Frugal Tips:, How to save money on groceries

The grocery bill question inspired this thread. I thought each week we could start a thread about frugal tips and saving money. Since the topic of groceries has already been brought up, why don't we focus on that this week. I want to learn how to only spend $300/month on groceries. LOL! The only thing I do is coupons, and would like to hear some other ideas.

There were some tips in the other thread, maybe they could be copied and pasted here.

Great idea!

My tip: Buy generic whenever possible. It's pretty much the same, but a lot cheaper.

I agree but dont' buy bulk generic until you have tried the product. I bought a GIANT box of generic grape nuts cereal once and it was awful...threw the whole box away after one bite. Turned out to not be such a great deal!

If you shop at albertsons, get a "preferred savings" Card. I just bought gerber grins and giggles shampoo, lotion, and baby bath there. It was regular 4.69 but was 2 for 5 with my perferred shopper card! And I had another 75 cents off each of those! (I had coupons).

Sign up on mailling lists! Gerber sends out A LOT of coupons for good, usuable stuff. Enfamil will send you FREE formula when your baby is born (in big , regular sized containers! I was suprised!, I sign up whenever we have a baby and I've signed up for peter and andriana) and they still send coupons. Huggies and Pampers both send coupons and Pampers will send free trial diapers now and then. (just one, but its kinda cool to check out what's there)

Shop walmart . They're great. I've seen up to 2-3 dollars in different from shopping walmart over rite aid!

I buy generic when I can-alot of the stuff is just as good as name brand. I am trying to buy in bulk when there are good deals and store stuff in the freezer but I don't have a chest freezer yet so that creates a bit of a space issue right now. I think the biggest thing for me has been to sit down and plan out a menu every two weeks. That way when I go to the store I am buying only what I know I need for our meals and nothing more (ok with a few exceptions-we all need our ice cream fix now and then ). I still haven't gotten the hang of coupons but I really want to.

Besides buying generic or bulk...at the store I go to they have a lot of times..buy one get one free. Dh always says "we don't need the second one" but if it's free I take it! It will get used!

I also buy some grocery items at Walmarts where it's cheaper. I try to buy some of my fruits/veggies at our farmers market where it seems to be cheaper than the store prices. But our farmers market is ending here real soon.

Use cloth diapers! You would never have to worry about buying more, easy to wash, and are pretty darn cute!

Mollie..I'm going to buy a few cloth diapers for this new baby. I keep telling DH every day how we could save $25 a week if not more just by going to cloth. He says he doesn't care he's not doing cloth! He said I could but he's not..that's not going to work in our house.

But I might buy a few and try to convince him when this baby arrives.

Mollie..I'm going to buy a few cloth diapers for this new baby. I keep telling DH every day how we could save $25 a week if not more just by going to cloth. He says he doesn't care he's not doing cloth! He said I could but he's not..that's not going to work in our house.

But I might buy a few and try to convince him when this baby arrives.

Yay!!! You'll love it! You know, I even saw one that had the St. Louis Cardinals on it on eBay awhile ago. I thought of you when I saw it, LOL!

I'll gladly help you if you need it.

Browse eBay for them. They have a whole separate category for them now. That wsay you can see what's what, how much they are, etc.


Here's a link that dscribes what's what:

Karen's Diaper Pages

Her site is awesome!

Thanks Mollie for the link. I will look at it very carefully . I do have a nice friend who has volunteered to make me some diapers. You gave me a good idea..this baby is going to be born in April sometime which is around spring season for baseball. I'm definitely going to have a diaper done in Cardinals. DUH, why didn't I think of that? Now I'm even more excited about trying to convince him.

LOL! I hope you succeed!! It's so much fun, for me anyway.


You have to deal with poop & pee anyway, why not have fun doing it?

If you like crockpot meals, check out the new meals from Banquet.. they're frozen crockpot meals in a bag, just empty into the pot and let it cook. Was only like $6 for a meal and pretty good! A lot cheaper than buying all the ingredients separately.

Well, in order to save on our grocery bill, I had to learn to cook from scratch LOL...its so much cheaper to make your own biscuits, pancakes, etc. than it is to buy the pre packaged meals. I also use coupons & buy generic whenever I can. If I do not have a coupon I will buy things like toilet tissue, kleenex, & laundry detergent at my local family dollar store. Swapping coupons with others is also helpful.

LOL! Never go grocery shopping when your hungry!!! I've done this before and I end up buying sooo much stuff that I don't need but it looks so good, especially when I hit the bakery section

That's my tip LOL!!!