MAKING SIMPLE CHANGES WILL YIELD BIG SAVINGS

Cutting out the middle-man is one of the best ways to yield grocery savings however we don’t all have access to farmers markets year-round or the green thumb to grow a vegetable garden.

One of the biggest culprits of increasing your food budget is buying the wrong food products and not shopping and cooking seasonally.

Many of you might not even know you are doing this but you are and I’m going to show you how to save money instead of paying someone else to do the work for you.

Sticking to the perimeter of the grocery store will offer you the best savings because you will find whole foods.

We rarely go down the aisles and since it has been years since we’ve followed this practice it almost seems like too much work to do so.

Maybe that’s not the right words, how about against the law, naughty, a big mistake. It’s just a big no-no unless we aim for a specific item on our list like yeast for example which I will talk about in a moment.

Trust me when I say that there are grocery savings to be had but if you aren’t taking advantage of what is offered to you then you’re the customers that manufacturers market to.

They want people like you to buy their products at full-price or for added costs because of the convenience they provide to you.

You are the reason the grocery savings are available to the frugal shoppers, so thank-you.

Investigate the products you buy

I couldn’t possibly argue with each and every grocery shopper about why they don’t need to buy the smallest box of Cheerios for far more than a jumbo box would cost.

The price is always in the numbers so I could be right or wrong based on current sales price.

Nope, it’s not my job to tell you that you are wasting money however I will write about it in my blog and the rest is up to you. It’s your money after all.

Grocery savings are available and not only have I proved it over the years some of my readers who have participated in the grocery game challenge have taken advantage of them as well.

This has helped them keep the same grocery budget year after year without having to worry about cost of living increases in the food budget.

It’s more about THINK before you SHOP which includes what products will give me the best bang for your buck.

I’m not talking about using coupons,  sales flyers, price-matching, grocery app savings, rewards points either.

I’m talking straight up grocery savings because you are buying one product over an other at regular price. Ideally, this is a way to get used to reading labels and comparing prices.

If an item is on sale and comparable products are not then perhaps you might already know what the winning product will be.

BUT, not always.

The reason I am tackling grocery savings from this perspective is because you won’t always have coupons for every product, you won’t get rewards points for every product and you most certainly won’t find what you want reduced when you want it.

In other words the odds are stacked against consumers who are looking to be frugal using the popular tactics that are plain to see as mentioned above because your options are limited.

What if it’s not on sale?

It’s important to remember that just because you’ve become a pro at chopping your grocery budget by using the above you must ask yourself what you would do if something wasn’t on sale. Sure, you could walk away and not buy it.

Fair enough, however what if you really needed it? You’re hoping to make a recipe you’ve been preparing for and ran out of yeast but it’s not on sale and pricey.

Your options are the bottle of yeast for $4.99 or three tiny packets for $2.79. Which do you pick?

Ideally, you’d do the math. Most grocery shelf labels will even tell you what you are paying per x amount. Not everyone does and this is the easiest way to compare so you get the best grocery savings.

Most likely you will get the best bang for you buck buying the jar of yeast but you might convince yourself that you won’t possibly use it before the expiry date. Don’t worry, you can freeze it.

We’ve been doing it for years and it works perfectly fine.

Manufacturers need to make money and if they didn’t put a best before date people would hang on to everything using these tricks and no one would keep throwing stuff out and re-buying it again.

Catch my drift?

What will be your grocery savings?

Stop and ask yourself now what other products do you buy that you could investigate further as to whether you’d get better grocery savings if you went bigger.

Not only that consider what other products you could enjoy instead of the pricier version that would satisfy you just as well.

Take cereal for example, it’s expensive to buy the healthy stuff with little to no added sugar especially when it’s not on sale.

A jumbo or family size box of cereal can cost around $5.99-$7.99 or more and for those of you with kids who eat cereal any chance they can get, it won’t last long.

However, if you replace your cereal with a big bag of delicious oats for half the cost you could make that last far longer. Not because no one will eat it, haha but because it’s filling and will go further than a box of cereal.

The idea is to think about what foods you do like and what you can do to stretch your grocery savings. No one says you MUST eat oatmeal if you don’t care for it as much and get rid of your cereal.

What you will want to do is mix it up a bit if oatmeal isn’t your favourite breakfast rather than eating expensive cereal every single day. Teach yourself the beauty of variety in your meals for the best grocery savings.

If you can rid of the costly food product and opt for the best savings product you’re even further ahead.

Oh, and just because cereal goes on sale often doesn’t mean that it will always be the best option over buying a big bag of oats.

Do the math.

You need to understand how many bowls/servings (no one actually sticks to cereal servings) one bag of cereal will give you and how many bowls of oatmeal you will get from a bag.

Sounds like the worst thing in the world to have to do BUT if savings are what you want then math is what you need to do.

P.s Those little packs of instant oatmeal are a HUGE money-maker for the manufacturer, Just saying.

Let’s take a look at a few other grocery savings we’ve picked up over the years that you might want to consider for your next shopping trip.

Meats vs. Deli Sliced Meats (fresh or pre-packaged)

Deli meats are delicious because they are freshly sliced, conveniently packaged and perfect for lunch making. All of these perks are costing consumers big bucks. You’re paying someone to do the work for you when you can do it yourself.

Most often if you ask the deli-clerk to slice something for you they may do so or they will charge you but it will almost always be cheaper.

Some people have invested in buying a home slicer for around $100 where they buy whole cuts of meat such as pre-cooked ham or turkey then slice it at home.

You can also make your own roast beef, corned beef and pastrami  buying it on sale, roasting and then slicing it for lunches. You can freeze sliced meats as well.

The next time you reach for that pre-sliced salami have a look at the full salami next to it and do the math. You may just find it’s far less to buy a whole salami than it is to buy it sliced. Smart shopping starts with being alert to pricing!!

Frozen Fruits and Vegetables vs. Fresh Fruits and Vegetables

If you can’t buy fruits and vegetables in season the best grocery savings will come from buying frozen.

A good point to make is that for those sweet vegetables like peas or corn once you pick them you must eat them right away.

The sugars turn to starch quickly so they lose their sweetness the longer you wait.

Frozen fruits and vegetables are often flash frozen right away which is why they may taste better and cost less.

The other option is to buy in bulk at the end of the season and take it home to process it yourself for the freezer or canning.

You can buy bushels of fruits and vegetables near the end of the growing season in most grocery stores for a super price. Process them yourself for yearly savings.

This summer we picked strawberries and processed them and now they are in our freezer to use once the prices increase at the grocery store.

The same goes for blueberries, apples, pears and other fruits that you can grow yourself or pick at the market or farm for cheap.

Cheese Bricks vs. Shredded Cheese

Walk away from the shred!

A huge money-making business is the cheese business because for many consumers pretty bags of shredded cheese call out their name. Not only is it convenient but it’s cost you lots of money.

I recently investigated these pre-shredded cheeses only to find that you get approximately 320 grams of cheese vs. 450-500 g if you had bought a bar of the same brand. Shred it at home as needed and it will taste fresher and the grocery savings are a win for you.

We buy big bricks of cheese from Costco which is cheaper (we’ve done the math) and shred it at home.

Now, for those of you who freak out when you see mold on cheese, don’t. It’s meant to mold and most cheeses especially hard cheese have mold casings around them.

Just cut it off and go on your way eating it.  You can also freeze cheese for later use but I would shred it first.

Yogurt Tubs vs Yogurt Cups

The next time you go to the grocery store compare yogurt tubs vs. yogurt cups of the same product and do the math.

Sure, you could make it at home but for most consumers that’s not going to happen.

What you can do to save money is buy that tub of yogurt which most likely will ring up cheaper than the cups and pour it into a little container for work or school lunches.

Easy, done and still convenient. We use mini Tupperware containers for our son and pack a spoon for him.

Bagged vs. No Bag

If you can avoid buying bagged items in the produce section, do it because you will almost always pay for the extra time it took to bag it and the material.

The exception to this rule might be at a place like Costco where almost everything is bagged however you will find that many prices are still cheaper. Again, do the math.

There are so many products that are in the produce section that will come bagged such as apples, radishes etc.

Most often just steps away will be their naked, un-bagged relatives that will offer you better grocery savings. Keep your eyes peeled for all products just not what you first see or what’s on sale.

I know it’s easy to fall into the bagged lettuce trap but don’t do it. We’ve been telling ourselves this for years and always revert back to buying a head of romaine or iceberg for FAR LESS.

It takes minutes to wash and dry lettuce and you’ll find the grocery savings to be huge.

You will save lots of money buy bagging your own produce unless of course it is supposed to come in a bag like your 5lbs of potatoes but avoid those aluminum foil wrapped potatoes (do it yourself).

Check oz. for oz. prices and read the labels so you know what you’re paying for.

Chopped vs. Un-Chopped

Walk away from the chopped vegetables as you will pay more for someone or a machine to take seconds to chop your vegetables.

Unless of course you must buy them chopped for health related reasons you can do the work yourself which takes minutes and a huge grocery savings.

Don’t believe me?

Read the price labels next time you shop.

I bet you’ll find the exact same mushrooms whole and sliced, same weight where the sliced mushrooms will cost you more.

Sneaky, but that’s the money-maker for the grocery store.

Expiry Date Demons

You don’t have to buy in bulk to get the best grocery savings especially if you don’t think you can eat your way through a product before it expires.

However, keep in mind that just because a product has an expiry date doesn’t necessarily mean it must be eaten by then or it’s no longer edible.

An expiry date is more of a best before type of date but even then manufacturers most often have a window of opportunity for consumers to eat something up before it really does go off.

For example, we have bought 50% off products from Zehrs for over 10 years now and even though the best before date is a day away or even the day of the product still lasted us up to a week or so later.

We conducted an experiment once because we wanted to see just how accurate that date was. In our opinion it’s more of a caution light rather than a red light.

So, before you head out on your planned shopping trip consider each product on your list and decide whether you can make changes to help increase your grocery savings.

Even if you switch up a few products the savings are worth it to your overall yearly grocery budget.

Discussion: What other products are shoppers buying that aren’t helping their grocery savings? 

October 2018 Grocery Game Challenge

Join the 2018 Grocery Game Challenge (GGC) but before you do you must read The Grocery Game Challenge Rules and Print the 2018 Schedule which includes new prizes!

Last Shop from October – Food Odours And Low-Cost Ways To Rid Of Them

2018 Grocery Shop Results

Yearly grocery budget for two + 1 Toddler 2018: $3600 or $300/month (The above total does not include the stockpile budget of $300/year or $25/month.

Points Overview (add any other sections you need to show us your savings or that you would like to track on your own)

• Total Grocery Budget for this Month: $300
• Total Grocery Budget with any carry-overs $300
• Total Gift Cards used to date: $0
• Total Rewards Points redeemed this week: $0
• Total Rewards Points used to date: $0
• PC Optimum Points to Spend: 3,600,000
• Scanning Code of Practice (SCOP) to date $0

Coupon Apps (add any other apps you use to save money)

• Zweet -$0
• Checkout51– $1.50

Our Grocery Shop This Week

Costco

• Asiago Cheese Brick $20
• 6 x 35% Cream $4.15 each $24.90
• 6 x 10% cream $1.95 each $11.70
• Mushrooms whole $3.97
• Bag of large Avocados $7.99
• Peanuts $8.99
• 2x salted Natrel Butter $3.99 each $7.98
• Mozzarella brick Salerno $21.99
• Almond Flour $16.99
• Hellman’s Mayo $5.99
• Unico stuffed green Olives $5.99

Total out-of-pocket $136.49

Shoppers Drug Mart

• 4 x Milk 4L $17.08

Total Out-of-Pocket $17.08

Note: All totals below already have tax factored into them.