With
today's economy and prices continuing to grow we all need to find ways to save
money. There are a few things I've found
that help me in the food department.
This will be part one of three.
Please feel free to add comments and your own ideas and ways of saving
in the grocery store so others may benefit too.
I
organize my refrigerator, freezer, pantry and cabinets so that I can see what I
have. I will admit that at times I come
home from the grocery store and quickly put my foods away in a hurry but as
soon as I find time I arrange them as they should be. An example for the freezer is that I keep
meats together, veggies together, frozen dinners together, etc. In the pantry and cabinets I line up my can
goods with say all corn in a row, all green beans in a row, all sugar in a row,
all pasta in a row, etc. This allows me
to keep up with what I have and what I need to watch for when reading sales
papers.
On
the side of the refrigerator I have a note pad and pen. I try to keep at least 2 of everything so
when I take the 2nd to the last I add it to my note pad. Then, when the sales papers come out I check
to see of any of the products might be on sale.
I also check to see if I have a coupon to go with item. If I do have a coupon I simply place a C next
to the item reminding me that I do.
When
it's shopping time I try to make sure I'm completely organized. I'm not one of those shoppers who has a large
note book full of plastic sheets with coupons organized by products, wish I
were. I simply use my little coupon
organizer that has slots for different items.
I try shopping by using my list
only, not only does this help me with impulse shopping it also makes the trip quicker. I don't go when I'm hungry. And I try not to go when I know there will be
a crowd. Plus, being classified as a
senior citizen I try to go on the day the grocery is giving an extra 5% for us
older guys.
Then
there is that time that happens about every 6-7 weeks where one of my local
stores either triples coupons up to $.99 or they double up to $2.00. That is when I check their sales and my
coupons. One thing I've learned is that
the stores know what their sales will be before they decide to double or
triple. They also know what coupons are
out there but bank on most of them being used already so the items they put on
sale don't normally have coupons of any amount that were circulated
recently. That is when you hang on to
those older coupons waiting for these sales.
Yes it takes a little time and organization but it's worth.
Part
2 of these articles will be titled Cook Smart.
In this article I'll tell you what I do to help me save money as well as
time by cooking smart.
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