aisle by aisle - produce, dairy, meat/fish

Produce
Produce is the area where my percentage of savings is the lowest. I'm just fine with that. The kids snack on fresh fruit and veggies throughout the day. Derek really enjoys making soups and stews, so I need to keep potatoes, carrots, and onions on hand.

I use 4 main strategies in saving on produce.

1. I check the sales circulars of Kroger and Tom Thumb before I head to Whole Foods. I buy the bulk of our produce at WF. However, organic carrots, apples, and pre-packaged organic salads are frequently loss leaders at the other two stores. If I check before I leave, I know not to buy any of those specials at WF.

2. We eat seasonally. For the most part, seasonal produce is what's on sale. I usually buy potatoes, carrots, onions, apples, and oranges every other week. I then add to those with whatever is in season and on sale - like organic strawberries for $2.99/lb at WF this week.

3. Eat what we buy. I used to throw away huge amounts of produce that went bad because I just plain forgot it was in the drawer. I try to keep the fruits on a shelf in the fridge in plain sight - that way I don't forget about it AND the kids notice it right away and ask for it as a snack before anything else. Derek does the bulk of our dinner cooking, so I usually give him reminders of what veggies we have every other day or so. We also try to eat the fruits that may spoil more quickly first. So, strawberries get eaten right away and then we eat the apples. Of course, if the kids ask for a specific fruit, I give it to them.

4. If I have the opportunity to get frozen veggies for free or very cheap, I stock up. This is where The Dirty Dozen comes into play. I can frequently get frozen broccoli and peas free, because they are very low on the list, I'm ok with getting conventional.

Dairy
Organic milk is crazy expensive, isn't it? My best tip on saving money on dairy is to find out if any of your stores mark down dairy that's getting close to the expire date. If they do, ask them when they do it.

My Tom Thumb marks down milk when it's 7 days from the expire date. We can kill a gallon of milk in 7 days easy. Depending on if the milk is store brand organic or Horizon, I can usually get it for $2-$3 a gallon. Way better than the $5.50-$7 a gallon regular price.

Butter - I prefer organic, but butter is very often FREE with coupons and sales. If I can get it free, I stock up and freeze it if necessary.

Cheese - Again, I'd love organic, but can rarely afford it. I figure my prices on cheese based on 8 oz, because that's the smallest package of cheese. Sometimes the best deal is on the 8 oz size, sometimes it's on the 16 oz or 32 oz. Remembering my 8 oz price and then doing the math, is the easiest way for me.
- My buy price is $1.50/8 oz - if we need cheese, I'll buy a couple of packs. My stock-up price is $1.25/8 oz or less. If I can get it at that price, I'll buy as much as I have room in the budget for.
-For organic cheese, I generally add $1.00 to the above prices. However, if I see organic cheese marked down and I have room in the budget - I'll generally buy all that they have and freeze it.

Whole Foods often has tearpad coupons for dairy hanging off of the shelves. Organic Valley and Stonyfield Farm usually have printables on their sites or through coupon sites like eatingwell.com (thanks Lourdes!). You'll also frequently see coupons in the circulars off of the store brand dairy products - that's another great way to save.

Meat/Fish
We don't eat a lot of fish - I supplement with flax seed to get omega-3s into the kids. When we eat fish, it's generally tilapia when it's on sale at WF. We also eat tuna - frequently free or cheap after coupons.

Meat - I prefer to buy our meat at WF. My buy price is $4.99/lb or less. I usually have a set amount I'm going to pay for meat, before I hit the store. It's generally $20-$30 every other week. What I buy depends on what's on sale, what we have in the freezer, what new recipe Derek may want to try, and so on. I always check the ad on-line to see what meat is on sale that week. If I shop on Wednesday, I have the luxury of shopping from the old and the new sales.

I also check the marked-down meat at Tom Thumb when I'm there. Every now and then there will be a great deal I can't resist. I once sent Derek to buy chicken when it was .99/lb there. He came back with two packages and the receipt was WAY lower than it should have been. He said that all of the chicken was marked .99/PER PACKAGE not per lb. I sent him back with $25 and told him to buy all that he could. We ate on that chicken for almost a year.

If you buy your meat from a traditional grocery store, you can save big $$. Watch for the loss leaders and stock-up when you can. The days right after an "eating" holiday (Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, etc) or big weekend are a great time to find BIG markdowns on pricey cuts of meat. I have several packages of Italian sausage that usually sell for $8 that I picked up for $1.99 per pack after Christmas last year.

Another option for saving $$ on meat is to look into purchasing all or part of a cow or pig. If you have the money to invest at the beginning and space to freeze the meat, you can get a really great per pound cost. Check http://www.localharvest.org/ for farmers near you.



Grocery shopping is actually pretty personal. My "stock-up" price on something might not be the same as yours. If you're not sure what a good price is, I'd suggest making a list of the top 2 or 3 things you buy from each category. Then just watch the prices for about a month. I think you'll be surprised by how widely the costs can fluctuate. Once you get a feel for what a good price is, you'll know when to stock up.

The main thing to remember is that even if something is an outrageously good price - you are limited by your budget. If you don't have the money, it's not worth whipping out a credit card. Ever.

(My non-napping son is making me crazy at this point - sorry for any spelling errors I didn't catch!)