You asked:
How can you save money at the grocery store? — Debra, Orrington, Maine

Marshall Answered:
Leigh and I are pretty frugal, and we also have four kids, so here are a few of the money-saving ideas we use at the grocery store…

1) Use coupons. It’s basically free money. We get a lot of coupons from the paper, and many arrive in the mail, and there are coupon sites on the web. Then find a store that has double coupons.

2) Shop sales. All grocery stores have weekly specials, and many have rewards cards to get discounts. When there is a buy-one-get-one-free sale on a product you use, stock up. If pork chops are on sale for 99 cents a pound and potatoes are five pounds for $2.00, guess what we’re having for dinner at the Brain household.

3) Buy in bulk. It is AMAZING how much money you can save at a place like Sam’s Club, Costco and BJ’s on certain products. For example, toilet paper and paper towels are half the price of a normal grocery store. Chicken breasts are half the price. You will have to buy 12 rolls of paper towels at once, but so what? (Fun fact: With four kids we buy a lot of stuff in bulk. The Brain family spent about $8,000 at BJ’s last year, and then BJ’s sent us a check for $80 at the end of the year, and the BJ’s credit card sent us another check for $160).

4) Buy less processed food. The price of a box of Hamburger Helper is nuts compared to the price of a bag of noodles and a little gravy or sauce. That’s true for most processed foods. Get a cookbook and make your own food.

5) Think outside the box and get creative. For example, buy a turkey (or a turkey breast) when they come on sale. Make mashed potatoes and stuffing etc. It’s just as good in June as it is in November. That will be supply you with several meals. When you are sick of turkey, cut up the leftover turkey and put it in the freezer (then serve it again in a couple of weeks, or make soup or jambalaya or casserole or whatever with it). Then take the carcass, boil it and make some kind of Turkey soup (add rice, or noodles, or beans, or whatever you like). The soup can be eaten immediately or frozen. You will get a gallon or two of soup and it will last a long time. The cost per meal is incredibly small if you use this approach. You can do the same kind of thing with a ham.

6) Grow a garden. Or find someone who has a garden and who wants to give stuff away (anyone with a garden always has more tomatoes and cucumbers than they can possibly use). Even a small lettuce garden will generate a lot of salads.

7) Cut back and/or eliminate the expensive stuff that you really don’t need. Instead of soda, drink water. Instead of bottled water, drink tap water. Instead of meat, eat rice and beans. Etc.

8 ) Instead of name-brand, buy store-brand.

9) Use home-made instead of store-brand when the time/cost economics make sense.

10) Check out grocery prices at the local Wal-Mart and the local farmer’s market. Both may surprise you.