Wanted Tips/tricks for Saving $$On Groceries

J.,

Target's Gerber baby food is quite a bit cheaper than at Safeway. Also, with the Safeway/Albertsons club cards a lot of things are cheaper. I happened to be there earlier tonight and Safeway had Ben & Jerry's ice cream 2/$7 with club card. I also try to buy generic/store brand as often as I can.

Hope this helps,
Melissa

For a lot of the basics I shop for, Fred Meyer has the cheapest prices. If you want your money to stretch farther, shop the ads. When Albertson's has their buy 10, get $5 off, buy 10 and store them. Rather than shop with a meal in mind, I look at the ads, and make a meal plan based on what is on sale and what I already have at home. I also just skip expensive cuts of meat altogether. If it is above $3 a pound, I don't buy it. Then when the meat is on sale for a price I will pay, I buy extra and freeze it.

J. - I am a fanatic about saving money when I grocery shop. I always come home to my husband and brag about all the money I have saved us. We too are tight on money (isn't everyone? But seriously, paycheck to paycheck!), so here are some of the things that I have done to cut down on prices.
1. Shop at Fred Meyer for my Box/canned items. There was a story in the Seattle Times a couple of months (maybe a year) ago that had the writers do "investigative reporting". They went to all the stores, safeway, QFC, Fred Meyer, ALbertsons....you name it, and they came up with Fred Meyer being the cheapest. They bought the EXACT same thing at all the stores.
2. COUPONS. I cut them every Sunday, I cut the ones from Fred Meyer too. Sometimes you can double up. Last week I got two normal size Best Food's Mayo, for 1.75 for BOTH! I always keep them in a plastic bag in my purse, that way if I see something I can use the coupons. I also use them for Shampoo's and soaps.
3. In Everett, across from the WalMart on highway 99 (on the same side of the street as Home Depot) There is a produce store that just opened. They had a sign out forever about them opening soon, well they finally did. My husband and I went last week to check them out. Apples for .59 a pound, tomatoes for .99 a pound, onions for .19 a pound. The prices were GREAT!! I did all our produce shopping there for the week and spent about $12! And I feed a family of 4!
4. Buy meat when it's on sale, buy in bulk! Take it home, trim it, wash it, put it in plastic bags (freezer ones) and stock up the freezer. Never buy things already trimmed for your convenience, they will charge you a dollar or two more per lb.
5. Store brand items are often .50 to a dollar less than name brand and often taste the same.
6. My children and my husband know that I will never buy anything unless it's on a good sale. If it's a great sale, I will buy a couple of them, and then stock up.
7. Check your paper, check the mailers that they send out in the mailbox, look for the good deals.
Sorry, a little long winded, but I am pretty pasionate about not paying full price for anything! Also, about things that are not food.....garage sales are a fantastic place to find clothes, especially since your son is so young. I find shorts and shirts for my 2 year old at .25 and .50 and they look great! Value Village also has some great deals (Thurs-Sun has special "color" sales. ie blue is 50% off or something) I got gymboree, old navy, gap...for a dollar!
Hope some of these ideas help you (or anyone else reading)!
L.

Hi J.,

I am a mother of four and have a best friend who is the mother of five. I use Costco a lot and she finds absolutely fantastic grocery deals at Walmart up just north of Marysville. At Costco you have to be willing to buy in bulk, but at Walmart you don't have to do that. The one just north of Marysville is the only one I know of around that is a full grocery store and I'm about to start shopping there as well.

Good Luck!

D. P.

Check out the Grocery Outlet.

Try Target for cereal, convenience foods-their prices are significantly lower and always have something on sale.

Also, if you live in Everett try Grocery Outlet on Everett mall way.

Watch the flyers in the mail. Alot of 10 for 10 dollar deals.

Hi J.! Winco in Marysville is the cheapest I have seen!! You have to try it, it is worth the drive!! Walmart is the 2nd best in my opinion. The only problem with winco is you have to bag your own groceries, so if you go in the middle of the day and not on the weekend it is the best!! Good Luck!

I have been going to WinCo in Marysville (there is also another one in Federal Way). I have 2 VERY FRUGAL friends, and they told me about WinCo for a few years before I finally went there. And I'm kicking myself now for no listening. I live down the street from an Albertsons to get a couple of things, but my majority of grocery shopping is done at WinCo-their prices are the best. I also get a few things at Costco (cheese, eggs,frozen chicken breasts, those things are still cheap there).

I also do meal planning. I go through my cookbooks and recipes, I discuss what my husband might want to have (he always has an opinion). I buy only the ingredients for what I'm making, and then some other things too (yogurt, cereal, flour, misc items). I will buy meat at Costco, and then I Seal-A-Meal (vaccum sealer) the meat so it doesn't get freezer burned. It's a big investment, but before I bought it, I was wasting our money on other freezer bags, and our meat got freezer burned. I also think of things that I can make something else out of. If I bake a whole roasted Chicken, when there are left overs, I will boil it down to make 1 of 3 different Chicken soups. I will also throw in a couple of frozen chicken breasts (boneless-skinless) in the pot when I'm boiling the chicken, so I have more meat in the soup. It's also a good idea to make a 9 X 13 pan of things like lasagna & casseroles. You can take those left overs, and freeze them in plastic containers, so if you don't feel like cooking, you can just grab something from the freezer. I also make spagetti sauce from scratch. I make a big pot of it, and make lasagna, and then freeze the rest-when you let the sauce cool, you can put the sauce into Ziplock FREEZER bags. I say FREEZER because I learned from experiance, that the freezer bags are stronger and thicker than the STORAGE bags.

Coupons, I have found the best source is your local Sunday paper. If you live near or around Seattle, The Seattle Times Sunday paper is the best source for coupons. But, coupons only work on things you buy now. Vendors are big on promoting new items with coupons. I will cut the coupon out, IF I use the product already.

I have found when I stick to the meal plans, freeze the left overs, buy some frozen veggies-my dollar really stretches. I have been pleasantly suprised when my month is over, I still have meat in the freezer, and other ingredients left over. I over predict and sometimes over buy, but when I take inventory of what I need to buy for the next time, I won't have to spend so much.

I know you are buying diapers, and the cheapest source is Costco for diapers.

Also, another thing I did to save us money on baby clothes-I shopped the second hand stores, baby consignment, Goodwill, and Value Village. Babies grow super fast, and baby clothes don't wear out as fast as older kid clothes do. I always shopped consignment first when buying baby clothes. I did it with my 6 year old up until he grew into a 3T-4T. You can also find some great deals on toys, and other baby equipment.

I H. this has helped! Good Luck!