Save Money on Groceries

I just started couponing a month ago, I liked the article and found some things I haven't done that I need to do, like planning meals around what is on sale (good tip) I have found that I save approx 15.00 a week with coupons, this week I saved 25, so for the month I saved 70.00. Instead of 800.00 in groceries for the month, it was 730.00 for a family of four, and I still bought the snacks for the kids.

Coupons are my money saver! I use coupons for everything I possibly can. I don;t waste money paying $3 for a Sunday paper to get 30 coupons I may not use, I just use a coupon clipping service, Palmetto Coupon Clippers www.palmettocouponclippers.com

Great tips for good savings. I'm definately putting them to practice.

I think this article is great and made me think more about meal-planning and clipping coupons, but she is basing her $100 grocery trip per week on dinner alone and does't include anything for breakfast or lunch - hence maybe that is why the average family is spending about $164 a week.

The article has some good tips, but I would like to see someone try it with a family of five: husband and three teenagers that are all bottomless pits. Teens go through food like it's water after school. I usually plan meals around the sales and coupons that I have. I spend $200-$250 every other week on groceries, toiletries,chicken feed(19),dogfood(2)and catfood(2). I like to grow veggies in the summer and potatoes in a clean garbage can. Good luck everyone!:)

We live off $354.00 a month from foodstamps. It is my two sons 8 and 16 who are both athletes If my other kids who are both 19 come home to visit I have to make $354.00 stretch even farther.I prepare our menu by what is on sale. Here in the city we live in every major supermarket is less then a mile apart from one another. We have the ethnic stores in walking distance from our home. If you want to save money the best bet is to read the article, cut your coupons and handle your business.

I believe in clipping coupons and most of these ideas are great. I believe as parents we must buy as much local and organic food as possible for our families. Spending a bit more for really healthy food is more important than saving a few dollars and these tips can help more people do so.

This all sounds wonderful. but what happens when you and your husband work, the children are in school and you have to pack lunches for the entire family. We brown bag it everyday and there is no way our grocery bill could be $100 a week. We eat breakfast at home everyday and maybe have take-out once every two weeks. I use coupons and save an average of $50 each week. The age of her children also makes a big difference. Try feeding a growing 11 year old and a college student!!

Well when you live in Hawaii it's very expensive just for milk let alone other food items that you need to buy. Most of the ere lucky we even have extra money to purchase groceries sophisticatedNTtita

This is a very helpful article! I can't wait to put more of these tips into effect immediately! For anyone (like me) who really finds it a struggle to stretch their grocery budget, I would also recommend checking out www.angelfoodministries.com. It helps us out tremendously with our food budget. The only issue I found within the article was that breakfasts and lunches weren't really covered, which sometimes becomes a problem when there aren't enough leftovers for everyone to eat.

I am a coupon cutter and are on a set income so ever dollar has to count. We have Walmart, Brookshires and a dollar store. No one within 55 miles will double coupons. Sometimes I make a big grocery day and go the 55 miles to save more and then but local to fill in. I do have problems printing the online coupons even with coupon printer installed on my computer so I mostly get Sunday paper coupons

this article is extremely helpul in that it raises awareness and makes me feel it IS possible when i lose hope and go back to my old ways and get frustrated again. knowing others do this and work at it give me hope. also, please note that our local grocery store has "sales" on prepared foods once a week after 7pm, and also has a great sale on extra-large pizza's on wednesdays...and they freeze well :) i am excited to try some of these great suggestions. thanks, moms!!!

I use a farmer's market basket type of service once a month (www.bountifulbaskets.org). It spans several states. It's inexpensive & I end up w/enough fruits & veggies to fill 2 reusable grocery bags. I clip coupons, but it's difficult to be vegetarians w\just coupons. There aren't that many coupons for produce or vegetarian products. I also found another great website (www.angelfoodministries.com) w/lower cost food that you pick up once a month... might be worth a try.

What did she her family for breakfast and lunch?

For coupon sites, if you open an account at mypoints.com you can print coupons through them from coupons.com and supersaver.com but you also earn points everytime you redeem the coupons that you can put towards gift cards and other things. Using there site I usually can get a $50 gift card every 3 or 4 months.

I feed my family of 4 1/2 (pregnant with number 3!) on $200 a month and we eat just fine. We might order out maybe twice a month! You just have to plan your meals ahead and cut back on non-essentials. Why buy frozen waffles when you can make a big batch of pancakes and freeze them yourself?!

I feed a family of 4 on roughly $250 A MONTH. It's not hard and we eat healthy meals with leftovers to send as lunch the next day. It's not hard but it does require me to pay attention to sales and your family's needs. The kids get to pick one splurge per shopping trip and once that snack is gone, you eat what is available until the next shopping trip. I've also switched to buying frozen veggies. They taste the same as fresh and save a lot of money, especially with the amount that we go through.

I have been able to reduce my grocery bill for my family of 4 to about $65-$70 a week depending on sales and coupons. It took alot of organization and planning but it paid off in the end. I make a meal plan, stick to my budget and make things homemade...like french toast sticks or chicken nuggets. http://thatswhatithink-clh.blogspot.com/2010/10/family-of-470-weekits-on.html

We do have a flock of laying hens for eggs and raise some hens for meat as well, but i found that shopping local and shopping farmers markets works for us.

We also put in a garden everyyear with the kids picking out and planting what they want out of it.

I use clothe diapers that i found at the consignment shop for a very great price. I have three boys who are generally healthy eaters, and make their snacks by scratch and pick out one snack from the store that they can have in their lunches. I also make our own lunchables i got the idea from my girlfriends thanks!!!! and the kids help make their lunches the night before.

Our food budget is $150 every two weeks. I very rarely go over that with a toddler, a preschooler and a husband to also feed. I shop Sams Club and Safeway and use the pgsavers website to automatically load coupons onto my Safeway Card plus I watch the sales. It IS possible.

Even with coupons, name brands seem more expensive than store brands, so I use them if it drops the price below store brands. Using envelopes (or a pleated, wallet sized coupon filer) to put money for each week into, and using a calculator helps me to decide to put the donuts back. She showed what's possible. The payoff will be money for getting out of debt, being able to repair/replace things without a credit card, etc.

Thank you for the wonderful coupons sites and info people have kindly informed us on with the savings websites etc - I have Celiac Sprue and a picky 5 year old eater which can make it challenging, interesting and more expensive so this info is a big help!

For those who are looking for coupon printing sites, go to Coupons.com, RedPlum.com, and SmartSource.com. Also, Target.com has coupons for their store as well (on the home page, go to coupons at the bottom of the page). ThePrudentHomemaker.com has 4 months of meals using seasonal items and pantry items, and she feeds her family of 8 for $1-$5 a meal.

E-Mealz is a website that does this for you for very little $$. You choose the grocery store and they have a week of menu's based on that stores sale items. Usually always less than $100. Just another way to save us some $$

It's an awesome article. My husband and I feed our family on Wal-mart's Great Value brand. Everything from canned vegetables to frozen hamburgers comes from this brand, and it tastes very close to the major labels. We haven't done the math on savings, but we feel we get more groceries for the buck this way.

Nice article, but please don't blame "corn" or more specifically farmers who grow corn for your higher bill. The demand for corn for ethanol and other things has had an effect on prices of wheat, but there are many factors that determine prices. Most farmers are barely making a living, and since people don't buy local anymore farmers are forced to sell to big corporations who determine the prices. I know this is a soapbox comment, but we're just trying to keep out heads above water out here!

The article was about saving money on GROCERIES which typically mean FOOD items. Toiletries, in which diapers fall under, is another topic for another "How to save money" on article. Don't be so critical. Take out the information that is pertinent for you and leave the rest. If it bothers you maybe you should look inward where the root of the problem REALLY begins!! I found the article to be very informative and insightful.

I agree, the article did have some good tips about clipping coupons, planning menus and purchasing store brands, however is her 5mo living for a week soley on 1 box of oatmeal without a diaper change? LOL

Suggested sites for getting cheap or free stuff plus internet coupons would be Common Sense with Money, Money Saving Mom, Saving Addiction, My Savings.com and you will find links in these sites to other trustworthy sites. They also have links to lots and lots of internet coupons like couponmom.com. I don't use lots of the sunday paper coupons. Most of my really good coupons are from the internet or facebook.

I have a child in diapers and also have to buy 4 1/2 gallons of lactose free milk weekly and I manage to feed our family on about $75 a week.If your grocery store has double coupon day you need to shop on that day.Also I only buy diapers at the grocery store if they are having a 2 for 1 sale and I have a dollar off coupon for each package.I never spend more than $5.99 for a jumbo package of diapers.Take advantage of walgreens register rewards program for health and beauty and diapers and wipes.

I live in a small town and our newspapers don't have the big coupon sections. I have, literally, spent hours looking for coupon sites only to find, what I call, "junk sites". I noticed a couple other reviewers listed some sites, thank you, but does anyone else out there have any suggestions?

i liked parts of this article where it shows that it makes a difference to have a set menu and grocery list. i found a website to help make menus on a personal calendar, use recipes you input, then prints grocery lists for you at meals matter .org I especially love that i can sync that with my google calender to my droid! all that makes watching the ads and coupon hunting easier! i have started making double of some dinners n freezing them for another day to cut out time on cooking. its great!

My favorite coupon site is www.CrazyCouponMommy.com because not only because of the free printable coupons, but also the weekly lists of free items you can pick up at CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid and Target! This week there are 10 things for free at Walgreens...:)

What a great article, thanks! My problem is always impulse buying once in the store. I always wished someone would make a grocery list for me and you did! Going to try it today. Thank you! Oh and thanks for the tip on hitting the print button Lbferrer!!

Read this throughly. She ran out of fruit and had to use canned food that had been in the pantry for months and didn't feed her family as much food. I don't see any paper, cleaning products on the list. Also, this is for a family where all the children are out of diapers. If you live in the state of california and Los Angeles you're going to pay more. This is what it costs to feed a family of two in LA. Finally, she states..next week she will return to normal shopping habits. Interesting.

This article is great. It motivated me a lot! Does anyone know of good coupon sites?

Hey gd_painchaud ~ Here's a suggestion when reading these articles that are so chopped up..click, click, click... hit the print icon and a page with appear with the whole article on one page! Obviously you won't have to print it~ just read it and close it up. Hope that helps!

How about a list of the best on-line coupon sites?

I loved this article. What I did not like was have to click to the next page after ever few paragraphs. I understand the money making part for magazines is selling ad space, however when I read an article, I want to spend more time reading the article then clicking on the next button.

I'm having a difficult time stretching our dollars due to the fact that I try to only purchase organics and local foods. After doing some extensive research, I am wary of our food and water supply.....and unfortunately, pesticide-free, hormone-free, chemical-free etc. food is extremeley pricey but I will get a 2nd job if necessary in order to buy it for my daughter.

I have a family of 5 and never spend more than $75 a week. It's just not in our budget. I try to plan 10 mealsiwith leftovers it usually lasts 2 weeks. 1 week I buy the items needed for those recipes and the next week I buy pantry items(condiments,snacks,etc)I keep track of what I am spending as I am walking down the aisles. I also buy meat in bulk(and try to use only half of what recipes call for)and buy store brands for just about everything.

I've tried to cut down the grocery bill, but its difficult with a child with allergies and who is picky. My son is so picky, that I try something new and he wont even try it even if its really good to the rest of us.

I even go so far as to plan a whole month worth of meals. As I'm making my grocery list, I write down week to week what I will be needing. If something comes on sale that week that I won't need until later weeks, I either freeze it or swap meals! Coupons take time but are so worth it! I sometimes will go on E-bay to buy coupons.

I have been trying to cut down the food bill and waste too. Just makes sense to do this. Prepared foods rarely enter my cart. I try to replicate my kids favorite fun foods. My son says my homemade oven baked fries in olive oil (w/skin on) are better than "M's" :). I dip chicken breast pieces in flour, egg and then rice crispy cereal (crushed) and bake them for nice crisp chicken nuggets - bake on pan sprayed w/pam. Serve with homemade mashed potatoes and green beans.

Great article! most of it is very basic and common sense. But it's always easier to follow something that is already studied, already planned and already written so all you need to do it read it! and print it! (that's where I am having my problems)