As I started tackling this $100 Week Grocery Budget, I had to go back to my saving roots. I needed to review how I kept the grocery bill down. What did I do to cut corners and save money on food?
How did I keep our grocery budget so low?
Stockpile
The main way I kept my grocery list low was by knowing sale prices and buying items in bulk when I saw a product on my pantry list reach a rock-bottom sale price.
Shopping weekly at Winn Dixie, I would stick with buy one, get one free deals in the meat, produce, and dairy departments. If I had coupons to match the cereal BOGOs, I would get the cereal there. I also made use of manager’s specials at Winn Dixie as well as the Baby Club, Fuel Perks, and Catalina coupon deals that often print out at the end of the transactions.
You can watch for Catalina coupon deals at CouponNetwork. If the offers will match a BOGO sale and if I had coupons on top of that, I could save a HUGE bundle.
Subscribe and Save
We placed one order a month through Amazon for Subscribe and Save items. With the Subscribe and Save program, you can use Amazon coupons as well as receive an additional discount when you purchase five or more items in your order.
Price Match
Aside from Winn Dixie, I did a lot of comparison shopping at Walmart. I loved to match the local fruit stand prices on produce. We have one fruit “outlet” that always publishes super-low deals and since they are in a printed advertisement, Walmart will match the price without a complaint.
I also used these trips by Walmart to purchase something on my shopping list that was not on sale at Winn Dixie. When this was necessary, I did the math and checked the price per item, which typically led me to buy the Great Value brand. (But, always check the price per unit because this is not always true.)
Coupons
While our purchases were not solely based on coupons, I did use coupons on cleaning supplies, personal products, canned tomatoes, baking ingredients, cereal, dairy, and salad.
When we stopped our subscription to the newspaper, I turned to using printable coupons. Every coupon company from which I have ever printed a coupon is listed on my printable coupons page.
Cook in Bulk and Freeze
Another source of savings came from cooking more than one meal at a time and freezing the additional food for another night. Having food ready to heat and eat kept us from running through a drive-thru, saving us money and making us healthier.
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