Grocery Shopping

[ThomasIsUnderrated]

Share your tips, ideas, and stories in this thread.

I'll start it off. :grin:

I'm known at the local supermarket as being a good shopper. It's very rare that I leave the store without having saved at least two-thirds on my grocery bill. Many of the items I get free, because I combine different kinds of coupons (such as in-store, reduced, and manufacturers) for the same items, which is allowed in almost all grocery stores. (Unlike combining several manufacturers coupons and using them on the same item, which is almost universally prohibited.) Besides learning the little tricks, I get to know people in the deli and bakery, which can come in handy when they've got items that are close to the sell-by date.

For example, I saved around $70 today at the local grocery store by using one of those store-savings cards and coupons. (They're tripling them in the area until next Saturday.) Combining the manufacturers and in-store coupons that were attached to some of the products, they actually paid me for some of the items!

I got the following items (almost all name-brand) for $25 total, including tax (again, some were free or better-than-free):

Vidalia onions
Vine tomatoes
Frozen Blueberries
2 packages of already-cooked salisbury steaks
Beef Hot dogs
Package of smoked turkey breast
Shredded Cheddar cheese
Sour cream
Fruit punch
Tea
Large-sized cereal
Flour tortillas
Box of couscous
2 packages of rice
Breadsticks
2 containers of mustard
Hot sauce
Soy sauce
Maple syrup
Strawberry syrup
Dried onion topping
Corn starch
White Frosting
Microwave Popcorn
Pizza rolls
Ice cream novelty
Zip-loc baggies
Dish detergent
Cleaning wipes
Shampoo
2 bottles of handsoap
4 double-rolls of toilet tissue
Plug-in room freshener
Protein bar
Mouthwash


The receipt, and this is not hyperbole, measured roughly a yard in length, because of the number of discounts and coupons.

[HomeschoolrsRUs]

Thomas!

I am amazed, surprised, and pleasantly pleased! I TOO am a coupon clipper! My parents, at one time, owned a job placement agency, and so subscribed to about 12-15 newspapers from various places. Although they got out of the business, they got used to getting the newspapers, and Mom would always save up the coupons for us to "go through" together. I have a coupon organizer that is usually full with up-to-date coupons.

I have but one tip I can add to yours Thomas, and that is a little "trick" I play on myself. After 16-1/2 years of marriage I have almost gotten my grocery shopping down to an exact science. I go through the doors with prices in mind as to what I am willing to pay for what item (this works best with meat.) I set a fixed amount, and if I am unable to find what I am looking for at the price I have set, I readjust my "list" and add/subtract items until I have completed my shopping.

I also make lists of meals before I leave the house. I know this takes the "fun" out of figuring out "what's for dinner," but in my house it saves time and money. We have a deep freezer too, so I buy lots of "family sized" things and cook and freeze, or at least assemble and freeze to make cooking as quick and easy as possible.

[ThomasIsUnderrated]

We have a deep freezer too, so I buy lots of "family sized" things and cook and freeze, or at least assemble and freeze to make cooking as quick and easy as possible.

I don't have a deep freezer (just a regular fridge with freezer on top), but I sometimes get a large package of meat, divide it into smaller packages, and freeze those packages. Being single and on a very tight budget, I don't get meat very often, but when I do find an excellent deal, I'll take advantage of it, because I'm supposed to have a lot of protein. One thing that really helped was learning how long certain meats can be stored. I was shocked at how long some of them can be kept as long as they remain frozen! :eek:

[Bob_Arctor]

I'm known at the local supermarket as being a good shopper. It's very rare that I leave the store without having saved at least two-thirds on my grocery bill...
I believe you - my girlfriend's father does the same thing. He's retired, and clipping coupons, getting rebates and the like is a diversion for him. He makes something of a game out of it, you could say.

However, his work tends to generate more strife than anything else. He tends to buy a lot of ice cream. Tons of it. The vision of perhaps ten cartons (at least) of the stuff clogging the fridge at all time has, over the years, driven his wife crazy. It's really the only thing they ever argue about.
I recently got her an ice cream maker for her birthday, for laughs. Oddly she claimed she wanted to keep it! Baffling.

His habits benefit me a little as well. Free razors and toothbrushes!

[Antigone]

Wow! I am in the company of greatness!! Looks like I'm gonna have to get serious about my shopping. I use to do the coupon thing when I lived in Portland but when I moved back "home" I slacked off. Time to get serious again.

[LadyHawk108]

Homes, I thought I was the only one who ever planned their meals like that. For many years my husband got paid once a month, so when I went grocery shopping, I had already planned out meals for 30 days and made a list of everything I needed to make it. That does save alot of money because then you're not running out to the store needlessly and buying something easy but more expensive just because you were unprepared. It could take me a good 2-3 hours to make the menu, the grocery list and then go through all the coupons to see which ones corresponded to things I needed to buy. Those cashiers sure hated to see me coming to their registers with 2 overflowing carts though!!

[UnkHiram]

I had to say this because it makes me sound so "San Francisco" but we plan our meals around here too. The Sweet blonde cooks 3 times a week, I cook 3 times a week and the blondettes share one evening meal a week. I do all the cooking on the weekends, breakfast, lunch and dinners. Friday night I figure out what I wanna cook and then go to the store and pick all the ingrediants I will need for the meals and the deserts. We use coupons occasionally but not nearly enough.

[HomeschoolrsRUs]

Homes, I thought I was the only one who ever planned their meals like that. For many years my husband got paid once a month, so when I went grocery shopping, I had already planned out meals for 30 days and made a list of everything I needed to make it. That does save alot of money because then you're not running out to the store needlessly and buying something easy but more expensive just because you were unprepared. It could take me a good 2-3 hours to make the menu, the grocery list and then go through all the coupons to see which ones corresponded to things I needed to buy. Those cashiers sure hated to see me coming to their registers with 2 overflowing carts though!!

Lady,
I can see we are almost two blooms off the same rose bush! When Bubba and I got married he was only paid once a month too! That's EXACTLY what I would do, that's how I got so used to it. Bubba got paid the last working day of the month, and usually the very next day/evening, I would go shopping for a month's worth of groceries. I made lists of meals using a hand made calendar. When I would get home I would "assemble" meals -- some I would pre-cook if I knew they took a long time to make, others I would just put all the "stuff" together in freezer-tupperware or bags. Was so nice, even Bubba could take something out of the freezer and make a decent meal!
About three years ago, they switched Bubba from monthly to bi-monthly pay, and we STILL haven't gotten our financial bearings. I actually HATE getting paid like this now.

Funny story about shopping . . . I am an avid coupon shopper too, and an even BETTER cart-filler/stacker. I am SO good, in fact, I can get everything on my list AND extras, and fit it all in ONE cart! One day I was at the end of my shopping on the last aisle when the grocery manager walked by and did a double take with me and my overflowing cart. He came right up to me and asked me, thanked me profusely for shopping at his store (was Publix), and asked if he could get me another cart. I told him no thank you, that I was pretty good at filling my cart and that I was almost finished anyway. He asked me to wait right where I was, and he hurried off. I continued shopping in that aisle, and directly he walked right up to me and handed me a HUGE bouquet of flowers, THEN proceeded to push my cart the rest of the way for me, all the way to the check-out. He refused to let me unload my cart, and did it FOR me. After I paid he PERSONALLY took my carts out (I can put it in one, but THEY needed three, LOL) and unloaded them into my car. After he finished, he again personally thanked me for shopping at his store! Can you believe that? I had a REALLY hard time explaining the flowers to Bubba, LOL

[LadyHawk108]

I never mastered the fine art of cart packing though. The ex was pretty good at it if he came, but he was always trying to get me to hurry so I pretty much left him at home. No good shopper worth her salt can hurry when they're doing serious grocery shopping!