Saving at the grocery store

Posted by Ted McEnroe July 1, 2008 at 6:55 pm

Our friends at Consumers Checkbook magazine are regular guests on “Good Morning Live”. Recently they shared a few tips for saving a few bucks the next time you hit the store. They’re all pretty common sense ideas, but great ways to cut your grocery bill.

* PLAN YOUR MEALS AND MAKE A SHOPPING LIST.  Proper planning makes you
less vulnerable to high-cost, low-nutrition impulse items.  A list also
makes you less likely to forget things, sparing you from wasting time
and gas on a return trip.  Walking through the store where you usually
shop, you can make a list of the items you regularly buy.  Then
photocopy it and mark up a copy each week before you go to the store.

* SHOP SPECIALS.  Take full advantage of the specials offered by
whatever store you use.  For example, if tuna that usually sells for
$1.59 a can is marked down to 79 cents, consider buying in quantity. You
save $8 on a purchase of 10 cans.

* TRY STORE BRANDS INSTEAD OF NATIONAL BRANDS.  CHECKBOOK has found that
substituting store brands for about one-sixth of the items in a typical
shopper’s market basket typically cuts the grocery bill by about 5
percent.

* CHOOSE A LOWER PRICED STORE.  In most areas where CHECKBOOK does
comparison shopping for a balanced market basket of about 150 items,
there are some chain stores that consistently beat other supermarkets by
10 percent or more.  Even if the lowest priced store isn’t convenient
for you for everyday shopping, think about whether it will be convenient
sometimes- when you are dropping off the babysitter or coming home from
a game, for instance.

* CONSIDER A WAREHOUSE STORE.  CHECKBOOK has found, for example, that
when a Costco or Sam’s Club is available, it will typically save
shoppers for the items it carries about 30 percent compared to shopping,
even for similar- size items, at the area’s major chain supermarkets.

* CONSIDER CHANGES IN YOUR OVERALL EATING HABITS.  Eating less meat is
likely to save you money and reduce your fat intake.

* BE FLEXIBLE.  Adjust your eating habits to take advantage of bargains.
For example, when beef goes up in price and chicken goes down, eat more
chicken.

* CONSIDER LESS EXPENSIVE RECIPES.  Especially consider foods from other
parts of the world.  Many countries use much less meat than is commonly
used in the U.S. to prepare exceedingly tasty dishes.

* CONSIDER THE COST OF CONVENIENCE FOODS.  You can save by slicing your
own cheese or making your own sauce for peas.  You also usually save by
avoiding products prepared in individual serving packets.

* SELECT SIZES CAREFULLY.  Big roasts, hams, and turkeys usually have
more meat to bone than smaller ones.  Large sizes of flour, sugar, rice,
salad oil, and other storable staples also usually save you money.  And
milk is cheaper by the gallon.  But small apples and bananas may be
perfect for families with small children, and small cans of tomato paste
may save you money by helping avoid wasted leftovers.

* COMPARE SIZES OF ITEM-PRICED FRESH PRODUCE BEFORE YOU BUY.  In the
same store, CHECKBOOK often finds some heads of iceberg lettuce, sold by
the head that weigh twice as much as others.

* USE UNIT PRICING TO DETERMINE WHICH PRODUCTS OFFER THE BEST VALUE-the
lowest price per pound, for example.

* CALCULATE COST PER SERVING, NOT JUST COST PER POUND.  Some products
have more waste than others.  For instance, bone-in roasts and chops
will give you two or three servings per pound, while boneless meat will
give three or four.

* LOOK CAREFULLY AT MEAT BEFORE YOU BUY.  A CHECKBOOK study to assess
waste in meats found one rib steak that was 88 percent lean and another
that was 48 percent lean; as a result, the leaner piece cost 45 percent
less per lean pound than the piece with more fat.

* FIT SIZE AND QUALITY TO YOUR NEEDS.  You don’t need perfect canned
peach halves for a cobbler or whole canned tomatoes and whole mushrooms
for spaghetti.