A-B-C Frugality

As many people know, clipping coupons can be an amazing way to slash 50, 70, even 90% off your grocery bill. But for many reasons, people seem unwilling to take the time to clip, organize, and match their coupons to sales.

Whether you choose to coupon or not, this blog is for you!

The following is a list of some simple strategies to slash your grocery bill without ever cutting a coupon.

• Only buy on sale and/or in season. Stores run on a 3 month cycle, so when you see something on sale, buy enough to last your family 3 months.  Only buy your fruits or vegetables when they are in season, and you can easily shave another 10% off your grocery bill.  Start a grocery stockpile and you will never have to pay full price for something again.  No room for a stockpile? You’d be surprised.  We lived in a small 2 bedroom apartment and still managed to stockpile hundreds of dollars of groceries.
• Plan your menu around the sale items.  This has saved me hundreds of dollars each month.  Sit down with your sale ads each week (here in Reno, it’s Wednesdays) when they come out and look at the primary sale items.  If chuck roast is on sale, I will plan on buying chuck roast and eating that three or four nights that week (with variation in how it’s prepared of course).  I may throw half in the crockpot one day for roast, then have pot roast sandwiches the next day, and beef stroganoff with the leftovers the third day.  This helps stretch how long your meat lasts, too.
• Buy whole ingredients instead of prepackaged meals.  As discussed above, buying whole ingredients saves money.  If I buy a 2 pounds of chuck roast on sale for $4.00, that will provide the bulk of 3 meals.  Or, I can spend that same $4.00 on a frozen lasagna and have dinner for one night.
• Go Meatless.  We try to have one or two vegetarian meals per week.  There are many healthy, lean sources of vegetable protein like beans, lentils, or tofu that can replace meat.  Lentils cooked with diced tomatoes and chilis make an excellent burrito, and lentils will run you less than a dollar per pound, which will make 3 or 4 meals worth.
• Keep your eyes peeled at the grocery store.  The featured displays are often not the best prices.  I recall walking through a particular grocery store one day and they had Macaroni and cheese in a huge display for $1.75 per box, marked as a “rollback.”  I then walked down the pasta aisle and saw the same brand, almost identical variety of macaroni and cheese for $1.50 on the bottom shelf.  Lesson:  Beware the “featured displays,” and look high and low.  Grocery stores know that most people will buy the items at eye level, so they place lowered priced items on the high and low shelves.
• Shop the loss leaders or price match.  Loss Leaders are products that grocery stores sell below cost to entice shoppers into the store, hoping to make their money when you proceed to do all your shopping at their store. However, by going to each store and purchasing their loss leaders, you can get groceries at significant discounts.  OR, use the power of price matching.  Some stores, like Super Walmart, will price match; that is, if you bring in the advertisement of another store, they will match their low advertised price for an identical item. This saves you gas money and time, as well as money.
• Always watch as the cashier rings up your items and double check your receipt. If there are discrepancies, it is easier to go to guest services now rather than try to explain to the manager later.
• Make it yourself.  Foods like bread, bagels, even soft pretzels are very simple to make on your own and taste even better than the prepackaged convenience foods.

By Nadia