Cut Your Grocery Bill In Half! with Stephanie Nelson, The Coupon Mom

A recent study using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that grocery prices have increased 31% over the past 10 years, with the highest increases on some of the most common household items like eggs, ground beef, fish, rice, pasta, apples and more.  Although we can’t stop price increases, we can shop more strategically to pay prices that are lower than average to save our grocery budgets.  How to save on these items?

Save on eggs:  Compare prices of eggs at various types of stores.  You may find that a discount store like Aldi or Save A Lot have much lower prices than your supermarket.  Make an extra stop twice a month and buy the eggs with the latest sell-by date and store them in the coldest part of the refrigerator (which is the back, NOT the door).

Save on ground beef:  Shop sales and buy the larger family packages.  Break large packages into smaller portions and freeze for future weeks.  Only buy high-ticket freezable items like beef, poultry and pork when your store features it as a half-price sale item to save hundreds of dollars over the course of the year.

Save on fish:  Compare prices for the least-expensive form of your favorite fish.  I buy flash frozen salmon, which is also more convenient since I can thaw a piece easily rather than making a special trip to the store to buy fresh fish on the day I need it.  Frozen fish is also great for portion control so I’m eating a reasonable portion (5 to 6 ounces) rather than the weight from the fish counter that is always slightly higher than I requested!

Save on rice and pasta:  Watch for coupons available for several brands of rice and pasta and stock up when these brands go on sale.  Supermarkets tend to put these items on sale very often so there’s no reason to ever pay full price here.

Save on apples:  Again, there is a wide range of prices for apples depending on the variety and the size apple you purchase.  For lower cost-per-apple and for portion control, compare the cost of bagged apples as compared to buying individual apples by the pound. I like to buy three-pound bags of organic apples from Trader Joe’s which is about the same cost as buying two large individual apples at the supermarket.  If your family eats apples regularly, do the math on the cost per apple for small apples vs. large apples and look at your overall cost per week, month and year.  For our family, we save a couple of hundred dollars a year buying the smaller apples.

Learn more about all 20 grocery price increases here

 

If shoppers learn some simple strategies, they can cut their grocery bill in half this year, and for a family of four that translates into an average savings of  $5700. According to the USDA, grocery spending for families of four ranges from $7200 to $15,600 per year, taking a large cut out of their budget. But with smart Strategic Shopping, families can still enjoy the foods they like at a lower cost.  Watch our short video to learn how to do this easily

“Strategic Shopping” is not about changing the way you eat, it is about changing the way you buy the food that you like.

1.      The key to saving is planning ahead.  Save time by using websites that do the work of matching store sales with coupons and promotions to find the best deals each week.

o   Plan your meals and shopping list around the store’s sale items.

o   Use the store loyalty card for sale prices and promotion discounts

o   Compare deals for 2-3 stores each week to pick the store with best deals

2.      Use coupons—but wait until the item is on sale to get rock-bottom prices.

o   Collect coupons from multiple sources to be able to stock up when items hit their lowest sale prices such as Sunday newspaper (80% of coupons distributed), printable coupon sites, digital coupons on store websites, home mailers, checkout coupons, store coupons from in-store kiosks or flyers, coupons mailed by manufacturers when requested

o   Easiest way to organize coupons: “Whole Insert Method”: Clip only the coupons needed for each shopping trip, following directions on websites (15 to 30 minutes per week = $100 per week savings average). Click to watch tutorial video

3.      Know your item’s prices and stock up when they hit their lowest prices.  When you run out of your items, you’ll be shopping from your own discounted inventory instead of paying full price at the store.

o   If a popular sale item is out of stock, ask the store for a raincheck  You will be able to buy the item at the previous sale price in a future week when it is back in stock

4.      Know how your store’s savings programs and coupon policies work.  Stack the strategies to get the lowest prices.

o   Combine coupons with store sales and special promotions

o   Combine store coupons with manufacturers coupons

o   Use automatic rebate programs to save on future orders (e.g. CVS Extrabucks, Walgreens Balance Rewards and Rite Aid +UP Rewards)

5.      Turn your Smartphone into a cash machine

o   Use free cash back apps for grocery items (such as Ibotta, Savingstar, Checkout 51), on top of coupon savings

o   Get digital coupons from the stores’ apps to either load to your loyalty card 

Watch our short video to learn how to do all of this easily