10 Tips for Lowering your Grocery Bill

There are many bills that we pay each month that are fixed. In other words, we have no control over how much they will be. An example is a mortgage or rent payment, or a car payment (see our how to reduce household expenses page for help on these and other household expenses). Thankfully there are areas such as groceries where we can save money each month. Here are some tips from our Frugal Mom Message Board for how to save money and lower your grocery bill:

1. Plan a weekly menu and build your grocery list around it. This cuts back on impulse spending and allows you to get only the items that you truly need.

2. Use the grocery store sales to plan your meals. If chicken breasts are on sale this week for $1.79/lb. you can bet that will be one of my meals!

3. Use coupons only for the items you normally buy.

4. Use coupons on sale items on double coupon day to maximize your discount.

5. Don't go to the store hungry! You are more apt to buy something you don't need just because it sounds so good.

6. If possible, shop alone. Kids are wonderful at adding additional things to the cart. It is much easier to say no to yourself than to say no to your children.

7. Put together a price book. A price book is a homemade book where you keep track of the items that you buy and their prices at the various stores. For example, you may make a pricebook out of a spiral notebook. The first page may be milk. Under milk you will write the various stores and the prices they have milk for. A pricebook can be a very valuable asset when shopping since it will tell you the cheapest places to buy your groceries.

8. Cook from scratch. Packaged meals are much easier and take less time, but they cost more. If you have time to cook from scratch you will save more money.

9. Don't buy boxed cereals. You can make french toast, oatmeal, eggs and toast, pancakes, omeletes, and biscuits for a lot less!

10. Plan on having 3 non-meat meals a week. You can buy pasta, beans and eggs a lot cheaper than meat.

Author Information:  Candace Anderson http://www.frugalmom.net