One of the things is that certain items go on a really good sale once or twice a year. Usually you can get catsup and mustard and BBQ supplies really cheap with coupons about Memorial Day and the fourth if July. Frozen pizza is always on sale with coupons before the big game. Back to school supplies in August is a good time to stock office supplies even if you have no children at home.
I found 1.50 off two DiGiorno pizzas coupon and I found, buy two, get one. Unfortunately, you can't use both at Fred Meyers on the same transaction. You would have to buy five pizzas. In other words, the coupons can't stack. Fred Meyers has the cheapest price on DiGiorno pizza. I had to take the pizzas out of their boxes and save the directions on the fridge to get them on the freezer, but we have enough for pizza once a week for a month to six weeks. I paid 2.66 instead of 6.77- sixty percent off.
Grocery store on the cheap takes a different approach to shopping for groceries. It works at any budget level, but especially for people with a really tight budget. On a tight budget it may take a while to build up a stock! But it is doable-- especially fm you get your grocery money on a lump sum at the beginning of the month.
Basically, instead of meal planning and buying a weeks worth of groceries. Forgetting something and going back to the store, you replenish what you have used when it is on a good sale, and adding a coupon of you can is even better. Once you have got yourself up and running, you go t the store to buy :
1) a "loss leader " protein. If I can't find a good meat , I use that week to buy cheese or fish. I can always find Fish for a good price at Winco. Grated cheese is best at Costco, or at grocery outlet if it's on sale. Recently, I got feta for 1.20 a pound and mottzerell at 1.50 a pound, I have a set price. I want as close to 2.00 a pound as I can find it. It is paramount to have set prices you will pay for products. I call that the RBP ( rock bottom price, or my target price.) I want pork to cost 2.00 a pound, and chicken to be a dollar or less. 7 percent hamburger is about three dollars a pound when I get it on sale.
If you are working on a foir by four budget, dinner should be five dollars total. ( four people, four dollars a day - - so called SNAP budget. We aren't in snap, but I use the budget anyway. I feed us ( three adults and one child) on 75.00 a week and keep a stock. Actual food eaten is closer to sixty dollars. I couldn't do that without stocking.
2) replenish perishables-- dairy and fresh veggies and fruit. I want to pay 2 dollars to 2.50 a pound for butter. - real butter. The nutritionalist told me that a little butter is better than a lot of margarine or substitute. I wait for specials and stock a reasonable amount for the pull date on milk, cottage cheese, and sour cream. Fred Meyers is usually a good place for these. Milk is a dollar with a coupon, and sour cream is either a dollar or a dollar and a quarter. I was buying the big ones at Costco ( cheaper) but we didn't use all of it up before the pull date. Eggs I was paying a buck a dozen for, now I try for two dollars. Always check to be sure there are no cracked eggs in the carton. Buying a five dozen crate doesn't work for is, we don't use enough,
3) fruits and veggies. My RBP for them is a buck a pound, or 2.50 a box for berries. I get apples for a dollar all the time, berries are either 2 or 2.50 a box. Bananas are 1.39 a bunch at Costco. It makes no sense to buy organic bananas. I buy organic of the price is the same and I can use them up immediately. Otherwise, I wash my fruit and vegetables or peel them when that is appropriate. I don't buy juice at all. It's expensive, it's too sugar loaded, and a distortion told me that the children were better off eating the fruit. Buy fruit in season. Buy vegetables when they are at their peak.
They will be cheaper and better quality.
4) bread and bread products. My RBP for bread is 2.50 a loaf. The bread store is good of you have one near you. I always get a big package of English muffins from Fred Meyers for 1.67. (3/5) Winco has cheap white bread for .88. I prefer a wheat bread that has less than 10 carbs a slice. My husband would rather have the white stuff. Sometimes I make bread. I always make bread crumbs. Why pay upwards of 2.40 a pound for someone else's dry bread.
Getting to the replenish stage is another chapter.
Thanks for stopping by
Jane
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