Friday, February 8, 2008

Not a recipe, just a question...

Sorry, no recipe here. (But I will try to post some soon!) Some of us were talking last night at girls night about saving money at the grocery. I was thinking it might be good for everyone for us to post some of our ideas to share them with each other. Shanna had a good website to put up on the blog. But, do any of you have any brilliant ideas...from clipping coupons to how to buy in bulk and freeze for later (I try to do this and then forget about what I put in the freezer until months/years later!)? Anyway, just thought I'd throw this out there!

6 comments:

Joc said...

Guess I got there after you had this discussion, cause I sure don't remember it. :) But I would LOVE to hear everyone's ideas for penny pinching. We Bryants are on a strict grocery budget, so every tip helps!

shanna said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
shanna said...

http://www.mygrocerydeals.com/

This is the website I was telling you girls about last night. Since some of you weren't there, I'll explain. You type in your zip code and the site tells you what is currently on sale at grocery stores in your area. Pretty cool.
I also mentioned this last night, but what really helps us stay on track is making a menu plan for a week (I do it for two), then a grocery list, and then sticking to it.
It takes some time on the front end but it makes shopping and then trying to figure out what to cook a lot easier. I base a lot of what I cook that week on what's on sale. For anyone with a Walmart in town, they will match local ads. (except buy one get one free). This eliminates going to a lot of stores (but I tend not to want to give Walmart all that business and would rather support smaller chains that can't run everyone else out of town. LaFayette already lost a food lion and a kmart to Wallie world.) I buy staples there b/c I can't really afford to do all my grocery shopping at more expensive, smaller groceries. Ooh, that got a little long. Sorry. Hope this helps.

livinginthemidwest said...

I think my contributions to this discussion wouldn't help because things are a little different here in Hawaii. But I must say I am the queen of penny pinching here since it's so stinking expensive. My week usualy consists of shopping at three different grocery stores because I only shop the sales. And I also get my meats from the clearance section (it's usually a day or two from the expirationdate) and then freeze them. We also shop a lot at Costco and freeze things. I've even bought flour and sugar in bulk and then froze it in baggies because we have issues with bugs here...tropical location and all. But Lisa I think putting a list (piece of paper, little dry-erase board, etc.) by your freezer of what is in it helps...I did that when I did Dream Dinners and then I would mark off what I used and add things as I got it.

livinginthemidwest said...

Shanna, I just checked out that website and it is AWESOME! Thanks for sharing it.

shanna said...

Erin, that's a great idea about the list of what's in your freezer. I'm gonna do that b/c I always forget what's in there! Did the website work for your zip code?