Okay, I know this topic has probably been discussed here numerous times before, but......
I just asked for (and got) comp time for my overtime tax season pay so basically I'm giving up about $4,000 gross income/year but after April 15th, I'll work 32 hour weeks with Friday's off. So, I'm trying to reduce our spending, esp the grocery bill. We've got a lot of land so I'm thinking I'll start growing some veggies in the summer and freezing or canning some of it. Plus, we eat out way too much b/c of my lack of time to cook very much so I'm thinking of making meals ahead of time and freezing them. Anybody here do that??? Just wondering if the garden growing will really reduce out grocery bill very much. I buy everything that I can generic. The problem is I buy too much prepared food. I'm going to have to learn how to cook from scratch more. Any suggestions? Thanks.

The garden will only help if you buy a lot of the foods you plan on growing anyway...IMO. We had one (when I was in h.s.), and the food was great..but I don't think it cut down on the bill.

If you want...and I don't think this is against the TOS as I found out about it here, you can check out the grocery game (thegrocerygame.com)..It does cost money (not a lot) but helps tell ya when you should buy things at the LOWEST price, plus what coupon you should use (you'll need to start clippin' coupons if ya don't already). They have a message board there too...You might want to check that out first and see if you might be interested by talking to those that do the grocery game (I've fallen off but need to pick it back up).

Check out forums for budgeting, thriftyness, being frugal etc. I personally did not really find gardening to be money saving, except for herbs-they are easy to grow and expensive to buy. I loved having parsley, basil, chives, etc. right at my fingertips. Putting up food can also be pretty expensive and time consuming. If you have a freezer that is the best way to save money (IMHO). Buy bulk when stuff is on sale or you have coupons and freeze anything that is freezable. By buying bulk I do not mean bigger packages. I mean if something is on sale for a REALLY good price then buy lots of it. I have one of those vacuum packing machines that I got as a gift, but the special bags are very expensive so I don't use it. Pack stuff in reusable plastic containers that are marked very well and include dates. Go to the grocery stores early in the morning and get the marked down meats. Make a price book and stick to it. Don't buy something unless it is at its cheapest. For example, I never buy peanut butter unless its .99 for 18oz or less. I do not buy boneless meat unless its less than 1.99lb, no burger unless its less than 1.29lb, and so on.
Look up recipes on the internet by using keywords such as cheap, budget etc. Most often the simpler the recipe the cheaper it is. Also, take into account how long something has to cook and the method of cooking. If you heat with a wood stove or a fireplace consider using that heat for making pots of stew....
Utilize leftovers. Its amazing what you can do with them... Some cheap foods such as potatoes and rice have hundreds of different ways to be served. Soup and sandwiches are great and often inexpensive. Avoid expensive mixes and things like those salads in a bag. A head of iceburg lettuce is way cheaper and topped with some homemade thousand island dressing is very refreshing. Some really cheap, but great meals are
fritatta, salad, bread
tomato soup, grilled cheese
chili, cornbread
ham hock with green beans
spaghetti and garlic bread
crabmeat enchiladas and corn on cob (I use canned crabmeat from Walmart 1.50 for one can)
cheese chicken rice (canned cheese soup, rice and thighs) Costs less than $3 bucks and feeds 6 or more easy
Strata (always a favorite at my house-never told the kids we were basically eating stale bread LOL)

I used to make my own laundry detergent too, but that was back when I had 7 kids. Its very easy to make and very cheap. I don't remember exactly now, but I think I used 1 bar of Ivory Soap and Borax...that's it and it made like 2-3 gallons of detergent. I got the Ivory Soap for free with double coupons.

I could go on and on, but if you are serious there are lots of resources for this. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.............LOL.

If you like to eat a lot of salads, a garden can really save cash. Salad fixings are very expensive, just like fresh herbs. We have seen tomatoes/tomatoes at over $2/lb and that being a sale price. When I was growing up my parents had a limited garden. They grew tomatoes, lettuce, cukes, potatoes, corn. My parents ate salads a lot as a snack or light meal so it saved them a lot. And they had labor for free since it was up to us kids to tend the garden. I actually loved tending the garden.

You can grow stuff like tomatoes, lettuce, cukes in containers on a porch.

OOOH, homegrown tomatoes are DELICIOUS...Much better tasting IMO than the storebought if that makes any sense. We grew okra, squash, beans, watermelon...I can't remember what else...

My nextdoor neighbors right now have some potted plants of herbs...I'm SOOO thinking about doing that for fresh herbs! I'm also thinking about doing a potted tomato one

Also search for "frugal cooking" and "once a month cooking" - you don't have to do everything but you'll get some great advice on eating cheaper. I'm going to try once every 2 week cooking - we have to get ahead a little first though to get everything in one trip. Right now we're eating out of the cupboard - the only things we buy are milk, coffee and butter. Beans and potato's are cheap and usually very filling - also very versatile so you can mix in or add what you have on hand. Another thing I was going to do was to make up a pot of soup and have a cup of soup before supper or for the period between getting home and cooking. I'm also trying to get more vegetables into our diet and I thought soup would be a good way to do it. Our biggest problem is waste, things go into the fridge with good intentions and then are forgotten - I'm definitely going to make using up things a priority this year. We rarely buy convenience foods - hamburger helper(we stretch it out by adding about a cup of veggies and extra pasta; campbell's cream soups are the exception and once in awhile we'll buy snacks. Right now we have about 15 lbs of oranges from a drive at dd's school - we're sick of eating them straight (that would be from the 1st 10 lbs.)and all I can think of is juice now.

I'd love to have a small garden, if its food you know you'll eat I think it will save you money as long as you're sure to use it up or freeze it. I've heard of friends being over-run with tomato's or zucchini from only a few plants - they give it away because they don't want to be bothered preserving it. I know tomato's around here are pricey even in season and from the farmer's market. A garden is a bit iffy around here - I'm in the midwest and we have neighbors who lost their gardens from a late frost.

Univ of Nebraska has a really good website - check any Agriculture programs at a local college, they may have something online and you'll have info on garden planning for the soil and temps in your area, pest control, etc.. Ours even has a toll free number if you have questions. They're really trying to encourage people to grown their own food.

chris

I have found that it saves me more money to keep meals simple. Some grilled/roasted chicken and a couple of sides worked a cheaper than a casserole. I have also found that doing away with the "junk" saves quite a bit! No more chips, soda, snack cakes, etc. And my kids don't miss it! They are just as happy to snack on some fruit, crackers, and cheese, and that stuff fills them up more than chips, so they don't eat as much.

I would suggest joining a savings club like Sam’s Club or Costco. I believe there are others, but I can’t remember them at the moment. I have a Sam’s membership (at a cost of $35/year) and it saves me on certain things. Not everything. But it does help save. I like frozen veggies, however, they are expensive so I now do canned veggies. Cheaper in bulk at Sam’s. Also, they have good deals on dry goods. For example, a pack of 10 Kraft Macaroni & Cheese for not that much (sorry I can’t quote exact prices at the moment). Also, deals on cereals, rice, oatmeal, soup, a variety of canned goods, fresh fruit, breakfast foods, laundry detergent, et cetera.

The meats I’ve found are extremely generous as far as price goes. For health reasons I choose not to eat a lot of red meat, and no pork, so I eat a lot of poultry. I’ll get a lot of wings and chicken breasts, as well as ground turkey for spaghetti and anything else I can use it for to replace ground beef. With three children in my household and two adults, I can feed the family off of three chicken breasts on any given night. I split a large breast between the three children and cook two others for my girlfriend and I. Just one strategy I use. I do utilize a vacuum sealer for freezing my meats.

I have not tried the cooking ahead strategy myself. I will soon. I’ve been looking into living more frugal. Just do an internet search on “cooking ahead” and “frugal cooking.” Another thing that will help you is eat your leftovers. That’s wasted food if you don’t eat it. It’s not fancy or terribly interesting to eat the same thing twice in a week, but it will save you money. I had to religiously enforce that in my home after the kids kept wasting too much. Started giving smaller portions to them and saving more for leftovers. Have something new the next night, and on the third night have the leftovers from the first day’s dinner. Also, I take leftovers to work for lunch. And except for the occasional treat, I stay away from eating out. You will be surprised how quickly those “value” meals add up once you buy for five people two or three times a week. After examining my spending one month, I realized that I had spent over $100 on fast food in a single month. Enough to make you hurl a kidney. Just my two cents…Hope it was helpful.


Best regards,

Mario

One thing I do is clip coupons. We have a grocery store here in FL that does buy one get one free specials every week. I used coupons on top of that, and my grocery bill is fairly small each month, and we have a family of 4. The cereal will be BOGOF (Cheerios for example) and I will have a coupon if you buy two boxes you get $1.00 off, so 2 large boxes of cereal that would normally cost $3.91 each ($7.82 for both) I will get both boxes for $2.91. The size boxes they are, you can't get as many cheerios in the generic brand for that same price.

I always try to buy BOGOF items with coupons, or on sale items with coupons. I stock up. If it isn't on sale (except meat and other things that normally aren't on a big sale) I won't buy it.

"IF" IS IS NOT IN THE SAFEWAY AD I DON'T BUY IT (usually)

BOGO I USUALLY GET 4 or 6 (sometimes 10 or 20)

You should do quite well just by eating out less. Sometimes we dont realise how much that adds up.
I think canning/freezing does help in the long run. Alot of my family does this, they have freezers full & basements full of food. Pretty sure if anything ever happened they would be able to survive for months without having to head to a store..lol

I actually dont do much coupon clipping, because there usually isnt a whole lot in there I would
"normally" buy.

Overall just eating out less, and managing what you are eating.. I think it can definantly be done

HAVE EXTRA TP

(we were on the last 4 pack and didn't know that the BACKSTOCK was empty)

We got SNOWED IN for like 3 days

NOTHING WENT IN OR OUT OF THE STREET!!!

You couldn't even get to the main road with-out walking over 36" of snow

(we are in the county)

Excellent idea there. Here's another site. Does the same thing as the one mentioned above but doesn't cost anything. www.cutouthunger.org . Some of the stuff they recommend you buy to give to charity as it's so inexpensive, but you can do the same to save yourself money.

The only advice I have is to plan your meals. Make allowances for leftovers, too. I look for recipes that can be used for 2 meals.

I save the Sunday grocery flyer so that I can see on Saturday (my planning and shopping day) what's on sale. Coupons do almost nothing. Buy the store brand whenever possible.

We have a family of 4 - 2 adults, a teen, and a child and our food budget is $100/week. Weeks that I'm under budget are saved for special occasion weeks (like the upcoming SuperBowl). I also carry a calculator when I shop.

After my mom died, my dad was reduced to cooking for one. He invested in a vacuum sealer and I bought him an upright freezer very cheap. He would cook up meals like he normally did. Then he cut it into portions and vacuum sealed it. Each package was labeled and then put into the freezer. My brother would go over every month to help him cook. He also bought fresh veggies, like beans and froze them in single servings. Anything he pre-cooked he could just toss in a pot of water and when it was warmed up, he just cut the bag open and was ready to eat. He even seperated out breads, like hotdog buns, into single serve packs and kept them in the freezer.

DH & I buy large packs of hamburger, chicken, etc and then seperate them into meal size and freeze. We also buy our bread monthly and freeze it. Just have to remember to get another loaf thawing before you run out. With our chest freezer, if we see something reduced, we can buy large quantities. We got some beef reduced 1 time and literally had a full buggy @ WalMart. We paid about 1/2 price for it on average. But we didn't buy meats again for almost 3 months.

JMO but I disagree about coupons doing almost nothing. Some stores will offer double coupons, and then if you use them on top of sale items, they sure add up.

I used to buy a lot of convenience foods too, till the bottom fell out of our finances. Now I cook every night and the reality is that it doesn't really take that much longer. A few slices of ham in a skillet, a pan of rice that I add my own seasoning to and a can of veggies takes about 15 to 20 minutes. We have gone out to eat three times in 6 months, courtesy of gift cards. Do I miss it? Absolutely, but I appreciate it a whole lot more now. One thing I do to cut grocery costs (and have done for 25 yrs) is make a menu for the week, and ingredients list from that menu, and that's all I buy...period. I always include snacks or desserts on the menu so we don't go without, but it also keeps me from buying what I don't need. The only exceptions are sales that will save me at least 50% on items I normally buy. In that case I will buy as many as I can afford that week. We always have extra cash in the summer, so last year we bought a freezer, side of beef and half a pig. Not only did it save us a ton of money but the meat was excellent. I dont buy donuts, coffee from the drive thru, etc. All those things add up to a chunk of money.

Depends..

If the coupons are for things you "normally" wouldn't buy..your not really saving money
Its fine if you were buying that product anyway, but sometimes we just think "oh I will save $2.00, when you may have never spent the extra $3.00 to begin with

But if you can get them to work for ya, then great

Yep I agree...I have about 12 things of shampoo and conditioner (name brands like Dove, etc) that were all less than $1 with coupons. Got bunches of bath wash for less than $2 in almost all cases...We won't go over how much laundry detergent and liquid fabric softener I have comin' out my ears

The thing is instead of using it THAT week, hold onto it until the prices drop on that item and make sure it's something you will EVENTUALLY need anyway (soap, detergent, meat, ketchup)...BUT it won't work if you are married to a brand IMO..

I completely agree about eating out less! I also used to think the same thing about coupons, but I have really changed my mind. I do still disregard coupons for the processed food items (unless they are free and I can donate them to others) but I get huge savings for cleaning products, personal items, household goods, etc. I have also found that there are lots of coupons for organic products and items like milk, bread, flour, sugar, olive oil, and cheese. I have gone from spending $100 per week at the grocery store plus $50 a month at walmart (approx $450 a month on food and household items) to $50 - 60 a week on everything ($240 a month). When I was spending $450 a month, we were eating out by the end of the week because the cabinets were empty. Now I can throw together a dinner at any time and we rarely eat out. I get much better deals with coupons than with buying generics. I don't even have an extra freezer.

It is strange, because I have never really been this structured with my money. But in the past year, I have paid off 1/2 of my debt and it will be paid off fully by the end of this year. I also paid for every purchase in full during 2005, paid for every "emergency" that came up, and purchased a few large items for my household that I saved for like a new chair and TV. I never thought I could pay off my debt because it always seemed so large to me. I also never dreamed that I would pay for my small wedding and honeymoon in cash and start 2 savings accounts. Using coupons not only saved me money, but it helped me think differently about money and how to take control of my finances. Reading these forums is where I initially started learning about how to deal with my money and I love seeing how other people are finding ways to save and spend wisely!

Thanks everyone for all the helpful replies. I'm on my way to a cheaper grocery bill. For the last few years, I've said I was going to do it, but this time I REALLY am. This weekend, I'm making a budget and I'm sure I'll be shocked to see how much $$ is going to Walmart. I've got to get in under control Thanks again.

Don't know if this has been mentioned, but I like to cook alot and have leftovers the next night. This also provides lunches so my DH doesn't eat lunch out.

We are lucky to have an Aldi's near us that cut our budget in 1/2! We also go to a farmer's market that is open year round near us and we can get a bushel of apples for $10.

Make dinner menus at least 2 weeks in advance that really helps as well.

Hi,

I want to add my agreement to try to eat meals at home, and especially to look into the Grocery Game. We learned about it here too.

I used to be one of those people who turned up my nose at coupons... I thought they were generally for crappy junk food, but I couldn't have been more wrong. We now get 3-4 papers a week, clip everything, and then quickly organize it.

On average, we save anywhere from 50 to 60% off our regular grocery bills. We now have several full closets full of food and personal care items, as well as an emergency bin (for the next hurricane evacuation!) We're trying to get to 6 months worth of food.

Today while sorting through some excess paperwork, getting ready to file taxes, I found an old receipt from a drugstore, back in 2001. I was appalled to see how much I paid for deodorant, hand lotion and soap. On our last trip to the store we ran a tab of $28. With coupons it came to $16.38. That included eight cans of tomato sauce and two conditioners that were free after coupons. Some of the other highlights, besides free stuff like Suave shampoo, Tony Chachere rice and Idahoan mashed potatoes, includes $1 St. Ives lotion, 9 cent Hunts ketchup and Johnson's baby soap, 29 cent deodorant, and so on.

The key is really to buy multiple papers, clip coupons, buy at a place like Krogers that doubles and triples coupons, and then wait to see when the price tanks to its lowest. Grocery Game follows a 12 week scenario, tracking prices - but you can also do it yourself with a homemade price book. As far as I'm concerned I'd rather pay $5 a month for the Grocery Game and let them crunch the numbers.

The other thing we do is buy certain items at Wal-Mart or Target, stuff like butter and eggs that are not going to be couponed.

We also participate in some coupon trains. Coupons we don't use, we trade (and often get some other great ones), and when coupons expire we send them to the Overseas Coupon Program (http://www.ocpnet.org/), because they can be used at military commissaries overseas up to six months after expiration. You can also check sites like the Taylortown coupon site to find out what's in a paper; one week it might be worthwhile to only buy 2 papers, rather than 4.

Exactly! If you go to www.cutouthunger.org the site will tell you which items are on sale and which week a coupon for the same item was in the paper. The site explains how you can save the most. The idea is save the coupon flyers every week. They're all dated. Then when the item you want is on sale and and there's a coupon, the site tells you which week's flyer to look at, then you just cut out the coupons you're going to use. I've seen on the news where people have saved enough to quit their part time jobs. Depends on the size of your family and how you go about it but I suppose it could work.

Clip coupons

Use sites like cutouthunger.org and thegrocerygame.com

Get on couponing boards like dealagogo.com for info on how to do deals

If you have an Aldi, shop for some items there

Shop at bread thrift stores once a month

Do the Walgreens rebates every month

Do the CVS extracare deals

Try growing some veggies and definately the herbs. Herbs do well right on your kitchen ledge year round.

You can eat out - restaurant.com There's always a discount code for 50% off and sometimes 60% off

I found this as an easy way to plan ahead - they make the menu and shopping list for you:

savingdinner(dot)com

Great idea, except it kinda defeats the purpose of saving money on the grocery bill, when you have to pay for that service.


recipecenter.com has lots of great recipes. You just put in some of the ingredients or type of meat you want to use and it brings up a list of a ton of stuff. All for free.

Have to chime in on grocerygame. I thought I was a really good shopper and coupon clipper. I was hesitant to spend the money, but I am amazed every week on the money I save. I spend about one third less than I used to and have also stockpiled TONS of stuff. If necessary, we could probably live off of what is in the house for over three weeks. If you are really looking to cut the bills, this is a great way to do it!

Ditto on the grocerygame. I have to get better with clipping coupons but even if you dont you will save money using them. I live by myself so my grocery bill isnt too high but I plan on introducing my bf to the site

We do the coupon thing.

Something else we did was to stop nickel and diming. If you are not going out to buy more than 5 things, don't go. If you are out "shopping" and not out "buying," take no money. It drives me nuts to look at the statements and see $5-$25 dollar purchases clear the bank en-mass. Also, take your lunch to work...

You will be suprised how often you "forget" about the thing you "needed" when you have to wait to get 5 needed items to go buy them.

If you vaccum seal and freeze... just it taste the same as the freshly-prepared meal when you heat it up?

I have a hard time finding foods to take to school with me as I just don't like PB&J and can only take so much of it. Whatever I take has to stay in my backpack all day (no refrigerator/cooler/etc) and I end up either not eating at all all day long (don't eat breakfast) until dinner, or getting something during my break or when fi comes to pick me up...I dunno what to do (I usually just go without, buyin' rarely happens and even then usuallys it's water or a drink).

Hmmm you could use a Vinyl lunchbag and use those reusable "coldpacks" to keep whatever you want cold. I know I got a few free from Simulac when I had DS. Just freeze them and they should keep your sandwhich cold until lunch. The lunchbags can be gotten for a few $$ and the coldpacks shouldnt cost ya much either. DH refrigerates his lunchbag overnight (food inside) and throws the coldpack in with his food in the morning. it stays cold til lunch. It shouldnt take up much room in your backpack either.

I also buy snacks in bulk at Costco. Not the cheapest route but it gives them snacks to go with lunch and are easy to toss in. 10$ for prepackaged crackers and cookies, and they come in variety packs, and should last at least 2 weeks. Probably longer.

Also, with DD and DH , I make their breakfasts for the week by toasting some english muffins, throwing either ham, bacon, or sausage on them along with a fried egg, and cheese and a little butter. Put each one in a sandwhich bag. In the mornings they just pop one in the microwave and theyre set.

HtH

I agree! It all depends on how you use it, may not work for some, but I saved almost $82 last week and spent $120 for 2 weeks worth of groceries.

Debbie


[/quote]

JMO but I disagree about coupons doing almost nothing. Some stores will offer double coupons, and then if you use them on top of sale items, they sure add up.
[/quote]

That's what I'm doing...I just hope it works (I HATE soggy sandwiches )

oh man, me too.

this is how I prevent a soggy sammich: Make sure the ice pack is nowhere NEAR the sandwich. Pack your "dressing" seperately. For instance, save your mayo/mustard/ketchup packets you get at the fast food joint and pack those in your lunch. Moisture = soggy. I've taken it so far as to pack even the meat and bread seperately to avoid sogginess.

I've NEVER liked PB&J, so I'm limited. These will also work for your "main course" lunches: wraps. Get large tortillas and use mayo or salad dressing and wrap turkey and cheese or ham and cheese along with lettuce or whatever you like.

I also like egg salad or chicken salad sandwiches. Plenty of pepper. Mmm.

Bagel & cream cheese. More special if it's a flavored bagel or flavored cream cheese of your choosing.

oops.

Great ideas, all! Thank you so much!

I bring my lunch to work, but bring a bunch of frozen dinners in a bag and toss them in the freezer. That way, I don't have the excuse of forgetting to grab it while I'm on my way out the door, and avoid the temptation of fast food because I don't have lunch.

I make it a point to try to buy on sale. I've gotten Lean Cousine for $2 each, and normally it's $3.50, and Skinny Cow for 4/$10 (normally $5 each). I swear by Super Target, and as it's been said--coupons, coupons, coupons, baby!

Switch up brands. On a whim, I grabed some cheap Lean Banquet trays this week (about $1.75) and they turned out to be decent. When I got to the checkout, I had spent $80 on 3 weeks of lunches, as opposed to the $140 I was expecting.

Also, I bought a reusable water bottle, and have tap water refrigirated overnight with flavoring (like the Crystal Light envelopes, but Walgreen's has some that are $5 for a BIG pack of [I think]30 in a "generic" brand), as an alternative to soda.

If you live in an apartment or condo, you can save HUGE by handwashing your laundry. It takes a couple times to get it right if you're not used to it, but it pays off.

...and gave up my daily Caribou Coffee. However, once I found out just how bad they were for me, it became a LOT easier and saved $5 per day. There was a great suggestion here about making one's own mochas with a $20 espresso machine from Wal-Mart. That could pay off bigtime!

Hope this helps out somebody.

I buy all my veggies and fruit at the local farmer's market. 10 dollars a week can buy a TON of fruit/veggies as opposed to buying at the grocery store.

This thread has been around for a while, but it still has relevant information

The farmer's market in my town is expensive. Very expensive. I think it's because it's an "upscale" town (a lot of rich people). The farmer's market that's about 15 miles away has good prices, but then I have to drive 15 miles. Loose-loose so I just buy what's on sale at the local grocery. Wish it were different, but what can you do? I've never understood why organic costs so much more than non-organic. Organic farmers have fewer out-of-pocket expenses than their more traditional counterparts (though their hands-on time is more). Seems to me it should all wash-out. Maybe as more farmers turn to organic the ol' supply-and-demand will even out prices.

I searched through the thread and didn't see that anyone else posted the link...

This site helped me, you can subscribe (For Free) and get menus sent to you each week:
http://www.menus4moms.com

Now, I'm not a mom (Dad) but I'm a subscriber. I get the menus, and they provide the shopping list. Usually we end up spending ~$100 per week (A few weeks are $60 and some are $150 - lowest/highest) and have pretty good meals every night of the week - weekends we do usually order a pizza or eat out. That's for 3 of us.

This kinda fits here, and hopefully it can help someone, but this is what I've started doing:

I wanted to learn how to cook new dishes and pickup some new cooking tips, so I decided to become an assistant at a local cooking school. You have to do the orientation and pay for one required class, but after that, you can assist in almost any class you want, taste and take home the recipes, and be up close and personal with the chef, all for free! On top of that, when you assist in a certain number of classes (I think it's 6), you earn a gift certificate that is good for anything that they sell, including the classes themselves. You can also give these to anyone as gifts.

Knowing how to cook professionally can also save you money on your food bill, because you are more cognizant about how much you need to buy to prepare a meal. Plus, with different recipes under your belt, you don't have to eat the same things over and over again. Finally, two of the locations where they teach the classes are right by the local train station, and the other location is accessible by bus, so I don't waste gas trying to get there. For those in Metro Atlanta, here is a link to some local cooking schools:

http://www.ajc.com/living/content/living/food/schools.html

The one I attend is Cooks Warehouse. They have extremely good and helpful people there.

I agree with those who say that a garden will not necessarily save you money.

I grow a couple of items each year in a container garden...I always do tomatoes (usually cherry tomatoes) and herbs. I have also tried green peppers, but they are tough in a container.

As for groceries....I do not buy meat in grocery stores. I go to a local butcher shop. I go once every 3 or 4 months and find that I spend a lot less and get far better quality. I just went a week ago and bought:

12 boneless/skinnless chicken breasts
1 lb Wild Alaskan Salmon
1 1/4 pound Tenderloin steak
2 lamb shanks (I will use those in an Italian Ragu)
1 lb ground pork (for the ragu)
1 2 pound pork butt with spice rub
1 pound of sliced deli turkey (which I divide up and freeze)
1 pound of sliced deli corned beef (which I divide up and freeze)
1 pound cole slaw

$65.44. I felt pretty good about that. I still have 6 1/2 pound packages of ground beef that I bought from them in December.

I have to say that I am guilty of shopping at stores that are expensive. While I do shop at one of the stores with lower prices, I do a lot of shopping at a local chain with higher prices....but great quality. So, I do pick and choose what I purchase at each store. I could save money doing all of my shopping at the lower priced store, and if I found myself in need of cutting back...this is the first place I'd make a change.

I looked at that grocerygame site...but you should not ever spend money to save money...well, in my book anyway.

Get a list of all the stores in your area....

sales flyers- do what that site was going to have you pay for... go online on the day the sales paper is released. Their site has the flyer in catalog form where you can browse, flip pages, even 'add to list' features so you can print them out.

It's easy to compare one store with another because after you have your lists...cross of the one with the more expensive deal.

I go once a week to all these stores:
Albertsons
Smiths
Walgreens
CVS pharmacy


And Albertsons may have milk 2/5.99 where Smiths will have it at 2/5.00.

In our house, we have FOUR adults, one 17yo and two smaller children who eat a ton of food. That's a family of seven...not easy to keep costs down.

I went to the hillbillyhousewife(dot)com website after doing a search for low-cost menus. They have a $45 menu and a $70 menu that feeds 4-6 people for the entire week. This includes a full breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack.

While most low-cost menus assume you have staples in your cupboard to work from, this one assumes you have NOTHING in your cupboard and you buy the entire menu for $45 to $70. It has the shopping list and recipes included in pdf format.

I have tried both menus and actually enjoyed most of the recipes. It was surprisingly easy and we cut the cost down tremendously with the garden and having stocked up at Sams for a lot of the staples that were on the shopping list.

You might want to try that. I went from spending $1400 a month for food down to $250 a month for a family of seven with four adults included.

ETA: If I did coupons, I would save even more! I gave up on the mess of clipping/hunting/finding coupons that didn't mean squat when my time was factored in. I'd rather spend my time gardening and having plenty of veggies and herbs to work with.

I won't make any specific recommendations on how to save money in incremental amounts - folks here know much more about that than me, that's for sure!

However, I will make one general comment: you've just taken a step to making your life more enjoyable. Don't trade those hours in the office with a similar amount of hours obsessing over coupons and saving, because you will simply be trading one irritation with another, and your decision (which I applaud) would backfire.

To put it another way, I'd focus on finding a few lifestyle changes that can have a relatively big impact. When starting out on being more cost-effective, these are always available, and you can usually trim about 10% of your expenses with simple behavioral changes that do not require any effort beyond an upfront analysis, commitment and follow through.

If this doesn't generate enough savings, then instead of trying to squeeze every last penny out of everyday operations - which to me takes much of the fun out of living - you may want to look into creating alternative income streams, that is, generating income by not going back to a five-day workweek. There are plenty of things that can be done out of the house that, while being work, may fit your personality better or get your creativity going or make you feel better while doing them and also pay. My advice would be to start looking around your existing area of expertise - the stuff you do for a living - but seeing if you can help others by doing it on a part-time basis. Funny thing is, you may end up deciding this is a lot more fun than working your full-time job. Many a small business was created in this exact fashion.

I also have started buying my meats at a buther shoppe. They have specials like meat for a week as well as larger deals, like for cookouts, steaks, etc.

I'm fortunate to live near alot of fruitstands, farmers markets and Amish families who sell great bakery btw. Always like to help the local economy as I can.

Also try Angel Food Ministries--here you pay $30 for a regular box and you can add toyour order with Monthly specials provided you buy the $30 box first. There is a deadline to buy/purchase ahead and then usually the last Saturday of the month you go pickup your order. The one I go to is run out of a Church.

Hope it's ok to post their website: www.angelfoodministries.com

To reduce grocery bills, my wife follows the ff. rules:

1. She always buys enough of the basics like rice, potatoes, oatmeal, flour, eggs, etc.) to last the amount of time (week, two weeks, month) for which she is shopping.
2. She then adds food that will complement the basics and she buys fresh produce when she can. It's healthier and cheaper.
3. She uses her coupons wisely. She buys the smallest package the coupon allows. She doesn't purchase groceries that come under the heading of convenience foods unless you get them practically for free. She buy only items that are on sale, unless it is a basic item that we are completely out of. If she runs out of coupon, and it is not marked down, she usually waits until it is on.
4. She cooles the most common ethnic foods, whatever the nationality, because finds these foods inexpensive but contain the most vital nutrients like Mexican food, Italian food or Oriental food.

We're able to save a considerable amount of money because of my wife's simple techniques.