Week of 9/8/2010

 Can You Really Save On Groceries With Coupons?

Have you ever wondered how some people can buy $400 worth of groceries and only spend $10? Well, you're not alone. Perhaps the queen of power grocery shopping is a young mother of 4 named Kathy Spencer.

You may not want to go to the extreme that Kathy Spencer does, but when you consider that the average American family spends nearly 1/3 of their monthly budget on food and groceries, you might want to find some new strategies for saving money on groceries. You can check out Kathy's website at How To Shop For Free.

Another great little reference guide that you might want to keep close at hand is Wow! You Saved How Much?: A Step-by-Step Money-Saving Guide (Volume 1).  You'll learn how to play the coupon game, and the book is small enough that you can take it with you wherever you go for a quick reference. It also costs less than $8.00 - cheap when you think you could save hundreds of dollars a month.

Week of 9/15/2010

 Save On Food Waste

Americans throw away nearly 15% of the food they buy. That can add up to hundreds of dollars a year. The food that is thrown away is either fresh produce that spoils before it gets eaten or leftovers. If your food budget is $400/month, that means you could be throwing away $720/year. That's not chump change.

How do you solve the problem? If you find something beginning to spoil, do something with it right away. Either eat it that day or cook it and freeze it for another time. Investing in a FoodSaver could save you  hundreds of dollars a year on food waste.

Don't throw leftovers away. Create single servings and freeze each one for a quick lunch or dinner on a busy day or combine everything and make something new. Can't think of what to do with your leftovers? Just Google "leftover (blank) recipes." Insert your leftover -- rice, mashed potatoes, meatloaf, carrots, broccoli, etc. in the (blank). You'll find dozens of ideas. Better yet, buy less and make smaller amounts of what you cook. Don't let anyone leave the table until they've cleaned their plate.

Of course, the best way to save on food waste is to eat what you buy and don't buy more than you can eat. Don't buy fresh anything that you think you're going to fix in a day or so unless you have a weekly menu planned and know it will get eaten before going bad. Better to buy the ingredients for a special recipe on the day you're going to make it than buy in advance and never get around to it.

Week of 9/22/2010

Save On Groceries With Comparison Websites

Where should you shop this week for the best buys on your grocery list? To get the answer, you could read that pile of supermarket fliers that come in the mail or with your newspaper, or keep tabs on commercials.

A better way to save time and money: Let grocery-comparison websites do the work for you.

One of the most useful is MyGroceryDeals.com, a free site that does more than just post supermarket fliers. After registering, you can compare local prices—by product, category or store—in most, if not all, supermarkets in your area. Each week, the site covers more than 750 weekly fliers from 250 grocery retailers in more than 55,000 ZIP codes. You’ll also find coupons that can be printed and clipped, as well as nutritional information on many products.

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