Frozen veggies are the way to go............

If you have any flexibility in your monthly spending and/or grocery budget, start using those deep discout sales prices as opportunities to stock up. We'll eat turkey any month of the year, so we went out after thanksgiving and picked up a couple of birds for about 60% off their pre-holiday price (which was already low). See a $0.99/lb. meat sale? Stock up! Yams in our area are going for about 33-cents per pound, so we bought a couple of full bags of them, and are keeping them in the basement (where it is cooler, and dark). The same goes for almost any item you regularly buy. If pet food goes on sale (and I mean a significant savings), buy ahead.

You won't see the savings right away (since you are spending more at the moment), but they become very obvious down the line when you don't need tp buy specific items that you purchased ahead of time. Once you've stocked up on enough items, you might even find you only need to go out to purchase fresh items, like milk, bread, or fresh greens.

Oh, and by the way, one of the best ways to stretch a grocery budget is to learn how to make things from scratch, rather than buying pre-packaged foods. Sure, it can take some time (and may be a foreign skill to many), but the savings are significant and I find my food prep time as somewhat therapeutic.

This is a pretty weak blog, anyone could have thought up these ideas, anyone!

The comment is by far more enlightening.

Good article. Some people do not realize how much they spend eating out or buying tv dinners instead of cooking from scratch. My Mother told me that when she got married she didn't know how to cook. It takes awhile to maximize savings by cooking for yourself but by freezing your leftovers you can save serious money. Our deep freeze really helps us save money when we find meat or vegetables on sale. We also save money by growing salad greens and vegetables in the garden. "Seeds of Change" website shows a video of the White House winter garden preporations. I am trying a cheap version of the minigreenhouses for salad greens this winter. No pesticides!

Cutting coupons and shopping by the ads also helps. Wonder why that wasn't mentioned in the article?

Growing your own veggies is also very cost saving. It just takes a little of your time. Nothing taste as good as foods you grow yourself. Start by growing lettuce. Really easy to grow and you can grow it in a pot on your porch. Tomatoes, green beans, onions, herbs, they all grow very well in a pot and you don't really have to have a green thumb. This will really cut down on your food bill if you eat a lot of veggies.

you talk about the coupons card where do you get that for food

please help

Jean Chatzky talks about why prices are rising and how to save money.

SUSAN

Tonto 6103:

Check out "The Grocery Game" on line. Shows all the upcoming bargains and coupons for the stores you shop. eg. Publix, Wyn Dixie, etc.

Just when you think you know someone...they then absolutely lose it in a Today Show Money segment!

I really needed a good laugh.  Besides that, I was thinking the same thing when you asked the question, Matt.  And, I can well imagine Meredith's off-camera hand movements were...uhhh...a little more exaggerated than Jean's.  Silly anchors.  :)

Now, how is America supposed to grocery shop while checking shrinking package sizes with a straight face from now on!??

I stretch my grocery budget by serving less meat. You can make casseroles using pasta and less meat, enchiladas with half beans and half meat or stir fry.

I agree with many of the comments written. The article could have gone into much more detail. I wish these articles would reference websites that are not littered with so many advertisements in their website. It makes it extremely hard to navigate through the website just to find what your are looking for. This is also true with the website in this article. The best website I have found to date for grocery coupons that is not littered with advertisements is grocerycouponsforfree.org.

For those of you that want to volunteer during the holidays, www.grocerycouponsforfree.org has several options listed within their website. I forgot to mention that in my last post. Happy Holidays!

Go to Walmart and avoid buying ready to eat meals. If you're dealing with a meal that is already cooked and ready to serve, only requiring re-heating, it is going to cost more per capita than raw materials, whether things from the baking isle or produce department. Preparing meals at home from start to finish saves money and improves food quality. It doesn't take a great deal of talent to boil a potato.

I bet if we halt the false economy of corn-fed alcohol as fuel food prices would drop.

Most of my co-workers couldn't cook cereal if they had to. Living in a restaurant-based society most of them don't know how to shop for food, let alone prepare it.

Often times, the brands the coupons are for are still more expensive than the store brand.  I rarely use coupons unless it is for a brand something I buy regularly and rarely switch on like coffee. 

Get a book by Steve and Annette Economides-How to cut your grocery bill in half. Go in with a couple of families on a whole cow. Milk freezes - so do fresh veggies like peppers and onions. You just have to cut them up, freeze them individually on a cookie sheet then put them in freezer baggies. Makes it easy and cheap to make omelettes or add to spaghetti sauce, or whatever else you use them for. I freeze the milk in ice cube trays then pop the cubes in a freezer bag - great for making mashed potatoes.

you have to have a list and stick with it

never shop hungry ! thats what makes you "impulse" buy

never buy "everything" at any one store, just look for great deals

some stores price things higher based on the wealth

of the community the store resides in....remember that.

realise that there's a twenty minute GAP between when you eat

and "when" your stomach finally gets the message from your lower intestine

ok i'm full...} better to wait for it... or eat a second time instead

1) Double and Triple Coupons: Many grocery stores offer double and triple coupon deals every day or advertised as a special event. For example, Bloom Food Market offered double coupon day up to 1.99. Most of my coupons were for 1.00 or 1.50 and they doubled to 2.00 and 3.00. Thus, I saved $40 off off a $60 food bill, only paying $20.00 in the end, and stocked up on many healthy items, like almond milk, fiber yogurt, tofu and multi-grain cheerios.

2) Stacking Sales and Coupons: Look for items on sale that also have a coupon attached to them as a sticker on the package or lid. This usually includes pasta sauces, prepackaged salads, nuts, cereals or any 'new items' with a 'try me' offer. For example, Perdue's newest ready-serve flavored chicken strips currently have a $1.00 try me coupon. Giant food store has them on sale for a fraction of the price. Stack with the coupon (which could double) and major savings are on your way.

3) Forget the Detailed List: Instead of planning a detailed meal, like Atlantic salmon with cranberry cous cous, be more flexible. Think in categories, like seafood with a fiber rich side. You can then shop sales and store brands and still keep true to a 'list' of some sort.

4) Meat of the Day: If you like meat, like my husband does, that you want to look out for deep deals with soon to be taken off the shelf. I'm not talking about expired foods here, but meat that has a 'best by' date a day after your shopping day (not the day of, which I'll explain in a minute). These should have a discount sticker or price set by the store. This could be 2-3 dollars off or a percentage off anywhere from 30%-70%. The meat is still good and be honest with yourself: how many times have you bought fresh meat only to let it sit at least a day or two in your fridge? Sitting at the supermarket is no different. If the best buy date is the day of, you may forget to cook the meat that day or freeze it, thus wasting your money. If the best buy date is the next day, you'll have more time to cook it or freeze before it may no longer be safe to it.

Please feel free to email me at TheYoungAndTheFrugal@YMail.com for more cost saving grocery tips.

-The Young and The Frugal

If it's not on sale,I refuse to buy,and Never go to the store HUNGRY

we all waste an incredible amount of food. think back to the last time you cleaned out your fridge and then swore you would never let food go to waste again.

here's a few tips from a lower income full time working mom:

use a crock pot

freeze those left overs so you can microwave it another night.

get a little more creative. i made a pot roast (in the crock pot) the other night. i have some left along with some veggies. back into the crock pot this morning along with some beef broth and a handful of barley. soup tonight.

Google Coupon Dad, and go there. He's got a ton of information, including coupons and links to other sites with coupons. Good luck!

Wall Street is 'gaming' commodity prices for quick profits. There is no regulatory response to this 'gaming' from the congress or the administration. IMPEACH B.O.

Food inscure, is a euphemism for HUNGER. The profits Wall Street makes gaming comidities results in higher prices and those prices make it difficult for people who are unemployed and whose benefits have run out. Also hard hit are the aged, the disabled and the families of the working poor. HUNGER is no laughing matter. These TALKING HEADS take journalism to a new LOW.

Great Article! I found a new site that will be up in January. The site actually tracks over a hundred and fifty grocery item prices and show you where the lowest prices are each week. It includes all the major stores in the markets the site serves! I think they are going to start in Atlanta, GA and Birmingham AL You can find it at www.mygroceryspy.com

Since we live in Atlanta, I can't wait to use it

I think the hardest problem I run into when trying to use coupons is that they are mostly for prepared foods. I do use them for some canned veggies like corn, bean and tomatoes & beans but the rest I buy frozen or fresh. I buy meats that are almost past due date when our game (moose and caribou) run out. I buy anything that is on sale and when I have a coupon for it...I will buy ALOT of it; however, the best way I have found to save grocery money is to make as much as I can from scratch. I realize that many may not have time for this, but if you just start by doubling your recipe each time you cook and freezing one half of it...it makes it easier. I know many working parents who put aside one day a month to make several different recipes and freezing all of it. This then gives them a month of frozen dinners to choose from. There are so many online websites that have helpful hints in how to stock a basic kitchen, how to cook simple meals from scratch. In the end not only does it save money but is much healthier for you and your children. As far as "snack" foods.... I got away from junky sugar filled snacks...I make cookies for the occasional treat...and instead keep on hand, oranges, apples and bananas for quick snacks, whole wheat bread and peanut butter, and other type of snacks such as this. When children have wholesome snacks like this, they require less food because it is dense and healthy which also cuts back on the need for "empty" calorie premade snacks... these are great ways to also reduce your overall grocery bill.