Here are 9 ways to save money on groceries. Did you know you can frequently find your milk or juice for less at convenience stores? [MintLife]
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I would add another: Schedule your trips to the store and stick with that schedule. Frequently popping into the grocery store to pick up "a couple of things" adds to the potential for impulse buys.
Isn't it lovely being lactose intolerant? No discounts anywhere!
I've yet to find milk cheaper than at Smith's for a gallon and Whole Foods (I know) for a carton. Convenience stores are usually $1+ more a gallon. Milk also varies from $2.49 - 5.49 a gallon for the same brand around here.
@Ratty: I made the mistake of going to the convenience store for milk bc it was closer to the subway stop and on the way home, whereas the grocery store was "too far" at a block out of the way. Convenience stores (especially ones right near the subway stop) make you pay through the nose for being lazy.
I found milk is actually cheapest at BJ's Wholesale club. By $1/gallon. Buy a gallon a week and it more than pays for the membership.
1. Clip coupons from your Sunday paper for about 10-12 weeks.
2. Sign up at thegrocerygame.com. You can pick multiple stores, but I generally stick with Harris Teeter.
3. download the shopping list. Items in green are free (ie. I haven't paid for colgate toothpaste in about a year). Items in blue are considered the best bargains - store sale price plus coupon. It has instructions on which coupon to use and how to get the best price (ie. Green Giant Frozen Veggie 3 for $3.00, buy 1 and use $.50 from 7/24 = FREE Harris Teeter doubles all coupons.
Savvydollar.com also lets you know when different stores are offering triple coupons or "super doubles".
Today we bought $60 worth of groceries and paid $23. YMMV.
And contrary to popular belief, coupons aren't just for junk food or stuff that is bad for you.
I buy Lactaid milk and POM juice.
Never cheaper at convenience stores (can't often find them there either.)
Surprising about the price of convenience store milk.
Personally I would have to factor in the cost of gas and my time to decide if it's worth going to more than one store to save a dollar. My mom used to go to THREE different supermarkets every week, because each one had better meat than another, one's produce was fresher, etc.
That may well be, but there's no way in Hell I'm driving to three different supermarkets every week.
This doesn't entirely surprise me ... My dad has this card for the "Milk Club" at the local Jiffy Mart: buy 9 gallons, get the 10th free. Don't know if this is something other convenience stores do as well, but Dad is a big-time bargain shopper so he must know something.
Convenience stores are usually more expensive here around Boston. My husband and I only drink whole milk, which is of course more expensive. Grocery stores are around $3.99/gal, convenience stores are around $4.59/gal.
The best deals for us are BJs and Costco, both have whole milk for $2.29/gal, a savings of about $170/year over the grocery store assuming we buy 2 gallons a week (sometimes we do 3). That pays for the BJs AND Costco memberships so I basically make a profit lol, and that doesn't count all the other stuff we get ridiculously cheap (like 2 loafs of bread for $3.49 instead of being $3.49 each)!
@mrbenning: On the other hand, trying to plan for the whole week/2 weeks leads to a lot of waste. At least for me, as I generally cook for one. I go frequently throughout the week so I don't let anything spoil.
@mrbenning: I used to do this..but then I was using public transportation to get to work. And then we sold the second car. And now I'm pretty much stopping by Whole Foods to grab what I can carry and get back on the subway.
@redskull: not necessarily. you have to stop for gas sometimes, right? if milk is cheaper there, buy it when you buy gas instead of buying it when you hit the grocer. see how easy?
@winshape: Depends on what you mean by junk. Even though 100 calorie packs are low fat and such, I still consider them processed junk.
On the whole heads of lettuce vs. bagged lettuce:
I find that whole heads of lettuce are cheaper than buying the precut bagged lettuce, but it is NOT cheaper than bags of lettuce hearts. At one of my local stores, a bag of three romaine hearts is about $3.75 but buying three separate romaine lettuce heads is about $4.05. It really depends on how much lettuce you consume. We go through quite a lot considering we eat a lot of salads and they're a quick meal during the weekday, so we could justify the bagged kind.
Of course, the lettuce heads are fresher, so there's that trade off as well.
Maybe convenience stores discount more in the suburbs while in the city they're more expensive? I agree with a couple other folks, convenience store is more expensive for me. It's been pretty well documented/discussed that poor people in cities having to pay more for food because they don't have the time/transportation to get to a grocery store.
@mac-phisto: $2-$3 cheaper? How much is your milk to begin with? I'm assuming milk is priced regionally because I have a hard time finding a gallon of milk at my grocery stores that aren't always "on sale" for $1.99/gallon. I live by myself and never could use a full gallon before it goes sour, so I end up getting 1/2 gallons for $1.10-1.25. I suppose it could have something to do with my close proximity to Wisconsin.
@triscuitbiscuit: I have the same problem. Best price I can find for Lact-Aid milk (3 quart jug) is $5.99, and the store brands have just about caught up.
I've been wondering whether there's any source for lactose-free dry milk. I've searched around the Internet and couldn't find anything except baby formula. Advice welcome...
@triscuitbiscuit:
Well you could just look at it as a 100% discount if you avoid milk altogether :D
Walmart just came out with a Great Value lactose free milk that is often cheaper than Lact-Aid and whatever 2nd brand they occasionally offer. Not the best stuff, but decent. It's all painfully expensive though.
Never looked for dry varieties. Probably nearly impossible to find.
@HRHKingFridayXX:
And they're really not even low fat; they're just low quantity.
Tho I'm not sure the point of your comment; winshape didn't really mention what types of foods coupons were available on.
"Drink more water from your faucet, it really is the same quality (it may even be better!)."
Um, I'm going to have to go ahead and disagree with that one. My tap water tastes like a gym sock. And what about all of the contaminants? But mostly, it's not tasty.
Let us see what is in the nation's tap water:
http://www.ewg.org/tapwater/national/
@LastVigilante: milk is never on sale at the supermarkets near me, & frequently ~$5/gallon. i can usually find it for $3-$3.50 at a couple of the convenience stores i visit.
@pecan 3.14159265: but doesn't a bag of 3 romaine hearts contain less lettuce (by weight) than 3 off-the-shelf heads? they always seem smaller when i buy them.
Sometimes the milk is a tad cheaper at the convenience store by my apartment, but every time I've gone in there, it's been only a few days away from expiration, whereas if I spend fifty cents more at the grocery store, I can get milk that lasts much longer.
@mac-phisto: Sometimes. The last head of romaine I bought was bigger than one head of bagged lettuce, but I've seen them smaller too.
@Shoelace: It might not be your preferred taste, but there are a handful of powdered soy milks out there. This one, which I've tried, gets mixed reviews.. some people adore it, and some, like me, use it mainly for baking. One canister of it lasts forever though!
For fresh un-milks, you can always try making your own almond milk. Of course, it's certainly not a taste-alike replacement for ordinary lactose-free dairy milks, but it is super cheap and easy to make each batch just how you like it!
@pecan 3.14159265: Are you my evil twin? I do this every other day, stopping at the Clarendon Whole Foods.
@The_Gas_Man: Every now and then I'll see a couple for yogurts or canned vegis. But its far from saving 60% on your total bill. The blogs that show hauls of 70, 80, 90% off... mostly its sugar filled crap.
Lettuce - yuck.
I buy milk at ALDI's. But the potato thing - I've been caught by that before, thinking I will cook them and then I don't.
I do buy peppers, onions, etc. and cut them up and freeze them. Then when I want to make an omelet or whatever, I take a handful out and throw them in the pan and they cook right up. :)
@veg-o-matic: Thanks for the info. Unfortunately, I have food allergies and soy is one of them. Almonds are iffy - I have severe allergies to some other types of nuts and have tested as slightly allergic to almonds (though I've had them in the past and like them a lot). Thanks for the reminder though. I'll check with my doc to see if it's safe to try almonds, and therefore almond milk, again.
I doubt I could find the milk I use at a convenience store. I have to buy the lactose-free milk, which is usually around $2.99/half gallon at the grocery store. Hm.
@Shoelace: Shucks! Well, if you decide on almond milk, the intertubes are full of good recipes. Also, rice and oat milks are relatively easy too, if those work for you.
Good luck!
@Skankingmike: There is a product I found which is WAY cheaper than Pom: Pomegranate molasses. Basically, it's just concentrated pomegranate juice that you can reconstitute into juice.
For everyone who buys too many potatoes...I cut off the knobby bits that have grown and peel them and use them when I make chicken broth.
@veg-o-matic: Thanks for your help. I can have rice and oat milks...but they still don't taste anything like the real thing.
@mac-phisto: Wow. Up here a 2 litre carton at a convenience store costs the same as a 1 gallon jug from the grocery store.
i can verify that; at least with the milk. not only is it $2 to 3 cheaper/gallon at the gas sation, it's the local, non-bgh type instead of the mega-conglomerate crap i refuse to buy (yeah, i'm looking at you, hood).
the juice isn't cheaper though.