Saving Money on Groceries

It seems as though the recent craze has been all about couponing. I'll admit, I have never watched "Extreme Couponing" (we save money by not having cable) but I have tried this extreme method before. I collected my mother's coupon fliers (we do not get the newspaper, once again to save money), would sort them, and carefully study all of the sales. I managed to find many items for cheap, if not free.

I did this for a few months, but decided that it just wasn't going to work for us. It had nothing to do with the time that it consumed, the organization, and the very precise planning that had to go into it. Anyone who knows me, knows that I will spend countless hours doing something if it'll save money! Instead, I realized that the majority of the products are prepackaged foods that I refuse to serve my family, cleaning solutions with harsh chemicals, and beauty supplies that we rarely use. Our cupboards could easily be filled and cluttered with "we just might use this one day" products. It's very easy to get trapped into the "but it's free" mentality and I knew I had to keep myself away from that very thing.

Instead, I opted to learn and eventually memorize the unit prices of all of our staple foods: cheese, meats, produce, frozen fruits and veggies, beans, etc. I created a spreadsheet of all of these foods and immediately went to every store in the area to record the unit prices of these products. The size box of the item didn't matter since it's a staple food, we'd be going through enough to buy a large package if necessary. I kept this list and a calculator in my purse at all times and could immediately reference it to see if I might have found a better deal.

Almost two years later, I no longer carry my spreadsheet with me. I have a very good idea of what everything costs and where it is cheapest. Disclaimer: I do check the sale fliers every week (some are delivered right to my email) and I look at the coupons but I only clip those that we would be buying anyway.

Here's a breakdown of a few gems that I found along the way:

The regular grocery stores are rarely cheaper! Even comparing generic brands, 9 times out of 10 they are still more expensive. As much as we would like to support these local businesses, we can't do the bulk of our shopping there. We do however buy meat and produce there when it is on sale.

We often shop at BJ's (a bulk store, I've been told is similar to Costco). However, we only buy generic products, cheeses, and meats from there.

If we cannot find a product in a generic form, the big box stores are almost always the cheapest option.

One of my favorite finds however has been Downeast Food, a local supply company for bakeries and restaurants. They allow the everyday person to purchase food from them and you'll even get a 10% discount! Not everything is cheaper and you have to call for the prices of their products, but when something is less, it's significantly less! We buy oatmeal, popcorn kernels, all of our spices (the biggest steal by far!), frozen berries, etc. As our family expands, there are several more things that I will be purchasing there.


There are so many places around that are just hidden treasures to be found. We have a bread company right here in town and their organic bread is 3 loaves for $5 on Saturdays! I'm sure there are many places across the country that offer their own treasures. Look out for where the local bakeries buy their products, what food is produced locally, and where the local farm stands are. It's amazing the deals that are out there on quality products!