cheaper overall on everything else. This week they had Kelloggs Raisin Bran BOGO (usually 2 for $4.00 or less), so I stock up on those sales, but otherwise, I’ll buy Publix Raisin Bran which isn’t bad at regular price ($2.69 for 25 oz).
I cook from scratch for the most part and don’t buy a lot of boxed items. The only exception is I keep canned soup (Progresso) around in the pantry for something quick to eat, as well as rice packets and sometimes ravioli, like I showed above. Other than that, I’m a from-scratch cook. What about you? I think buying boxed foods is so much more expensive from what I can tell.
So, what do you do to save money on groceries? This is a topic that many of us are concerned about right now, with the price of everything going up so drastically. We have to do what we can to keep those costs down, but we gotta eat too! Let’s all share ways that we save money on food….chime in, please! Do you all still clip coupons? Let’s hear from you!
My parents are coming today, so I’m going to enjoy a few days with them. Here’s hoping the weather cooperates and we can get outside for a project.
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Well now that spring is here I plan to grow a lot more of my own and can and freeze. Right now we are planting potatoes. Twice as many as last year. I am growing more tomatoes so I can freeze those. Perfect for chili and stews. I will be growing corn and green beans to freeze. We let the green beans grow up the corn to save space. You would be amazed at what you can plant in a small space if you really plan it out and nothing tastes better than FRESH produce. All of my climbing veggies will grow up the fence that surrounds the garden so they won’t take up any space. Like cucumbers, squash, peas….You can grow lots in 5 gallon pots too. Just make sure you poke a whole in the bottom.
xoxo
Diane