Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Be careful to check when you buy an item in bulk. Sometimes the savings is not significant enough to justify the space used for storage, particularly if is refrigerator/freezer item.
If you happen to have a good neighbor or friend, you might consider splitting a pkg of meat or chicken etc. with them and still get the savings with a smaller amount going into your fridge. (We split 8 yards of mulch with a neighbor, splitting the delivery fee and getting the mulch for a lower price.)
Also, I often buy fresh boneless chicken breast in the economy pkg, divvie it up into freezer bags with a marinade. Then as I thaw it, it is marinating...saving me the hassle of remembering to thaw in advance so I can flavor it.

So much stuff we've started making ourselves, but then...we have the time. Buy an 8 - 10 lb. pork shoulder and grind it using the KitchenAid grinder attachment. Separate into 1-lb. portions and freeze. Thaw when you're ready to season it for breakfast sausage, bratwurst patties, Italian sausage for pasta or patties...

And on a side note, who buys those individually shrink-wrapped "baking potatoes"?

As anyone obviously will say, read the ads, buy what's on sale, plan your meals based on what you can afford, not on what you want.

But, Is this a politically incorrect thread where we say the forbidden?

Avoid Whole Foods (Whole Paycheck), shop at Wal*Mart for staples.

Buy meat and produce at ethnic markets (no free range, no natural, just dead animals sold cheap). If you eat at most ethnic restaurants, this is what you are already eating (or worse).

Buy the cheapest, fatty cuts. More calories and taste per dollar. Chicken thighs, not boneless skinless. If you are paying more than $2 a pound for any meat, you are paying too much.

Buy the cheapest (usually freshest) eggs, $1.50 a dozen is the maximum you should pay, not the nice kind to chicken eggs.

In addition to what everyone else said ...

Be flexible. When I write up a grocery list, I plan my meals out fairly well for the week ... but I'll often just write "meat!" instead of a specific thing, then buy based on what looks good and is the most cost effective. I'll do this with vegetables if something I wanted doesn't look good for what it costs. Subbing cauliflower for broccoli or eggplant for zucchini, etc.

And I stock up when things are DIRT cheap. What's that? Whole chickens for $2? I'll take 3.

Not everyone has ethnic groceries around, but I make three stops when I buy groceries. First is our famer's market store, which is a completely different thing than an actual farmer's market. Mainly: everything there is cheaper, but they don't have as much stuff. then I move on to Fry's for stuff I couldn't get at the cheap place, and if I'm really jonesing for something I can't get at either of the first two, THEN I go to the spendy whole-foods like grocery store, usually only for two, maybe three items max.

Other than that, cooking in bulk and freezing as helped me cut back on food costs. I'm not at a bare-bones point, but I do like saving money and having really good food around all the time. A freezer stocked with home made frozen breakfast burritos curbs the "oh I'm late so I'll grab something on my way into work" cash suck, the sneakier cousin of "oh crap I forgot to pack lunch so I'll run out and grab something nearby."

One thing I have noticed about store brands...they are not always the same as brand names. Look at the ingredients and nutritional info. If they are the same then you are getting the same product for less money. Is it really a savings if you get more filler (cornstarch, sugar, sodium) for a lower price?

Lots of good advice here. Be a smart shopper and buy what one can afford. I have what is perhaps a reflection on my own personal philosophy

Eating meals is something we do every day. In some cases it is the only time we spend together as a family. This makes it a very important part of our day. We should put the best we can on the table for our families to enjoy. I believe that will lead to healthier families and more communication.with each other. I guess the point is, if there is a need to scrimp to make ends meet the dinner table is not the place to do it.
I would sooner have people give up the fancy new shirt/dress, the night out w the guys, the car thats better than one needs.

Look for value- and that value is in your family and that they understand thta you provide for them the best that you can. If we need to cut corners, so be it. Lets just make the dinner table the last place to do it.

Sorry for the rant !

I've mentioned this before on a thread, I worked for a grocery chain and found out that the store brands are literally made by the name brand companies but sold in different (cheaper) packaging so unless you just have to buy a name brand, the store brand is the same damn thing. I agree on shopping at ethnic markets. I recently purchased 2lbs of grape tomatoes for $4 at an Asian market. One small pint of those suckers went for almost $4 at the regular grocery store. Ridiculous.

Rather than a huge weekly trip, I grocery shop in small doses when I'm out running other errands. I check out the deals at the store in that shopping center and compare it to what we need. I have also found in my area that buying deli meat and cheese can often be cheaper - and definitely fresher - than prepackaged.

For meat, I've learned when the butcher marks down his items, and buy the cuts we use most often - still fresh and they go into our deep freezer. That thing was the best investment ever made. We like stir fries and if I can get a package of thin, pre-sliced beef for $2, that's a steal.

For paper goods and cleaning supplies, I've gotta admit that CVS and Walgreen's can offer some good bargains. Although...I do love my Caldrea for cleaning and splurge on that :)

Lastly, I do like to buy organic canned goods when I can, but I'll opt for the store brand over the named ones. If I can though, I buy fresh veggies, as they seem to be WAY cheaper lately! My choice is a farmer's market - or even better - to pick them out of my Granny's garden - come summer I don't buy veggies for 3 or 4 months!

These articles like the one in CR are just worthless for someone like me. I have not seen a coupon for anything I actually consume in years and years, or one that, even with the coupon, would make the item less than just buying the store brand (such as "ziploc" type sandwich bags or toothpaste), so I just have no use for coupons. I don't buy meat or dairy or bread at the grocery, so buying what's on sale there is n/a. I think I am already shopping as cheaply as possible, these tips are just worthless.

The only way I could really make a difference at this point is if I started making stuff like toothpaste, instead of buying it, but I'm just not there yet. I mean, we already re-use our sandwich bags. We don't use paper towels or paper napkins. We make our own bread. We avoid processed foods. We eat a meatless meal at least a couple of times a week. Etc.

I do what my grandparents and parents did - buy and eat whatever is on sale, not be so picky, and don't waste a scrap. They taught me to clip coupons and check the circulars since I was a tot and I still do. Lucky for me, I live in SF in a neighborhood with a plethora of Asian grocers with inexpensive meats and staples. Whatever is on sale here is usually seasonal.

Stock up on the basics when they're on sale. If I have room, I'll buy in bulk from Costco or from value packs (but I calculate cost per ounce to see if it's really a good deal or not).

The few things I don't buy on sale are from Trader Joe's (cottage cheese, high fiber cereal) - when I compare prices to Safeway or whatnot, TJ's is usually pretty inexpensive.

I'd like to add that if you're an organic buyer, you can save money on some fruits and veggies that are unnecessary to buy organic. For example, bananas have thick skins and therefore don't absorb pesticides like say, apples who have thinner skins. See the whole list of fruits and veggies you can skip in the organic section here.

Hope this helps!

Hillary
Chew on That

While I think you can save money depending on where you shop, it is worth remembering that stores like Whole Foods are not always the rip off people think. There was a great article published on how to eat oranically and healthily for $7 a day from Whole Foods:

http://health.msn.com/fitness/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100153740

I don't know if it is that our local Safeways are ridiculously overpriced or I just have a weird shopping list, but I find that for most items, the grocery store is the most expensive place to buy. Surprisingly, quite a few items are actually cheaper at Whole Foods (tofu, canned beans, the fancy tomato sauce I liked until I got cheap and started mixing crushed tomatoes with olive oil and garlic). Trader Joe's is about the same for some things, cheaper for others, and I recently discovered our local Ranch 99, which had me almost bouncing in the produce section.

I really do have this long list of what to buy where in my head, which means that if we run out of something, I may not replenish it until three weeks later when I go to the right store.

Don't move to a small tourist town in the mountains.

My local grocery store does $10 off $50 purchase on Thursdays, so I use that quite often.

@hmw0029--I'm super-jealous of your 10 off 50 Thursdays!

I'm a grad student, so I appreciate all of these (common sense) tips! I regularly spend about $50 a week on groceries and I make good food! I cook everyday and bake something wonderful at least once a week. I attribute my savings to a combination of shopping the ads, (planning meals around the sale items,) and actively eliminating foods with excessive additives (i.e. anything with MSG or high fructose corn syrup on the label, too much salt, or just too many preservatives--like boxed cake-mix...oh, the horror). The resulting combination of fresh foods somehow comes out cheaper (read: $50-60 less) and of course I'm healthier for it.
Also, (I'm surprised no one has mentioned this) just using all of the food purchased every week (not letting fruit spoil and eating leftovers) seems to be the most painless trick to saving some green.

@Embackus - I KNOW RIGHT?? There are no ethnic groceries where I live now. Hitting the chinese cultural center asian grocery store is the only thing I actually like about going to Phoenix, so I make a point to go every time I'm down there for work or the airport.

Everyone has great advice to follow! I:
1. never go to the market hungry (sometimes I buy a corndog at the deli on my way into the store - oops, should have added that to my "Guilty Food Pleasures" post)
2. use coupons - only use coupons for items that you really use on a regular basis (don't buy items that you normally wouldn't use just because you have a coupon)
3. I will stock up on specials and freeze (whole chickens, etc)
4. purchase local, homegrown produce in large quantities (tomatoes and make big batches of Marinara sauce to freeze; fruits that have a short local season and freeze, etc.)

The biggest omission I have noticed here is the usage of coupons. They can be a godsend if you use them right. For example: if you have a coupons for $1 off an item, don't use it on the largest size of that item, instead, use it on the size that will result in that item being free after the coupon is deducted. Most stores will honor multiple coupons on an item if you buy an item for each coupon. so if you have 4 of them @$1 each and purchase 4 items for 89 cents, they will still deduct the $1 coupon at face value. This is especially great if that item with the coupon is also on sale or is on the stores special members card price. As pesky as they are, save those coupons that are less than 50 cents and use them at the marked that is doubling or tripling them; again on the smaller sizes. I do my large shopping about once a month and have yet to walk out with less than $75 in savings. I once paid $128 and change for 3 large shopping carts of groceries this included meat and veggies, all of which were either on sale or I had a coupon, mostly a combination of both. The guy behind me waited instead of moving to another line because he was curious as to what the final savigns was going to be. The amount saved between coupons, store membership discounts and instore coupons was more than what I actually paid. While it takes a bit of effort to clip and organize them and then getting into the habit of always using them not to mention knowing that there will be times that a great savings isn't possible, the savings that you do get adds up. Watch the weekly sale flyers and make your shopping trips around the store that has the majority of what you need on sale rather than wasting time, energy and gas running around town. However if there is a sale that is too good to pass up, by all means go for it.. Keep a journal of your savings for a 3 month span; coupons used, total before they are subtracted and then reevaluate it at the end of the 3 months and see if it's been worth your while. If you've been diligent in using them you'll see a decrease in your food bills and an increase in your pocket book. I had a girlfriend who paid the bill in full and saved the coupon savings in an account located in the store she shopped at for special occassion money. Not uncommon for her to have had several thousand dollars for christmas or special occassion shopping each year. hope this helps..

I am pretty "green" conscious when it comes to buying my groceries. The food I buy has to be packaged in material that will not harm the environment. This has sometimes been difficult for me to do, however I have learned by reading "> "The Lazy Environmentalist on a Budget " by Josh Dorfman of a lot of great inexpensive "green" products.

@nezrite regarding the shrink pots: I've thought EXACTLY the same thing! lol! I also always wondered about the mashed potatoe flakes... who are these people?! LOL!