Saving money on groceries without coupons

[BetsyS]

I'm about 19 weeks pregnant, and I'm feeling the coupon love leaving me. I haven't clipped any in about 4 weeks, and it's been a nice break. I anticipate no coupon clipping until the baby is about 4 months old (so a good year from now), when I'll have this sudden urge to coupon again.

But, until then...

What are your best non-coupon grocery saving tips?

**a few caveats....

*we are a family of 4, omnivores
*we live in a big city suburb, so lots of choices on where to shop
*money is tight, and we just don't have the cash to invest in a side of meat. It probably would save us money in the long run, but we just don't have the cash available.

[hopefulfaith]

You are me! ...only I'm not 19 weeks pg.

I'm in the same boat. I have to purchase a newspaper in order to coupon here (rural area), so that's $2.50. Unless I have something wonderful in there -- i.e., there was a 15%-off Lowes coupon a few months back, when we were buying something big -- then I don't coupon. My mom saves me her newspaper coupons sometimes, but I find that they aren't for products I buy, as I purchase lots of store brand stuff and nothing "new and improved", etc.

So, I:

--signed up for my grocery store's rewards program (it's the only way you get the ad sales at the Spartan stores now ). It is one of two grocery stores in my town; we don't have a lot of choices. Most canned/packaged things I purchase are store brands. Actually, I might even be able to say "all" with that.

--am doing a serious pantry challenge: I bought milk/eggs/cheese/fruit, etc. last week, and everything else has to come from my pantry. My family is kind of bewildered sometimes (our dinner last night was noodles, carrots, cheese, apples; we had had meat earlier in the day, so I skipped it last night), but I have only spent $99 this pay period on our family's meals.

--I stock up when things are cheaper (i.e., 10 for $10 at my store is their big thing). I have a big utility shelf in my basement and it's full of cans and jars and boxes. I can't do a LOT of this -- like you mentioned, you have to have the cash available, and I usually do not -- but I do what I can.

--I cannot buy a lot of organic stuff. I offer healthy choices and I avoid HFCS like the plague, but I simply cannot afford to buy organic/top shelf food, for the most part. Our coop is an hour away, so I go there when we "go to town" and can get a few treats there, but my main shopping is local. Our farmer's market runs in the summer, and we buy as much produce there as we can, but that is the extent of my organic shopping. We don't receive assistance, so my grocery budget is limited. Our big splurge is Silk chocolate soy milk, which I mix half/half with cow's milk for the kids to have chocolate milk sometimes.

--I cook from scratch. Groceries cost less than premade foods. I don't make my own cheese/yogurt, etc., but I am working on a system to make my own bread.

--My family gives us food for Christmas. It sounds silly, but my ILs give us local farm beef every year, and my mom gives me groceries. I would rather have those than any of the gifts I read about on the threads after the holidays. My dh, I think, would rather have electronics, but agrees that food is the most important at this point in our lives.


Most of this information is pretty common sense, and I know it's a "yeah, yeah, yeah..." post, but it's what I do to save money on groceries.

[lucyem]

I found that by making a price book I found the cheapest places to buy things. I just made a list of common things we buy and put prices for it at each store. Nothing crazy and I did it after I got home with the receipt. I discovered the store I thought was the most expensive was not the most expensive. I also saw that by buying milk at one store over another cost us $1.50. And the stores are just down the street from each other. Over a year that's almost a $100 more on milk.

[leavemealone]

I would suggest shop the ads and buy what is on sale at more than one store, but with a new baby, you may not want to go to more than one store. In that case, I'd say to find the store that is overall the cheapest for what you buy. Buy the meat that is on sale that week. If chicken is on sale, then eat more chicken that week. If beef is on sale, then eat more beef that week. Same goes for veggies - buy in season and on sale.

[busymama77]

We buy what is on sale at the two largest chains in our area. Almost weekly, one store will have 10 for $10 on a lot of the stuff that we use and then the next week, the other store will have the same. It could be on soup, packaged noodles, pasta, fresh fruit, etc., A lot of the items that are on sale are major stock up items for us!!

[solinox]

1. I highly recommend the Grocery Game. It does do a lot of coupon shopping, but there's a lot of non-coupon stockpile deals on the list every week. I don't clip coupons anymore because it's just not worth the time to me, but I will print out online coupons for list deals.

2. Use a menu-planner. I've used Menu Mailer in the past, and am currently using e-Mealz. This really helps because these are plans designed to be frugal and control costs, and you don't have to spend a lot of time on it.

3. Use a computerized recipe organizer. Once you get it filled with lots of different recipes/meals, you can use your grocery store's weekly special to plan your meals around. i.e., if the store has a special on pork tenderloin this week, you can search your recipes for pork tenderloin. If there's a special on potatoes, add those to the search. Then you can be cooking only with ingredients that are either on sale this week, or already in your stockpile.

4. Don't neglect the big box stores. Even when we only had the triplets, I could pay for my Sam's membership with milk, bread, and eggs alone. These things occasionally go on stockpile deals on the Game list, but you can only buy so much milk and eggs at once.

[sweetjasmine]

Originally Posted by BetsyS

I'm about 19 weeks pregnant, and I'm feeling the coupon love leaving me. I haven't clipped any in about 4 weeks, and it's been a nice break. I anticipate no coupon clipping until the baby is about 4 months old (so a good year from now), when I'll have this sudden urge to coupon again.

But, until then...

What are your best non-coupon grocery saving tips?

**a few caveats....

*we are a family of 4, omnivores
*we live in a big city suburb, so lots of choices on where to shop
*money is tight, and we just don't have the cash to invest in a side of meat. It probably would save us money in the long run, but we just don't have the cash available.

I, too, am getting tired of clipping coupons. And I don't even clip that many because I buy alot of store brands. I have to say that is my biggest saver right there. I also check my store's weekly circular for even more savings. I have cut way back on my shopping at Whole Foods. Just can't do the expense any more. Now I only get a handful of items there like my European style yogurt. It is excellent! But I don't buy it every week.

When I had four stepkids staying with us part time we used to shop at Costco but now we only have the two youngest, also part time, and we just don't need to go there much. Every time we went I overspent. It's a real money trap for me.

So to sum up, store brands and the store's circular are what saves me a ton of money.

[griffin2004]

I usually shop at Safeway. It has a deal where coupons are downloaded onto your club card. A few clicks but no clipping and you're good to go. I'm sure other stores do this, too.

[Drummer's Wife]

I don't coupon, but shop the ads at my Albertsons. Like, if I know cheese is sometimes on sale for $3.88 for a 2 lb block, I won't buy it when it's $7.99. Same for butter, it goes on sale for $1.99 per lb., so I stock up on it when I see it for that price. Both of these examples are store brand, and not organic which is what I would normally buy -- but I am trying to cut my grocery budget (it's over $1k a month, and I want to save money!) so I'm doing more like half and half of organics, except for some select produce until I can find other ways to cut back.

anyhow, subbing for ideas. I'm pretty limited as there are only two grocery stores in my city, plus walmart. But I can drive a ways to get to sunflowers, Trader Joe's, and WF's a couple times a month, but only for good deals.

[SophieAnn]

I almost never use coupons at the grocery store, but what we do that works is:

1) Shop the flyers - sort through the flyers and make notes of what is a good deal at each store

2) Meal plan - plan meals around what you already have (pantry, freezer, etc.), things on your list from #1. Plan 5 or 6 days of dinners (depending on what they are) and plan at least 1 day of eating leftovers for dinner. Planning meals ensures that fresh food doesn't get wasted.

3) Stock up when it's really cheap. For pantry items that you use with some regularity, stock up when they're on sale so you always have them on-hand and don't need to buy at full price. E.g. pasta sauce, canned diced tomatoes we would buy a case (12 cans) or two at a time when it's really cheap. Same goes for meats - we stock up when it's cheap and put it in the deep freezer (e.g. boneless skinless chicken breasts for $2/lb., prime rib for $3.99/lb.). We pay attention to prices so we know when it's a good enough deal to stock up. Virtually nothing in my chest freezer or pantry was bought at regular price.

4) Know your prices for essentials (i.e. milk, eggs, bread, butter). Each week we shop at 2-4 different grocery stores to get different sale items, but we know which store always has the best regular price for milk, butter, eggs, etc. so we only buy those things at that one store (unless there's a better flyer price elsewhere).

[wombatclay]

Our local stores don't accept printed coupons and buying the paper for the coupons just wasn't worth it, so I "get" the desire to skip the coupons.

Like pp, I shop the deals and stock up on things I know we'll use. I have a dozen or so "go to" recipes that DH and I like and the kiddos enjoy too so I plan shopping trips around those things. Menu planning (especially planning meals based on potential leftovers) really helps keep waste minimal and reduces impulse buys as well as cutting down on extra store trips.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is Angel Food... it's a non-income based food service that sells "boxes" of food once a month. The idea is that one box could provide a week of meals for a family of four. You order online and pick up the food once a month. We did it a while ago and found the food to be heavily processed and stopped getting it. We've started doing it again though since the program has changed a bit and offers much more "unprocessed" options, even a fruit/veggie only box. It may be worth looking into.

[xmysticprincessx]

If you have a Rite Aid near you, look into their SCR rebate program. There's often stuff like toothpaste, shampoo, body wash, etc that are free after rebate. You could get "paid" to take the stuff after a coupon and rebate. If you go to a site like hotcouponworld.com or slickdeals.net (and go to the drugstore forum), the 1st or 2nd post normally has a list of all of the deals, plus where you can find a coupon (if there is one). You can save your coupon inserts (without clipping them) and just clip the ones you need for the sale. There's often links to a printable coupon too, so you can do that to save an extra few dollars.

How about shopping at Aldi? We get our soymilk there (its $2.49 a half gallon, plus its organic). Its also a small store, so a lot less overwhelming than going to a larger grocery store.

Does your co-op have a good bulk area? I have to stop at ours soon, since we are all out of oatmeal, which is about $1.29 a pound there for organic, about $0.30 a pound less for conventional. I saved old jars and put my bulk stuff in there.

Do you have a salvage/scratch n dent grocery store in your area? We have one, and I've gotten some great bargains there before. (Keep an eye on expiration dates, however, a lot of stuff is good for some period of time after the date.) Some stuff is a bargain, others are about the same price on sale or even regular price at the regular grocery store. Here's a list of salvage grocery stores around the US:
http://andersonscountrymarket.net/directory

[my2girlz]

I shop like most of the previous posters. I save most of my money by paying attention to the sales cycles and stocking up when prices are low. I still use coupons, but I go through cycles with that too. Right now I'm not really looking too hard for coupons other than what comes in the mail or in my local Sunday paper.