saving money on groceries

Earlier today when I started this post I thought of a lot more ideas. By the time I got done writing all the fluff I couldn't think of as many. If I think of them I will post more later. This is long but the ideas are at the bottom and if you do anything to save money on food let me know.

When people find out I coupon they always say, "Man I need you to teach me how to do that." Which is great. However, saving money on food and groceries takes more than couponing. And even though couponing is grea to fully get the effect of coupong it takes planning, time, research, patience, and practice. So if you don't want to or can't do those things it may feel you have no hope in saving money on grocery shopping.

Wrong. There are many tricks to saving money on groceries that don't take coupons. So here is my list of tricks. ( after some background) I try to do these things but I am not perfect and sometimes I get in a rut and have to get myself back on the money saving train.

I want to give you a little background of what I use to do and how far I have come. when Donny and I first were married I usually went groacery shopping every other week. I would spend about $150-200 every time. Plus we went out to eat a decent amount as well. I usually bought my lunch at work because my store was in the mall's food court and it was just way to easy to buy to much. Donny usually took leftovers or frozen type food to work.

I like to cook and try new things so it was very common for my grocery list to be a mile long and many of the recipes I tried I had to buy every ingredient even spices so my home cooked meals where not very price effective.

When I was prego we grabbed a burger way too much because after work or school I was usually to tired to cook. After Italia was born the eatingout for lunch stopped because I was no longer working. I probably only went grocery shopping about every 2 to 3 weeks spending about $200 each time. Also I would usually hit Costco when I was out and pick up some grocery items there, which I don't know if I have ever left that store without spending $100. the burgers continued though:)

When we moved into my parents house while we where building I spent a lot. We didin't literally pay rent so I bought the groceries. I was buying for 5 people and doing a lot of specialty buying. I was not caring what we bought or how much. I didn't have to. I was buying stuff for Donny to take up to the mine and then buying stuff for everyone at the house. I started coupong here and got some great deals but those were seperate trips not the normal grocery shopping and most of it was toiletry not food items. I was shopping every week and spending $200+. so once we moved into our house I couldn't do that anymore.

Now I go on a big grocery shopping trip $200+ about every three months. I do maybe $50 dollars a week on fresh produce and coupon shopping. Every now and gain I do a bigger food storage purchase but those aren't set. My pantry is never empty and my freezer is always full, th eonly thing that goes empty is the fridge. I can always make a dinner if I tr. Italia might not like it but she never likes anything I fix lately. We could live off our food propbably close to a year. We could eat well for 3 months.

Somethings I do to help food stretch.

I really try not to go tot the store for one item that I am missing. I have made meals missing an ingredient or improvising it. I use to not make the meal unless I had everything perfect. Now even if itwould be better with sour cream I will still make the tacos or what ever it is because if I ran to the store I am sure it would be at least a $20 trip.

I rarely by food specially for Donny to take to the mine. He takes leftovers and things I got on a good deal with couponing.

Even if it seems we are out of food aka the fridge is low I will try to creat something from what we have even if it wasn't a planned meal.

I try to do a food storage recipe every couple days they are usually cheap and it is important to know how to use your food storage other wise what is the point in having it.

Donny is out of town a lot so what I tend to do is make one meal for me and eat it for a couple of days. When Donny is home that is when I try my food storage recipes and any other recipes that I want to try.

When I do try new things that I have to buy a lot for, especially if you have to buy a whole package for a small amout, I try to find other recipes that call for that ingredient and try them to so I kill two birds with one stone.

One common thing I do is make breakfast burritos. Eggs, flour tortillas, and cheese are the most important ingredients and the cheapest, I usually have them in my fridge.

Shop the sales. Buy in bulk if you can that way you can take advantage of things on sale longer than when they are on sale.

I am not brand loyal. I buywhatever is cheapest even if that means not using a coupon. there are some things that the brand makes a difference but most things are about the same.