i came across this great article today on tiphero.com!

5 Ways I Save Money on Groceries

Submitted by: Ray @ Tip Hero 09/16/2009 2:01 AM

Like many Americans, I decided to make saving more money a priority this year. One of the areas with which I've had some success is food. Here are five tactics I instituted this year to cut my grocery expenses: Coupons - Although I've always considered myself a frugal person and I've tried to use coupons whenever I could, I never really got into the whole couponing thing. This year, I decided to jump in with both feet to see how much I could save. I discovered that the real savings from couponing doesn't come from coupons alone, but rather from combining manufacturers' coupons with store coupons or sales -- or both. It's amazing how much you can save when two or three of these stars align. One recent example: My parents eat Fiber One cereal every morning, which runs up to $4.79 a box. Well, this past week, Target put it on sale for $2.50 a box, and if you bought five boxes they gave you a $5 Target gift card. They also had a $1 off store coupon on their website, and I had a $0.75 manufacturer's coupon. All told, I got them for $1.15 per box or over 75% off the regular price. Another key tenant of successful couponing is to stockpile when that once-in-a-year deal comes along. We bought 35 boxes, which should last through much of the year. We checked the boxes use-by date to make sure they would still be good several months later. One of the pitfalls of couponing is that the deals sometimes cause you to buy stuff you otherwise wouldn't, and thus what appears to be a savings strategy quickly becomes an overspending strategy. I only use couponing for items I would normally buy, and I'm careful not to let it dictate my shopping list. All told, couponing has saved me hundreds of dollars so far this year; I saved over $100 on my recent Fiber One purchase alone. i can say from LOTS of menu planning and grocery shopping experience, coupons are not always the way to go. right now, i can feed all FIVE of us for TWO weeks on $150! it just takes planning, a few coupons, shopping at the least expensive grocery store in town and NOT TAKING THE KIDS with me!!! i do this by planning what we are going to eat for breakfast, lunch, a snack, and dinner for two weeks at a time. then i inventory my kitchen for what i already have and make my list. i stick to my list at the store (thus not taking the kids) and decide whether the store brand or the coupon will be the best deal. the next section is a biggie with me! don't be brand loyal and you can get great deal!!! Going Generic - One of my vices is diet soda. I've always been a huge diet coke drinker, consuming roughly one liter per day. This year, I decided to switch from Diet Coke to my local store's brand of diet soda. We develop a taste preference after repeated consumption of a particular brand, and I've found it takes several weeks after the switch before I start to enjoy the new brand's taste. Comparing regular price to regular price, I save roughly 75 cents per 2 liters, which ads up to just over $136 in savings per year at my rate of consumption. My next step is to reduce my overall soda consumption and eventually eliminate it entirely. I've also switched to generics when it comes to ice cream, ketchup, cereal, you name it. my biggest one with this story is ....we stopped drinking soft drinks all together. my kids don't even like them, because we didn't let them have them when they were little! they are a SUPER expensive habit to have!!! plus you'll be healthier and thinner if you don't drink them! even diet! Buying from the Bulk Bins - Fortunately, I discovered a supermarket nearby with a great bulk foods section. I've found that, for many items, the bulk foods price beats the pants off of both national and generic brand prices. I buy old fashioned oatmeal for around 40 cents per pound, which is more than 50 percent cheaper than Quaker Oats brand at my local supermarket. For some items, there isn't much savings to be had, but for others, especially spices, you can save up to 90%. I'm going to try this one next time i go! Bakery Outlets - If you haven't visited a nearby bakery outlet, you should try it at least once. My family goes through about two loaves of bread a week. Unfortunately, we've developed a real fondness for Oat Nut bread, which can run $4.00 at my local supermarket. I decided to visit our local bakery outlet near my home. The price for my beloved Oat Nut bread was just $1.69. What's more, the outlet offers a senior citizens discount of 10%, and they give you a stamp card (you get a stamp for each loaf of bread you buy, and after ten stamps, you get one loaf free). I learned another tidbit from the clerk at the outlet: Thursday is double stamp day, where you can get a free loaf after buying just five loaves. So, if you're a senior citizen and you shop on Thursdays, you can pick up Oat Nut bread for just under $1.20 per loaf. We buy several loaves of bread at a time and freeze the extras. I've heard some people say that bread out of the freezer doesn't taste right, but I've tasted bread from hundreds of loaves that come out of our freezer and they taste perfect. On average, I figure we're saving $2 per loaf and, at our rate of consumption, that's a savings of $208 per year. we did try this one a couple of weeks ago! i found all kinds of bakery items i didn't even know they had that are now some of my fav's! great prices and if you freeze them, they will last a while! Food Substitution - Another tactic I employed this year to save money on food is substituting expensive processed foods for cheaper healthier foods. When I looked back at the previous year, I noticed I was spending a lot of money on convenience foods like Stouffer's pizzas, Eggo waffles, or pretty much anything that came out of a box that I could easily throw into a microwave or toaster. I reasoned that if I could get more of my daily calories from healthier home-cooked options like oatmeal at 15 cents per serving, rice at 10 cents per serving, or popcorn also at 10 cents per serving, I could save a decent chunk of change. So far this year I've saved well over $200 by not buying packaged convenience foods and replacing them with healthier options. we don't do prepackaged snacks. they usually come 6-8 in a box, so with three kids, that's only 2 servings for my kids. if i buy the big package (like animal crackers) and divide it out into snack size baggies, we can get 20-30 packs for LESS than the prepackaged 6-8!!! AND, we can use portion control for me and the hubby!!! we can also package our own "healthy" foods! According to the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average economic unit (I believe that's their jargon for a family) spends roughly $3,500 on food at home each year. By just making small changes and shaving 10% off the grocery bill, the average family could save $350 a year. i don't believe this figure!!! if you divide that out....it's $135 for two weeks. now i know that i have gotten my $150 down to the bare minimum we need. no extra stuff! how they thing the "average" family can eat on that, i don't know! we have me, my hubby, and three kids, so we are an average family! photo credit: ralphbijker