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Tips
for Saving Money on Food
When
economic times are tough like they are now we can all cut
back on luxuries items, but we still have to eat. Follow the
tips below to save money on your food budget while still eating
high nutrition foods.
Get
started by making a chart with four columns at the top for
breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. Then list out along
the side of the chart the number of days you want to plan.
I try to do one week at a time, but I know some more ambitious
families who plan a whole month in advance. If you have
some picky eaters in the house, have them help with the
planning to make sure you are making at least some of the
foods they like.
2.
Don't spend a lot of money on premium coffee.
A study by Consumer Reports found that Eight
O'Clock coffee, a relatively inexpensive brand, won their
taste test based on cost and price.
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A
Money Saving Tip from the Past -
"Many
a dollar is foolishly spent for delicatessen foods.
The retail cost of ready prepared foods includes a
fraction of the salary of the cook and the fuel, as
well as the regular percentage of profit. The food,
also, is not so nourishing or flavorsome as if freshly
cooked in the home kitchen."
From
Foods That Will Win The War And How To Cook Them
(1918), by C. Houston Goudiss and Alberta M. Goudiss.
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3.
Stockpile nonperishable food when it is on sale.
If
you have the room, stock up on sale goods for nonperishable
purchases on items you normally buy. It is hard to beat the
rate of return you can get on some of the sales the grocery
stores have to entice you to do your shopping with them.
For
example, if you invest $1 in a money market account, at current
interests rates at the end of the year you may have made a
total of less than 2 cents, possibly less after taxes. If
you buy a $1.00 item and get another one free on a two for
one sales, then that is like getting 100 cents worth of goods
for free, nontaxable. For goods on sale items at great prices,
you can make a much greater return on your money by stocking
up than you can by deferring the pruchase and investing the
money instead.
4.
Join a whloesale warehouse club like Costco or Sam's Club,
The
prices are almost 40% cheaper than the regular retail supermarkets.
Set up a schedule to go warehouse shopping based on your family
size and food consumption. I try to stock up on non-perishables
foods once a month at a warehouse places. However, for most
perishable goods like fruit and vegetables, I find that the
package sizes are often just to large for my family to consume
before the produce gets old and moldy.
I
buy some meats at the warehouse places, but again the package
sizes are often so large that I usually have to freeze half
the packages. I'll use frozen meats and others foods for my
family when I'm short on time, but on a regular basis I think
there are more vitamins and minerals in fresh meats and produce
so I don't get too much that I have to freeze.
5. Save both time and money by using Sam's Club's Point
and Click service.
With Point and
Click, you order your groceries online
on their web site, and they assemble it for you and send you
an email when it is ready to be picked up. At the checkout,
they just scan one SKU for your entire order. It is
like haveing a personal shopper at warehouse prices. I'm surprised
that more people do not take advantage of this free service.
6. Use coupons,
especially when items are already on sale.
You can save
money using coupons, but
be aware of how much time you take to store, sort and decide
which coupons to use. Only use coupons for products you
know your family regularly consumes and look for products
that aren't over-priced, processed convenience foods.
7. Compare
costs per ounce on packages.
Usually smaller
and individually wrapped packages cost more per ounce. However,
on perishable goods, sometimes I find it is cheaper to buy
smaller quantities rather than buying large packages where
some of the food will go to waste. My kids only eat peanut
butter on occassion, so I get the smallest continers of
it I can find. otherwise I just end up throwing most of
it away.
8. Add some
convenience foods to your grocery list.
If you know you
have some busy days ahead and won't have time for a lot
of made from scratch meals, then buy some prepared meals
to keep in your freezer. A stir fry meal made with frozen
beef strips, frozen broccoli and and canned pineapple chunks
with a side of instant rice is still cheaper and healthier
than most fast food meals. Plus you can make a meal like
this in the time it takes you to drive to McDonalds and
back.
8. Shop when
you are not hungry.
This helps to
avoid making spur of the moment purchases.
9. If you
have nonperishable food in your house that no one is likely
to eat up, donate it to a food bank before it is past its
expiration date.
It won't save
you any money, but you will be doing a good deed by helping
out a less fortunate family. Some of the things I buy from
Costco or Sam's Club just don't turn out to be winners with
my family, so I always donate what is left of any nonperishable
items to the food bank bin at a local bank rather than have
them go to waste.
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Make
your grocery list from your plan and shop with your
list.
Try to avoid buying anything that is not on your list,
unless it is something on sale that you can stock up
on. |
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