Save Money On Groceries - iPhlogger.com

There is no denying the fact that things are touch in the economy right now. Even if you are one of the lucky who still has a job, chances are your worrying about losing your job if the economy continues to retreat into oblivian. After all, no job is safe.

Everyone is looking for ways to cut back expenses. Some folks are dropping their cable service. Some are being money smart and switching over to low interest credit cards in order to cut down on those wicked high interest rates, and according to this source almost 17% of U.S. households have not cut the cord on their home landlines and gone with their cellphones only.

Another big expenditure for mose people is the grocery bill. Heck, we all have to eat, right?

Below you will find a list of some of the things my wife and I have found to save money on groceries.

Cut Those Coupons
Maybe you think your just too cool to cut coupons but I can tell you, this becomes a bit addicting! In fact, the world of coupons has grown up and embraced the online world so if you dont get the Sunday paper, no worries. There are plenty of online grocery coupon sources out there. Just pick and print.

Buy Cheese In Blocks
The next time you reach for that pre-diced cheese, think again. Buy it in block form and grate it yourself and you will actually save yourself some coin. Want to save even more? Buy your cheese as a warehouse club like costco like we do and you get the cheese even cheeper...and more of it. Besides, you KNOW you wanna buy that 10 gallon jub of mayo anyways!

Read The Labels
I'm not talking about the nutrician label. I'm talking about the label below the item on the shelf. Specifically look at the price per pound. Compare brand vs. brand and package sizes. Depending on how much you might need and or if you dont have a specific brand loyalty, you can often save money just by comparison shopping in the store. A lot of stores even carry their own "generic" brands.

Member Cards
Ok...rant time. I HATE these damn cards. I think your giving up a bit of privacy when you sign up for a specific stores discount card BUT the benefit is you get to take advantage of some nice deals. In some cases, like at our local QFC we get some killer deals and there are often little bonus perks like 10% off some future purchase and I've even seen some discounted gas promotion though I've never participated in that one.

Cook - Dont Re-Heat
Set down the TV dinners and the prefab meals and cook with fresh ingredients. It will be more fresh, healthy and you can make larger portions which can be stored for future meals.

Sip It Sucker
Soup is a four letter word, but it can save you a butt load of money. Buying a $2-3 dollar can of soup at the grocery store instead of dropping $5-10 going out to eat at work every day can really ad up fast. Want to produce soup in bulk? No problems there. There are plenty of homemade soup recipes to be found on the internet these days as well.

Eat Before You Go
I really need to do this more but simply eating before you go do your grocery shopping can really help cut down on those binge junk food items, which really ads up fast. There are nights I've asked to "pick up milk and butter" on the way home...like tonight for example. This should have cost no more then what...$10? Well...I had not eaten 5 hours so I end up buying some chips, dip and a few others items I randomly saw while just wandering around in the store. Next thing I know I'm out $30. Two weeks before I had a simliar request but I exited with only the requested items. Why? I wasn't hungry when I went.

Midnight Run
A good movie but disaster for you if you have to hit up a grocery store in the middle of the night before you ran out of contact solutions or some other non-food item. Most of these non-food items can be found cheaper elsewhere. In our case we simply walk next door to the drug store and save several dollars on these misc. items. Might not seem like a lot but it all adds up.

Valentine Flowers
This one is not food related but I have to point it out to people. A few years ago I spent $150 buying my wife and daughter roses for Valentines day at a local florist during "the rush". No more I tell you. My local QFC and I would suspect other chains to the same thing...i can get a dozen roses with my member card for roughly $20, and they lasted longer then the $150 ones from the so called flower powers. Trust me, your valentine wont care where they came from. It's the thought that counts, right?

Bulk Up You Wimp
If an item that you use a lot of has any kind of shelf life, buy it in bulk if it's available. Again, the large packages often have a price per unit that is less and it might just save you a random trip to the store to pick up more. Heck, gas prices suck as well these days so fewer trips is good too!

- Scott