Grocery Saving Tips

I saw an article recently about a grocery budgeting coach. This coach has a mission, which is to help families buy nutritious food while saving themselves up to $400 a month on food bills.
Obviously, some of her ideas are ones that you already use. But, maybe there will be something new for you.
Here are her ideas:

• Use coupons.
• Don’t buy fresh, cold juice – buy the 1L tetra packs.
• Buy frozen meats and vegetables (rather than fresh). She says you don’t lose any nutrient value and they’re often cheaper.
• Instead of bread, buy tortilla wraps. You can get 12 sandwiches out of one package that will cost you between $2.00-$2.50.
• Instead of buying real lemons – buy lemon juice.
• Use margarine instead of butter for baking.
  

Here are some more grocery saving tips, from myself and others: (even though we’re not grocery budget coaches!)

• Know grocery prices. Not everything advertised in the flyers are actually "deals", know what a good price is and you won't be ripped off.
• Make a grocery list of all the things you need before you head out to the grocery stores. This way, you can just quickly pick up the groceries on your list and head right out. The longer you stay in the store, the higher the chance that you'll be buying more than what you came for. Also remember to stick to your list!
• Ask for rain checks if the item is sold out. Rain checks allow you to take advantage of the sale price at a later date even after the sale has ended.
• Do not grocery shop on an empty stomach. When you're hungry, you will probably buy more and make impulse purchases because everything looks so appetizing.
  
• Always check unit prices. Don't assume that the larger sizes are a better deal. Check the unit price on the package when comparing products.
  
• Walmart will match all advertised prices. If Food Basics is having their $1 days and No frills have some items on sale, before you go to 3 or 4 stores just bring the flyers with you to Walmart and they will honour the advertised price. This will save you gas and time and you can stock up on all the items you need in one store.
• Don’t be loyal to certain brand names.
• Decide your weekly dinner menu based on what’s on sale at the store you shop at.
• Look at the flyers when they come to your house and decide which one has the most items that you need and then only shop there (okay maybe two stores total). The more stores you go to, the more you’ll spend and then the more you will buy things that you really don’t need.
• Use up what’s in your cupboard already.
• Decide how much you are spending before you go shopping and then take out cash for your grocery shopping trip. This way you are not tempted to spend more than you had planned on.
• Sometimes stores put their fresh meat on sale first thing in the morning or in the evening. You can call your usual grocery store and ask them if they do this. Usually it’s 50% off and it doesn’t expire for another day or two so I just bring it home and freeze it. In St. Catharines, I’ve gone to Metro (formerly A&P) and Zehrs and they have their meat reduced between 8:00 and 9:00am.
• Buy fruit when it’s “in season.”
  

If you have any other grocery tips, let me know!
Happy shopping!