Grocery Shopping secrets??

Great ideas!

Biggest thing in my house that raises the bill? Bringing the husband along! Men throw all sorts of things into the cart that ends up costing big bucks. Junk food, gadgets, etc. Kids, too, if you let them.

 

Making a weekly menu and a shopping list will also help.

 

Never, never, never shop when you're hungry!

 

Planning meals has been a biggie for us. We all go together - its just easier that way. If I go with the filrs, with 2 munchkins in the buggie, there's not a lot of room for much else! (Maybe THAT should be the plan!)We buy off-brand, too, but we dont skimp on lean beef. Its just something we feel is worth it. Fish, shrimp, chicken and turkey, we buy the Walmart brand if they have it. Every week we buy a Rotisserrie chicken and after we eat it, we make a stock from it and free it. So when we want some soup or gumbo (pretty often) we have the seasoned stock already there. No canned broths! We also grow veggies and freeze them for use throughout the year, too. We try to use fruit as dessert, when we actually have dessert. We need some more corner cutting ideas, though. Sometimes, the bill seems outrageous. Part of it is that we feed 3 extra teenagers every week, and also a couple (like parents to us) eats with us every WEd. night. Kinda like potluck, but its still extra.

 

We do have a salvage store nearby. I used to go there alot, but started finding bug in the dry beans and boxed stuff. I used to buy baby juice there all the time when they had it I oughtta get back in the habit of going by there.

 

I actually buy some groceries at Big Lots. We love those Lipton Rice or Pasta mixes and they're only 49 cents at Big Lots! For a quick meal, I can cut up one steamed or braised boneless chicken breast (or use left overs) and throw it in to make a one pot meal.

 

Sams Club is my way to save money. We only have one grocery chain in San Antonio (HEB unless you count Super Walmart too) and no real competition for it.Sam's is less expensive on just about everything.

 

We buy at WalMart and Sams - they are next to each other. With my small kids, its really asking for it to drag them all over town looking at salvage stores.
I do get paper products and bleach, cleaning supplies, and even some canned chicken at Family Dollar - its much cheaper there. And our local IGA grocery store (VEry expensive) does have meat specials where you can pick 5 packages for $20. They also do chicken leg quarters for 25 cents a pound sometimes.

 

We don't have a salvage store anyplace nearby and our day-old bread store closed a couple of years ago.

That leaves Aldis for most things and IGA for the meat I can't buy at Aldis.

Meat is not going on sale around here like it used to and bacon is OUTRAGEOUS!

 

I've never personally been to Sam's Club, but I used to live in a neighborhood, where four families chipped in the money, and one person would go down each month and purchase everything (70 miles round trip).

They usually bought regular sized cans, but by the case. When they got back, the things were divided up equally.

When my sister was younger, she would go down once a month and buy things. She got Worchestershire Sauce by the gallon and she always filled up my smaller bottle for me, as I use that a lot in cooking.

 

We found that you can get things CHEAPER at regular stores than at Sam's if you buy what's on special. Jim's old boss always gave all his employees Sam's memberships each year. A FEW things were a lot cheaper but I could buy store brands on sale for less and not have to buy cases full. We have a smaller home and a tiny pantry. I had to keep parts of the cases downstairs in a walk-in closet right inside the door.

 

Sam's Club and Wal-Mart are the same company, but I've always heard that you won't save any money at Sam's unless you're buying (regularly) for a family of seven or more.

 

We buy things there (SAM's) that freeze or store easily. Paper goods, boxed juice, bottled water, and frozen meat items. I usually only have to buy chicken strips, shrimp, etc once every 2 months for our family. We also get gas there when we can - its about 15 cents cheaper than other gas stations.

 

Yes donnA, it's $35 a year. You and Hubby would each get a card.
It's worth it to us. There are things there that we can't get anywhere else, and we also get the things that store easily. We bought a freezer there last August. I'd been wanting one for a while, and the way our kitchen is set up, we have to have a small fridge or tear out a section of the cabinets. That doesn't give much freezer room.
We use Miracle Whip alot, and the 32 oz. jar is about $3.25at the other stores, at Sam's we get a 60 oz jar for $3.55, that's like a second jar for 30 cents! (Don't use Mayo, so don't know if it's priced the same.)
I've even thought about getting the gallon of Worcestershire Sauce. Does anybody know if it has to be refrigerated after opening?