{ Sorry this post doesn’t have any pictures. All three of my kiddos are sick right now–between them we have 3 ear infections, 2 possible cases of pink-eye, 3 cases of severe allergies (with wheezing) and 1 case of pneumonia. So I didn’t have time to dig up pictures after I wrote the post. }

This past Tuesday I wrote about being re-energized in my budgeting after reading The Money Saving Mom’s Budget by Crystal Paine. And today I have some simple tips to saving money on your grocery bill–without coupons! I do use a “bare-bones” coupon strategy but I strategic shopping can accomplish a lot even without them.

1. Shop One Store, Regularly.

I know, I know everyone says you have to drive around and find the best deals. I don’t have time for that. I picked one local store and focus on it’s coupon policy, it’s gas discount policy, it’s sales cycle, etc. Saves a lot of time–which has to be part of any strategy in my life!

You need to have a plan to shop regularly too. I shop weekly right now, and that works for the sales cycles at my chosen store. Keeping your pantry and freezer stocked means you never have to run out at the last minute and buy those $3 carrots! (Been there, done that!)

2. Have a Price List.

Just take a notebook and jot down the items that you buy most often. Then for about 4-6 weeks just note any price you see next to that item on the page, whether you’re in the store, glancing at the sales flyer, or even in a different store. Takes 5 minutes to set up and 5 seconds to add to. {TIP:  Do keep an eye on unit prices and item quantities to make sure you’re comparing apples to apples. }

        baby carrots    $2.19     $1.69      $0.99     $2.35     $1.99

Just start with 10-15 items you buy a lot, don’t try to do your whole pantry at once. Add as you go along. Mine is 3 notebook pages now, but I started with peanut butter, bananas, 80% and 93% hamburger, shredded cheese, juice, cereal, frozen pizza, yogurt, and biscuits.

Eventually you’ll start seeing what’s actually a good price, vs what the store calls a “sale.” If you note where the price was, this can help you pick your one store.

Seriously, if you make a committment to only buy at the lowest price, you’ll probably drop 30% off your bill right there. I did.

3. Use a Shopping List

This is an evolving exercise for me, but the more specific the list is, the better I’ve been doing in time and money. I use to just write “soup.” Ugh! Those loaded shelves can be totally overwhelming! Being more specific only takes a second, it’s better for matching coupons and sales, and it saves me a lot time because I don’t stand there going “Do I want chicken noodle or chicken pot pie or chicken and wild rice?” for 10 minutes. I just decide at home without all the temptations surrounding me.

Any list is better than no list, but I find the best list includes the quantity (with variety if necessary), the price and if I have a coupon or not. The price makes a huge difference. Then you actually know if you’re on budget or not before you even head out. Plus, stores run sales like “mix and match 10 of these and get $5 off” and a careful list makes sure you’re getting the right items to take advantage of it. (That’s how I got 6 boxes of instant potato flakes for free.)

Here’s part of my list from this week…

• milk $3.50  
• (2) 80% hamburger {$2.49}  $6       $2.49 is the sale price, $6 is what I expect to spend to get my 2 packs, so that’s what I figure into my bottom line total. I don’t always put the sale price–just if I want to make sure I buy the right sale item.
• (2) Fritos C  (1) Cheetos C  $5       C is my mark for “I have a coupon for that” and that $5 is what I expect to spend total for those 3 items.
• (5) pudding C   *3 choc *2 banana creme  $2    (5) means 5 total, C means coupon, $2 is my total for these 5 items.

I do spend about an hour every Tuesday evening “plotting out” my list on Wednesday and the up-front time is really reaping benefits for us. We’ve been dead on our grocery budget for the last 5 weeks and my shopping is only taking about 30 minutes–with a good list I can shop on my lunch hour.

And the last biggie for us…

4. Don’t Meal Plan from the Weekly Sale.

Again, I know everyone says this, but I shop on double $1 coupon day and that’s Wednesdays here. I do not have time to do meal planning smack in the middle of the work week.

I DO recommend meal planning and I try to do weekly meal plans (I use this Weekly Mean Plan sheet from Everything Mom!) on Saturdays based on what we have in the pantry/freezer. {TIP: I save the weekly sheets and rotate them so I don’t have to come up with new menus all the time!}

Then I shop based on the sales to stock the pantry and freezer for future use. I buy pork chops or roast or hamburger if it’s on sale this week…and we eat it later. Purchasing whatever’s on sale keeps a good variety stocked all the time, so our meal planing is much more flexible.

The only exception is fresh fruit and occasionally vegetables. We buy a weeks worth of whatever fruit is on sale the best every week (check your price list!).

That’s it.

Well, I use some coupons too, and I’ll talk about my super-easy coupon system next Tuesday.

But mostly that’s it. Just do these things and then apply coupons on top.

If you don’t want to do anything else, using a price list and a shopping list will save you money. It really will. I fall off the wagon with the meal planning (a lot, ahem…)but at least we can find something in the freezer to fall back on, and we don’t have to run out to the grocery store.

What are your favorite grocery strategies?