Tag Archives: grocery coupons

Saving the Most with Your Grocery List

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If you go into the store without a grocery list to do your weekly shopping you’re likely to spend more and forget a few necessary items.  Eventually, you’ll have to go back for those necessary items and end up grabbing a few more things you may not necessarily need.  Making a grocery list also helps you take full advantage of the money saving power of manufacturer coupons.  Here are a few tips to help you merge your grocery coupons and your grocery list to save the most money on every trip.

Photo Credit: http://www.couponaudit.com

Extreme Couponing

If you’ve ever watched the TV realty series Extreme Couponing, you know that it is humanly possible to walk out of the grocery store with several hundred dollars worth of merchandise for pocket change.  Though the people on the show pretty much coupon full time and a lot of what they get can’t be incorporated into a weekly meal plan, it is inspirational.  Check for coupons online and printable coupons, subscribe to the Sunday paper and get you a coupon wallet to keep everything organized.  You don’t have to go extreme to save money.

Meal Planning for the Coupon Mom

On Sunday, after you’ve talked your kids into clipping out all of the coupons out of the paper’s insert, sit down with your computer and lay out all of the coupons.  Pick out what you can use to make your meals for the week and file the rest of the coupons in alphabetical order for later use.  Search for weekly specials online at your local grocery store and try and find any other online coupons you may need to fill in the gaps.  This way you’re basing your weekly meal plan around the coupons efficiently rather than using one coupon towards a meal that you need 15 non-discounted ingredients to make.

Grocery Shopping Made Easy

When you head to the grocery store you want to have a clean, hand written or printable grocery list, your stack of coupons for that week’s food and stable blood sugar so you don’t deviate from your list due to temptation.  There is no need to carry around coupons that you won’t be using that week.  Remember that buying superfluous items at a discount still costs money, so try and use coupons that help you save on the things you actually need and not use them as an excuse to buy a bunch of unnecessary stuff.

Grocery coupons may seem like a hassle, but once you get the hang of it they really can save you 10-20% a week.  Try these organization methods and see if you can’t save enough money to make it worth the effort.  There’s nothing like free coupons saving you enough over the course of a month to completely justify a night out to dinner!

My Grocery Shopping Lists: Organic Produce

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If you want to eliminate the amount of foods with pesticide residue you feed yourself and your family, you probably already buy organic. However, as we all know, organic tends to be a little pricier than the regular ol’ grocery shopping list items. Instead of buying everything organic, buy the top list of contaminated crops organic. According to the Environmental Working Group, simply following this list could reduce your exposure to pesticides by 80%.

Foods That You Should Always Buy Organic

  • Apples: Apples are the dirtiest of them all, raking number one for pesticides. When you buy your apples organic, make sure to get apple juice and applesauce organic, too!
  • Celery: Celery is often ranked number two for pesticide residue, which may be difficult to wash away because there’s no protective layer of skin.
  • Strawberries: Always buy your strawberries, including strawberry jam or dried strawberries, organic.
  • Blueberries: While frozen bags of blueberries have less pesticides, blueberries, like strawberries, carry about 50 pesticides.
  • Peaches: During the summer, shop at your local farmers’ market for organic peaches. Peaches that aren’t organic have been found with about 50 different pesticides on them, however canned peaches have fewer pesticides, generally speaking.
  • Spinach, Kale, and Lettuce: Buy all of your leafy greens organic to avoid about 50 different kinds of pesticides.
  • Nectarines: While domestic nectarines aren’t that bad, nectarines from imported farms are loaded with chemicals.
  • Grapes: Like nectarines, grapes are imported to the US with countless pesticides. Don’t forget to buy your raisins organic, too!
  • Sweet Bell Peppers: Bell peppers may look colorful and appealing in the aisles but make sure you’re buying these veggies organic.
  • Potatoes: It shouldn’t be a shock that potatoes are pesticide magnets, considering the pests that have historically threatened the vegetable. Sweet potatoes, however, have lower amounts of pesticide residue.

If you follow this list, you pesticide intake will be greatly reduced, making for a healthy happy household. Just buy these organic and you can rest easy buying the rest of your produce in the less expensive produce section.

Grocery List Ideas: Five Things That Should Always Be on Your Grocery List

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When times are tough, we scramble for our grocery coupons, rebates or a combination of the two to save a buck. However, there are other ways to save, too. The key to buying smart is to have a core list of items, preferably those that can be a part of healthy meals and last for a few servings. Make a list with five items and get creative by using a vast assortment of recipes with the same key ingredients and generating some new grocery list ideas. Here are five items that are currently on our grocery list:

#1 Tomato Sauce

Pork chops, baked ziti, chili, stew, soup, chicken cacciatore, pot roast–tomato sauce can be used to make just about anything on your grocery list. Try cooking up a crock pot Italian sausage with tomato sauce or some pork chops in tomato sauce, for two filling and delicious dinner meals.

#2 Rice and/or dry pasta

Rice is a versatile food that can be enjoyed in tons of different dishes. Whether you like basmati, brown, jasmine, or traditional white, rice works great as a side dish or entrée such as a risotto. This starch can also be used as dessert in a dish like rice pudding, paired with cinnamon or raisons for a delicious kick. Both rice and pasta can be used to add some texture into casseroles and soups. Using whole grain noodles and veggies, you can make a great stir fry dish for a healthy meatless entrée. Pasta takes little time to cook and can be topped off with a number of sauces or salad dressings to make hot or cold entrées and side dishes.

#3 Ground meats

Whether it’s beef, turkey, chicken or a meat alternative, it is good to have something with versatility that the entire family can enjoy.  From burgers to meatballs, to pot pies, this can be used to make a variety of healthy meals or can remain frozen until ready to use. Any time that grocery stores offer special or bulk prices, consider it an investment that will create many future meals for your family.

#4 Eggs

Eggs are a common staple in nearly every home, providing large amounts of protein and a burst of flavor to breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Scramble up some eggs for a filling breakfast, hard boil eggs for a snack, add egg to a stir fry dish or make quiche for dinner, or bake with eggs for a scrumptious dessert.

#5 Dried beans

Dried beans are one of the most filling, nutritious, thrifty foods you will find at any grocery store. Most beans are low in calories, sodium, and fat but high in fiber. Use beans as an alternative to meat in your entrées to save a few bucks, or couple beans with cheese and rice for a Mexican-style dish. If you want the best buy, buy beans in the bulk section of your grocer, then store them and use as needed.

Stock your kitchen so that you can make a great meal at a moment’s notice. Keep your eyes peeled for these five items in the grocery store (and grab ‘em when they’re on sale) and you’ll always have the ingredients to prepare wonderfully delicious, versatile, yet budget-friendly meals.

Picking Fresh Meats on your Grocery Checklist

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Eating processed meats, like bacon, sausage, deli meats, and hot dogs, may raise the risk of heart disease and diabetes, according to U.S. researchers at Harvard. Even further, unprocessed, red meat may not be as bad as we once thought. This may be because processed meats contain about 4 times more sodium and 50% more nitrate preservatives than unprocessed meat. While more research has to be executed before definitive health risks are pinpointed, unprocessed meat can make a great dinner and is definitely better for us than fast food hamburgers or take-out hot dogs. When you’re shopping at the grocery store, gravitate towards fresh, unprocessed meat at the butchery. To help you select the richest, most delicious meats, we’ve created a grocery checklist for picking fresh meats, so that you can bring the healthiest meats home to your family:

  • Know your grades: Prime beef is the ultimate in tenderness, juiciness, and flavor, while choice cut will still be tender and juicy. Choice grade cuts are great if you’ll be marinating your meat, giving you the opportunity to save a bit of money by purchasing a cheaper grade.
  • If a meat item is on sale, take advantage of a fresh product! The demand will be greater on sale items so there is less likelihood that the meat has been sitting on the shelf for too long.
  • “Select” meats are great candidates for sale items, so because they are often cheaper for the butcher to buy but they have a high markup price. However, select meats are lower in quality and taste. Select meat could work great mixed in with something that’s spiced, like in meatballs, for example.
  • Check out the color: When choosing fresh meat, you should always check out the color before you make your pick. Beef should be cherry red, while pork has a pale color. Ground beef can be red on the outside and purple on the inside, meaning the meat has been exposed to trace amounts of oxygen. Don’t worry, about a little bit of purple doesn’t mean the meat is bad. Also keep your eyes peeled for extensive marbling, which makes for a delectable, tender cut of beef.
  • Clearly, you should stay away from smelly meats. Take a whiff of the meat under inspection and make sure there’s no stinky, rancid stench coming from your cut. Of course, this is a no-brainer!

Reduce the sodium and preservatives in your food by picking the freshest meats at the grocery store. Next time you’re at the supermarket, make sure to keep a grocery checklist for picking meats so that you can serve the freshest unprocessed meats to your family and friends.

Managing Your Budget by Using a Grocery List with Prices

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According to the latest government figures, the consumer price index for food at home increased by 60 basis points year-over-year to 6% versus the 10 basis point gain in food away from home CPI inflation to 2.7%. In other words, prices are wavering up, up, up and we expect that they’ll keep rising. With grocery store inflation, prices are in constant flux. Instead of gasping at your receipt with shock, manage your budget by creating a grocery list with prices.

How can a grocery list with prices help me?

While you may have grown accustomed to your plain ol’ grocery list, there are plenty of ways that a grocery list with prices can help you become a more informed consumer:

  • Manage seasonal prices: With prices listed alongside each product, you can better understand seasonal prices, especially with seasonal products like produce and fruit.
  • Look at inflation of certain goods: With economic turns or business changes, certain brands may rise or fall in price. With a grocery list with prices, you can better gauge how much a certain brand or product is inflating and find a less expensive alternative until it falls back to its normal price.
  • Identify sales: Gimmicky “manger’s picks” and other faux-sales are really just a bunch of big yellow signs, targeting uninformed shoppers. Instead of falling for these “deals,” track the real deals with your grocery list. Do the math: is that 3 for 1 really a great deal? If needed, bring a calculator to the grocery store, too, to do the necessary calculations.
  • Survey prices: The best part about a grocery list with prices is that you can survey prices of different stores to know where and when to buy each grocery list item for the best deal. While one grocery store may have low prices on ultra-fresh produce, another might give you the most bang for your buck on bulk goods. Do the math and shop accordingly.

How do I make and manage my grocery list with prices?

Finding and/or making a grocery list with prices is easy, once you get started:

  • Find a grocery list online: If you don’t particularly care for your own hand writing, find a free grocery list with prices online that you can print, nice and neat.
  • Make an excel sheet: You can also make an excel spreadsheet to survey each item and their price fluctuations. You may need a basic knowledge of excel for this one, so if you don’t know your way around the program, try finding a pre-made excel spreadsheet online that you can plug in with your own numbers.
  • Compile receipts: Always save your receipts and use them to understand where your money is really going. You may need them when you’re trying to calculate data for an excel spreadsheet of your grocery list prices.
  • Compile grocery lists: Save your old grocery lists with prices to, again, see how much you spend on each item or compare them with your receipts to see how well you stuck to your grocery list.

Grocery lists can greatly aid you in tracking market trends, making informed decisions about your purchases, and, ultimately, following your grocery store budget. All it takes is a grocery list with prices and you’ll be well on your way to saving big.