10 Ways To Save Significant Money On Your Food Bill

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

10 Ways To Save Significant Money On Your Food Bill
(posted with permission of the author, from: http://sane-ramblings.blogspot.com/2011/03/what-you-can-do-about-rising-cost-of.html)

In March, the U.S. Labor Department stated February wholesale food prices made their sharpest jump since 1974. Measured in U.S. dollars, corn costs three times what it did a year ago and soybeans, wheat, rice and other staples are skyrocketing as well. Farm animals are also fed these grains which means the cost of meat and milk is shooting up too.

Grocery prices in general are rising for truckers must pay more for gas to distribute to stores the goods you buy and farmers pay more for gas and for oil products that kill the bugs that attack their crops. What can you do to cut your food bill?

1) Use coupons. Those printed in your newspaper and those online you can print. Some stores also issue their own coupons which allow you to get double the manufacturers' coupon discounts

2) Join store "rewards clubs." Like frequent flier airline clubs, most stores charge nothing to join and they reward their good customers with special discount coupons sent to their homes. These "clubs" can save you a lot of money.

3) Comparatively shop. Stores aggressively compete to lure you in by running big ads in newspapers offering "unbeatable" discounts on particular products. Read the ads each week and when you're in the stores, look for "manager's specials" as well. if you have a Wal-Mart near you, the price competition will be especially stiff.

4) Paper shopping bags cost stores 5 cents each and many will give you 5 cents for each one you bring in to bag your groceries. Or if you bring in small cloth reusable bags, they will give you 5 cents for each of those bags you use. 10 bags is 50 cents refunded to you. In addition, recycling bottles pays 5 or 10 cents a bottle and it's convenient to recycle them when you shop.

5) Your local mom and pop store. We have one near us and because the owners know us, they discount most of what we buy and they do the same for other good customers. We pay less for some products than the big stores sell them for.

6) Dollar Stores. They offer incredible deals. Near us are 99 Cents Only stores. They buy manufacturers and farmers overages and closeouts in huge quantities and sharply discount them. Most household name brands wind up on their shelves, as does fresh quality produce.

7) Consumer Club Stores. This is Sam's Club, Costco, etc. Great discounts but they often sell you giant size portions.

8) Shop grocery co-ops if they exist in your area. This is where neighbors have gotten together to buy in huge quantities the items most in demand among themselves. Big price savings if you can use what they have.

9) Grow some of your own fruits and vegetables. This was common practice during World War ll. In the Los Angeles area where I live, some schools and some neighbors even grow community vegetable gardens. And farmer's markets are held weekly in which farmers load their trucks with fresh produce and drive from 50 to hundreds of miles to sell to the public at very attractive prices for there are no middlemen involved.

10) Food Banks. Generous donors want you to have this food and it's free. In the U.S. 1 in 11 people now go to food banks for all or part of their groceries.

These are tough times but by taking these suggestions, you can save significant money on your food bill.

[mrcheerful]

1. Then you have the real world where most Americans find themselves

1) they can't afford to drive around town looking for deals on food, if they did that their driving costs burn up not only the money they save but also every dime that didn't go into bills

2) a lot of American's are on a fixed income so they buy their food once a month and not weekly so they tend to buy can goods because fresh produce won't last more then a few days, unless they can their own veggies, but thats time consuming as well as making a increase in your cooking fuel

3) food banks are a hit/miss adventure, often people end up with more food stuffs they can't use then foods they can use because the people who donate food to the food banks seem to donate dietary crap like sugar free chocolate, I once got 3 cases of dietary chocolate weight watchers candy from a food bank, I ate it when hunger pains forced me to

4) growing your own garden is a lot of work and consumes time, even a small garden, the ground needs to be prepared for seeds, then you have to weed and water while the seeds grow and during times when local water supplies are short you have to stop watering lawns and gardens to save on water, then there is the cost of seed as well as fertilizers, pest control, weeds can be taken out by hand but again it is time consuming as well as back breaking work

5) places like Sam's club refuse to give out membership to certain members of the population and it cost money to buy a membership, the Sam's club here charges $50 a year for membership

6) hit pieces like this are BS because the only ones that can use these measures are those who don't need to really save on food nor are they faced with having to buy their food by the month, 1930 practices won't solve 2011 problems not to mention that farmer markets in a lot of places won't accept food stamps, those who really have a food problem find the best way to save on food cost do so by skipping meals, they eat once a day instead of 3 times a day and towards the end of the month they have days where they eat every other day

[WinkyDink]

3. I agree, and save with coupons and sales. BUT: To get coupons, one must either buy a newspaper or

own a computer and a printer.

[LynneSin]

6. Know where your local coffee shop is - usually they have the paper out there

and can grab the coupons

[mrcheerful]

8. If you have a local coffee shop that is and they don't have a do not tear up newspaper for

coupons policies or if they provide a news paper in the first place. There lies another problem, a local practice doesn't make it a national practice.

[GoCubsGo]

12. Or, one can just buy a paper.

The savings from the coupons usually pay for it many times over, especially when you have stores that double the coupons.

[kelly1mm]

15. Coupons can work for many - even to the point of making money

for shoppers. I do it as a side job/hobby. What you do is get as much stuff as you can for free/super cheap and sell it at a yard sale once or twice a year. I end up making $500-$700 per ard sale twice a year selling stuff I stockpile.

Since my stores have gas points, I also paid $236 for 570 gallons of gas last year. After all was said and done, last year I spent $1177 for all food, gas for all cars, paper products, drugstore items, and cat food for two adults and two cats.

Looking at it another way, that's less than $2.10 for the gas and everything else for free!

The key is to get lots of coupons. Ebay has them in lots of 20 for $.99 all the time. You can also sell small, light items on ebay. Just one example - I got 80 packets of old el paso taco seasoning packets a few months back. After coupons and gas points my cost for 80 was -$8.80. I sold them on ebay in sets of 20 and made (after fees) $10.20 per set for a $49 total profit.

[demwing]

19. Not everyone has the space for a garden

but to say a garden can't save you money is just WRONG. You may have to invest a little time, but that time is VERY short. And to complain about the cost of seeds? Truly? That's a concern? I can get a packet of Tomato seeds for less than $2. Add time, dirt, water and sun, and I'll have SEVERAL POUNDS of tomatoes. Right now, 1 pound of tomatoes costs $3 in our neighborhood store. You do the math.

Potatoes, carrots, and zucchini are other good examples. EASY to grow, low maintenance, and a great return on whatever limited invested you make. You don't even need a garden to grow potatoes, just some dirt and an old barrel or similar container.


Like ANYTHING, a garden requires an investment of resources. But the ROI is healthy (and so is growing your own fresh food!).

[mrcheerful]

22. How is it wrong? Sure seeds can be bought cheap but not with food stamps

then you run into the problem of "if" the seeds you plant grow into plants that produce usable veggies, that is if bugs or drought don't get them first, then there is the time factor of getting to harvest, you don't plant seeds and a week later you have a crop, plants take months to mature enough to produce veggies and you have to take care of those plants daily. So in another words you just spent $2 on seeds, waited all summer for those seeds to grow into plants and hope that you will have pounds of tomatoes by winter.

So how is that saving any money when you have to eat today and the seeds aren't even in the ground yet and still at least 5 months from having any usable tomatoes? Even if you have a few pounds of tomatoes in 5 months, unless you can them they will rot in a few days after picking them, so now you have more time to waste perping the tomatoes, cooking the tomatoes, then heating up water to can the tomatoes so there goes more money into your cooking fuel bill. Oh yeah don't forget that even if you do have jars for canning you still have to buy lids and bands for the lids ever time you can veggies. Then you have to have space to store canned goods, which can be 500 plus jars.

How is any of this going to help save money, growing your own garden is far more costly then it is to buy a can of veggies from the store. Why do I know this? because I grew up in a family that did grow their own veggies as well as having up to 500 chickens every summer, which gave us eggs after 4 months but reality is we had to eat every day while waiting for and spending money on what we grew and raised which meant in the long run it took more money to do it that way instead of just buying it from the super market. Oh btw, my parents small garden was 1/4th an acre and by January we were out of everything we grew and raised all summer so that meant we had to buy from the super market until the following fall.

So there is no way a garden is an answer to food shortage or saving money in the long run. The best way to save money is buying canned goods on sale and stocking up when you can or buying the freezer type veggies if you have a freezer big enough. Same goes for meat, buy 1/2 a cow in the fall stick it in the freezer and no supermarket run ups in the winter. But again this only works if you can afford the costs which many poor people can't do. BTW, the chickens did have one bonus the garden didn't have, mom could sell the excess eggs which paid for a few things like car tires, shoes and school clothes. But I don't know of any cities that will let you have farm animals in your back yard.

[demwing]

24. Wrong again. Seeds can be bought with Food Stamps.

And though a garden isn't the only answer to food shortage, it does help. Also, the issue wasn't whether it was a time saver. It isn't. You trade time for money, and in the long run, you come out ahead.

When I lived in Utah I had a garden of about 100 square feet. Every year for 10 years, we grew tomatoes, potatoes, zucchini, and carrots. We also grew pumkins in time for Halloween, and spices. We never spent a dime on fertilizer, and we didn't can. We didn't grow enough to feed us all year, but we grew plenty. What we couldn't eat we gave away or traded with neighbors for other things, like fresh baked bread. Sometimes we traded with friends that did can, and got things like peaches and apples in return for our zucchini. It was also great to be outdoors working with plants, and eating what you grew yourself. Also, many people I knew kept chickens - in towns like Provo, which is a pretty large place (pop. 110,000+ )

It wasn't perfect, but it sure as hell didn't cost us MORE than buying the veggies. I know this for a fact because I bought the seeds, worked the garden and paid the bills.

[lynne]

25. I'm putting in the early stuff now - spinach, cabbage, lettuce -

- rake and compost your leaves in the fall for spring soil amendment. Don't forget to compost your vegetable and garden waste, too. We get horse manure free and let it sit a year. That gives us soil amendment and we then mulch with composted leaves.

Suggest you read the book "Square Foot Gardening" to learn how to get the most use out of your garden space. It's a real eye-opener and you do have to amend the soil but - with home composted amendments - its still free.

A little research will teach you how to harvest seeds from one year to the next, especially for heirloom plants. Even if you buy a pack of seeds, the cost for one pack that will give you dozens of plants is the same as two cans of green beans IF purchased on sale.

The first year is certainly the most labor intensive but the labor is all downhill from there providing you compost and use it to amend your soil and as mulch. I grow full size beef-steak tomato's on my deck in large discarded pots I get free from a local nursery. Same thing for green peppers and all my herbs.

I save a BUNCH during the summer months as compared to going to the local "Farmers Market" and I eat GREAT!

[lynne]

26. One other thing - WATER -

I keep barrels at the end of my downspouts and collect rain water for the garden. A bit of garden hose and some siphon action is all it takes to direct the water to the beds. We got the plastic barrels in the "too good to throw away" section of our dump. Whatever works, I say.

One year during a horrific drought I recycled "grey water" into my garden - washing machine rinse water and left over bath water from my kids. Had a hose hanging outside the bathroom window. When the kids were done with baths, I'd pull the hose inside and put it in the tub. Run out to the other end of the hose in the garden and give it a bit of siphon action and I'd water my plants.

[blueamy66]

29. Exactly.

We have 3 raised bed gardens and try to compost. It's all about the soil.

We try to grow veggies instead of buying them.

We had an awesome crop of artichokes last year!

[Shandris]

2. A few thoughts...

1. Always a good idea
2. Virtually impossible to afford to shop without anyway, even though it means they sell your information to advertisers.
3. Of course, to do this effectively you're going to be shopping at 3-7 different stores, and the 'incidental' impulses you pick up will equal a larger bill than if you had bought everything at one store
4. Yeah, this is good if they do it. Aldi's does this in Indiana, not sure who else may though.
5. I...have no clue whatsoever where this information comes from. While I prefer M&P shops when I can afford them, they ~average~ 40-50% higher PER ITEM with the exception of the ever-cheap poor man's meat, boiled ham. This may be a regional thing, maybe?
6. Also watch the dates on the items, many of these are nearing out-of-date a lot of times. Still a worthwhile suggestion, especially for powder-type things like drink mixes.
7. I've never found a need to save $2.00 over the next 6 months on 5 gallons of mayonnaise. On things that are even remotely close to 'normal' size, they average about the same to slightly higher. As I have no Costco here, I'm referring to Sam's.
8. Now this sounds like a neat idea, but I don't think I've ever heard of one.
9. This one is always good. My great grandmother did this up until the day she passed away.
10. Ehhh...around here at least, the food banks are nearly empty. Community-wide begging just to restock them for the people who REALLY need it. If you have money and are hitting food banks, you're part of the problem, not part of the solution imo.

I would add to the list factory shops if there are any in your area. For example, Red Gold Tomatoes is relatively close to where I live (as is Monsanto, talk about scary!). If you go to the factory, they'll sell you massive quantities of their products for pennies on the dollar.

[WinkyDink]

4. FYI: Aldi's is German-owned; non-union. Not that I've never shopped there, but in 20 years, it's

been 3 times, all lately. I like it for the German chocolate bars, mostly!

[RebelOne]

11. There is an Aldi's just down the road from me

The prices are fantastic, but all items are off brands that I have never heard of before. I bought some frozen items that I was not impressed with.

[LynneSin]

5. I'm a bit concerned about #10 on the list. If you don't need the food bank then don't use it

It's one thing to want to cut corners as much as possible but Food Banks should be used for those families who can't afford anything.

[Brigid]

7. Forgot one:

If you have teenage boys in the house, evict them immediately. My teenage nephew eats my sister and her husband out of house and home! :evilgrin:

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

14. I know what you mean..

Even worse, your teenage boy has 4 of his friends over during spring break. I came home to no milk, ice cream, waffles, goldfish crackers, iced tea, and other snacks I have not noticed yet. They are always hungry.
:hi:

[distantearlywarning]

9. We try hard not to eat processed foods, and cook from scratch most nights.

Unfortunately, nobody prints coupons for fresh meat and vegetables, only for Tuna Helper, soda, and chips.

But thanks for the advice anyway.

:shrug:

[SoCalDem]

10. Probably more and more people are doing this.. however..there is even more you can do

SoCalDem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Sun Oct-21-07 01:52 PM
Original message
Prepare your family for the hard times ahead. (Sadly, more relevant NOW)




I was asked to repost this.. so here it is.. :)

Prepare your family for the hard times ahead.


Posted by SoCalDem in General Discussion
Sat Mar 10th 2007, 08:06 AM

No one is immune from the hard landing ahead.

Even with a democratic congress, we will still have almost 2 years left of this mal-adminstration to screw things up even more than they have.

As a boomer, I have lived through many recessions, and they are no fun..

The mini-recession (was it really even a real recession) in the post-Clinton /early Bush years was NOTHING compared to what may be looming on the horizon.

Many people are in way over their heads and a few missed paychecks can send them right onto the streets.

We all think that our family budget is carved in stone and there's no room for "adjustments", but in most cases that's not entirely true.



Easy stuff first:

1. Learn to cook:

......a) Even with higher grocery prices, it's still cheaper (and better for you ) to cook , than to order in, nuke a frozen dinner, or use prepared mixes
......b) grow some fresh veggies if you have some yard space
......c) stock up on bargains at the store when you see them
......d) shop with a list, and stick to it
......e) buy store brands whenever possible
......f) use coupons if they are for things you already buy
......g) Cook several meals at the same time and package your own "frozen dinners" for the rest of the week


2. GET RID OF YOUR CREDIT CARDS

.......a) If you cannot pay them off, please consider filing bankruptcy (if you qualify, and can do it). The deck is stacked against consumers, and it's only going to get worse, folks. The sooner you get "out from under", the sooner you can start rebuilding your financial stability .
........b) Keep ONE credit card with the lowest interest rate possible, and use it once a month (to keep it active)..and pay it in full BEFORE the due date..(If you need to rent a car or reserve a hotel room, you will need a credit card to avoid paying a large cash deposit.
.........c) If your bank offers it, use the online bill-paying service. This eliminates the cost of writing/mailing checks, and it provides a detailed record of what (and where) you are spending your money. It saves on postage too and gas..and time.
........d) Ask your bank for a checking account that comes with over-draft protection (ours has $1k) so if you ever screw up, you will not be charged a bunch of bank fees...or keep a savings account where you have your checking, so you could transfer (online) between accounts.
.......e) Buy a shredder and USE IT. Shred all papers that have any identifying information on them.
.......f) Pay your bills EARLY and pay extra if you can.

3. Examine your "extras".

.......a) Do you really "need" that cell phone package? Are your calls on it, the yak-yak killing-time calls or is it truly for "emergencies" like people tell themselves? Could you get by with a prepaid cheapo-phone that "lives in the car", and a cheaper "frill-free" land line for the yak-yak calls? (People managed this way for over 100 years)
.......b) Cut the cable bill by going to the bare-bones package and have friends tape the HBO stuff for you.
.......c) Take your lunch to work. Even $4-5 a day ends up being close to a Benjamin a month.
.......d) Send kids to school with a lunch too, It's better for them than what they get in the cafeteria. let them make their own, and they might accept it more.
........e) Shop the sales at upscale department stores, and you can often find better clothing/accessories than at Walmart/KMart/Target..and there is no stigma for shopping at resale shops/flea markets/yard sales.
.......f) PAY OFF YOUR VEHICLES (if you can) and figure out exactly what those extra cars are costing you. You have to consider insurance, gasoline, repairs, tires, finance charges.. the whole enchilada
.......g) Take a hard look at the secondary income job (usually the wife's). What are you actually getting to KEEP from that job, after the daycare costs, lunches at work, extra car expenses, extra costs associated with the job, and any income tax implications. Now figure out if it's actually worth the trouble. remember that you only get to spend what's left over, and often that part-time job ends up costing the family money in the long run.
......h) Start saying "We cannot afford that" to your kids. SHOW them the family budget and make them a part of the financial team.
......i) Cancel magazine subscriptions.. (Most probably don't even get read..or when family asks what you want for your birthday/xmas/etc , let THEM subscribe to your favorite magazine as your gift
.....j) When you eat out, go early and use coupons for meals if you get them

4. Maintain your appliances, cars & equipment. An annual "check-up" is cheaper than a complete breakdown.

5. Network and barter casually

.....a) Everyone has a special skill, so trade services within your group. (be careful how you do this, because the IRS is "interested" in bartering .)..
......b) When you buy something pricey, show them cash and ask for a cash discount
......c) Shop in your community, with privately owned businesses, if you can. Often they deliver free and are eager to please you
......d) Ask your friends for referrals for things you need done (if you cannot do them yourself).
......e) If you have young kids, set up an "exchange" with other families..for clothes & toys.
......f) Set up or join a babysitting co-op (It's easy, fun and it's FREE babysitting (as in no money paid..just your time)

6. Consider "shared-housing" . If you are an empty-nester with a big house, you could "rent a room" to a single who cannot afford the high cost of an apartment..or you could incorporate a parent/grandparent into your home (cue fingernails on a chalkboard here)..but if it's the difference between losing your home or keeping it, you may need to consider this

7. Energy use can be cut down

....a) Obviously the new lightbulbs help, but there are other things you can do.
.....b) Do laundry & dishes at off-peak times
.....c) Close off registers in unused rooms
.....d) Set the turn-off timers on tvs incase you fall asleep
....e) Replace washers in faucets so they don't drip
.....f) Plan your shopping /errands in a circular trip.
.....g) Make sure your car has a locking gas cap




I've droned on long enough, but let me tell you, that when a REAL recession hits, and hits hard, many families will be hit hard. Most young folks have never experienced wage-freezes or 15% mortgage loans .. But when WE endured those things, there were no killer health care premiums or $25K cars or all the expenses we have today.

Start now and if it doesn't come to pass, you mightr only end up with a savings account & some good habits.. Wait too long, and you might be homeless and broke.
Read entry | Discuss (298 comments) | Remove from Journal | Add/Edit intro

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

16. Thank you for adding all that excellent info to this thread.

Great advice!

[Elwood P Dowd]

13. Dollar stores, especially Dollar General, treat their employees like shit

making them work extra hours every day without overtime pay. They classify them all as managers, and thus they avoid overtime rules. I avoid them just like I avoid China Wal Mart and Sam's Club.

[hunter]

17. Don't buy heavily marketed packaged stuff.

That works for me.

Of course you never see coupons for 25 pound bags of rice, potatoes, and the like.

Traditional foods and recipes don't require packaged food but they can take longer to prepare and you have to know how to use spices if you want anyone to think you are a good cook. These recipes tend to use little or no meat, since killing and preparing chickens, rabbits, or guinea pigs every day is a huge chore. Bigger animals were butchered for feasts, or the meat preserved by drying, smoke, and/or salt, etc., which turns the meat into something that's not healthy as an everyday day staple but more of a flavoring or occasional treat. You really can't eat large amounts of bacon every day unless you are doing heavy labor, and even then it's not good for you.

These articles about "saving money" are never what they appear to be. The basic premise is that buying certain stuff will satisfy some need. But often that "need" is simply a desire provoked by advertising and social pressures.

Yes, certainly, we do need to eat. But until very recently humans didn't eat heavily marketed manufactured products.

[Love Bug]

18. Learn to cook. Don't shop while hungry. Make a list and stick to it.

Make a menu for the week and shop accordingly, taking into consideration sales and specials.

Also, I would like to caution those in urban areas planning a food garden: have your soil tested for lead. Old neighborhoods, especially ones close to freeways, may have lead in the soil from exhaust from leaded gas. I have a friend in Minneapolis who can only grow flowers because the soil in her yard is unsuitable for food plants.

[pitohui]

20. u cant save meaningful $ on food bill using these "tips," TRY this crap before you post it

sorry to be crusty, but some of us have been doing all this "stuff" for years and it won't save significant dollars on your food bill, other than going to the food bank, which i would NOT do, leave that for the truly hungry

1) coupons -- generic is usu. a lot cheaper than same brand name product even with coupons, sometimes even with double/triple coupons! -- save your time and trouble, and buy generic or DO WITHOUT -- most coupons are for carbs that have no place in most diets since they serve to fill you up and most americans are already a bit too "filled out"

2) you have to join the stores that have cards just to get the same price you got before the stupid ass expensive card system got installed -- you aren't saving anything, you're just standing still -- you gotta do it, tho alas but you're not saving money, you're paying for the store to track you and for the cost of the tracking system, in return, they throw you a free loaf of bread once in awhile which in no way makes up for the much higher prices we see once stores install these card systems

i pretty much had to give up on winn dixie once they went card, their prices went thru the roof!

3) comparison shop, c'mon, who doesn't do this already? one tip, shop at walmart, they meet everybody else's advertised price, so you can save on gas too...problem is, walmart grocery stores don't have a lot of stock and their meat/fish inventory is kinda iffy in my view...but this one is kinda, sorta helpful if someone is starting from a state of total cluelessness about how to grocery shop

4)in what world does this happen? nobody pays me to bring my own bag, in fact, they are all hustling to sell you their own reuseable bags for $1 a pop...if you wanna save the world, bring your own bag but don't expect to get paid for it -- as for cans & bottles, again, in what world? there's some place the bums take a whole shopping cart full of cans and bottles and get enough $ to buy a bottle of 40 oz. malt but it takes all day...this tip is not real world, at least not my part of the real world

caveat--we noticed we could get paid for bringing back bottles in canada

5) local mom & moms are republican stooges who charge 300% above the normal price for inferior meat and produce, when you talk about "food desserts," being forced to shop at your local mom & pop korean grocery is what they're talking about -- you're screwed to the wall for zero nutritional value

6)dollar stores--they do have some deals but they do NOT carry produce, crikey, AGAIN, check information yourself before publishing it blindly just because it sounds like it might be true

7)consumer club stores-- which you pay to be a member of, i hate to tell you, superstores ain't in business to lose money

8)co-ops-- never seen one around here

9) grow your own food -- it's a nice hobby but an expensive hobby, you don't save money in my experience, esp. if you're trying to go chemical free...some years you eat the tomato and some years the caterpillar gets 'em all but mostly you're feeding raccoons, there's a reason they pay the professionals the big bucks to grow food...it ain't all that economic to do it small scale...that said, i've found a few items that pay more than they cost, and the savings can be huge on those few items -- but if you're truly in need of the money now, you don't need to be experimenting, gardening involves a LOT of trial and error

10) again, seems dishonest to take from food banks just to save $ when others need the food to survive

in summary, i'm tired of seeing the same old tired "tips" that don't really quite work as advertised repeated over and over

it's as if women's magazines (the ultimate source of these "tips") think we're all too stupid to live, maybe these tips have a tiny amount of helpfulness to someone who never had a home before and never grocery shopped before, but mostly they are either just plain wrong (growing food is CHEAP!) or just plain wrong (dollar store sells PRODUCE! )

i have ONE tip it will save you more than all ten tips on this list -- cut out a meal, if you eat four meals normally, make it three, if you eat three meals, make it two, just save an item from one of the meals with some fat in it (such as a couple of cheese cubes, a hard boiled egg) to nibble on if you get starving, but skipping a meal saves both time and money

cutting coupons on the other hand wastes BOTH time and money

ok, i've ranted enough for the morning

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

30. Wow! You spent all that time debunking a piece that might help some people..

...you could have just said "I don't think much of your cost saving ideas, but here's one of mine..."

Thanks for posting, even though you disagreed with the suggestions.

[Retrograde]

21. Comments

1. Coupons - if they're for things you'd normally buy, fine. I've yet to see coupons for fresh carrots, though: they're mostly for packaged, processed stuff

2. Store clubs - sometimes a good deal, if the store is nearby and you're planning to shop there anyway.

3. Comparative shopping - gas is over $4 a gallon here, which limits extra shopping trips. But if you can combine a shopping trip with something else this can work to your advantage

4. Shopping bags and recycling bottles - if nothing else it keeps stuff out of landfills

5. Small local stores - vary a lot. There are a few within walking distance of me that I go to: they can be cheaper for some things, a lot more expensive for others. If you have a store nearby that caters to a specific ethnic group you may be able to find good prices on some items.

6. Dollar Stores - do they sell food aside from outdated packaged products? I've found their non-food items of such poor quality that they needed to be replaced frequently, ending up costing more than buying a better-made if more expensive item in the first place.

7. Club stores - great if you can afford the fees and have the storage space, or if you regularly cook for large crowds.

8. Co-ops - check on what's expected of you before you join. If you think the commitment in terms of upfront money, time and labor is worth it in light of what you get, fine. Unfortunately, the one I used to belong to went out of business a few decades back.

9. Gardens - fine if you like gardening and have the time, space and physical ability to maintain one. And if the weather co-operates: last summer was too cool here to produce much. OTOH, it's good exercise and you can get things you won't find in stores. But it's not free. I like my local farmers' market, but it's not cheap, although the produce is more varied and fresher than what I can buy in local stores.

10. Food banks - no comment

If I had to offer one suggestion for how to save money on food it would be Learn to Cook. It requires some investment in decent tools and staples, but once you understand how things work you can get the most out of what you buy. And if you have freezer space you can make large batches of soups and stews to use when time is limited (the single most common reason I've heard for why people use convenience goods).

[WCIL]

23. Just to hit a few of the points

I seldom use coupons for groceries, but almost always use them for HBA. I have not paid more than $1 for shampoo or deoderant in years, and always get toothpaste free after a coupon. This frees up much more of the budget for food.

I find that the "Wal-Mart has cheaper prices" meme is a myth. When they first came to town, they had some unbelievable deals, but after they ran Kroger out of business they raised their prices to line up with County Market and Hy-Vee.

There are no mom and pop stores here that sell food. I do find that CVS and Walgreens have some decent food deals. Coffee specials are ALWAYS better at the drugstore than the grocery store here.

I do shop 2 drug stores and 2 grocery stores. 1 drug store and both groceries are on my way home from work, and the other drug store is on my way to the library, so I don't have to make special trips.

[SaveAmerica]

27. Loosen up your soil now, plant after the 15th of April, cook from scratch

I feed 6 for very little by cooking from dried grains and fresh food. I cook a lot but it has to be better for us in the purse and our health, don't you think?

Costco, BJs, Sam's only good if you go for a few things that aren't convenience items. Stay with your $2 milk and large bags of fruit and veg, you have to have a strong will and stay away from all the goodies in those huge stores. There's a reason the flat-screened tvs, diamonds, and computers are at the front of the store and the milk is aaaaaaaaaaallllllll the way at the back.

[blueamy66]

28. Screw the consumer club stores

Waste of money and time....

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

31. Also....

Farmers Markets are a bonanza of fresh produce at sharply discounted prices and should not be missed by anyone wanting to save money or to taste untainted fruits and vegetables, sometimes less than 24 hours off the vine or tree branch or out of the ground. And often, one can even meet the people who grew it and can ask questions to become better informed.