New Grocery Shopping Techniquesby Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger 17 Jun 2008 11:54 AM
Will $4.99 be the lowest price for flour? Should I stock up now or wait for it to go lower? Will it rise even more? You see what I mean. Here is how I have changed the way I am grocery shopping until things settle down. I'm shopping less frequently. While I used to try to get to the grocery store every week so I can stock up on the bargains that rotate through the sales, the increase in prices makes everything so unstable that I find it is just easier to shop infrequently. The bargains aren't guaranteed, and even if something is on sale, it is usually snatched up before I can get there. Shopping every three or four weeks (with the sometimes exception of milk) uses less gas and has actually reduced the grocery bill. Shopping less frequently saves on gas. While I might get better bargains going more often, they generally won't be worth the money in gas when it is added to the cost of my time. One thing that shopping less frequently has created in some cases is a feast or famine on fresh products. I bought lots of fresh fruit for the first time in four weeks, and the family was in pure heaven. We balance that out with frozen or canned fruit the rest of the time, but there is nothing like fresh. Our salad fixings we can get from a local farmer. Check back for the second half of this article where I share more of the ways that my grocery shopping has changed. Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. Starting June 1st, don't miss her articles in the Baby Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here. Related Articles: 10 Ways to Cut Your Grocery Bill 10 Ways to Cut Your Grocery Bill 2 Adjusting Your Price Book with Escalating Grocery Costs Learn more about Mary Ann Romans  Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat. Relevantfrugal tags User Comments tangerinelullaby (553) 17 Jun 2008 12:44 PMYeah, the prices has gone way up here too. I just wish people here would stop complaining that it's the government's fault. Sigh. Anyway, I usually shop goods at bulks or large sizes and then I compare it to the small ones. I find this cheaper and practical as I don't have to go back again and again for shopping. For vegetables and fruits, I usually go to the market to buy these. They're much cheaper and fresh compared to the ones in the grocery store. :) -Yvie http://tangerineslullaby.eachday.com jonesx6 (1606) 17 Jun 2008 12:53 PMI think I've said this before but I find myself buying only necessary things. No more cookies, etc. If we want cookies we will make them from scratch. My kids eat a lot of PB & J. lol Laura MegfromAllAboutAppearances (330) 17 Jun 2008 01:11 PMWe've definitely changed our grocery shopping habits in our household. We used to drive down to the neighborhood grocery store several times a week, plus go to Sams every week or two, but we've been trying to limit grocery shopping trips and really strategize. As it stands, we alternate which stores we go to so that we get fresh produce coming every week to two weeks, but can also stock up on other items where they're cheapest (and even alternate the fresh produce a bit). When our garden has more edible things in it, I hope we can cut back further, but I try to eat a lot of fresh produce despite the cost (though I have nothing against supplementing with wild food when I can get it). So for example, we still go to Sams Club every few weeks. There we get berries, spinach, tomatoes, bananas, onions, etc. When needed, we also stock up there on paper products and nuts. In between Sams Club trips, we also go to a local grocery store that has a lot of more exotic choices, as well as great deals on dry food in bins like couscous and sushi rice. The produce there is also cheap. Sams has cheaper per unit on what produce they carry, but this store has more selection and I can just buy one piece at a time. They also have real treats like honey wine and Dagoba chocolate, so I really look forward to the trip as it's my time to splurge a little. They even have veggie plants for sale, so I take some back with me to my garden. My husband loves the meat there, which is also priced great for the quality (which is best in town as far as we've seen). Then, if there's anything else we need, we may stop on the way home at our neighborhood grocery store. It's a good store, the prices are actually quite good and the overall selection is great, however the prices for the things that I actually eat in quantity just aren't as good as at the other stores and they don't carry some of the things that I really like such as Dagoba chocolate and non-grape wines. However, it's close by enough that we can go there if we did forget something -- though I make a point not to make a trip there in the car if that's the only place I need to go. I either combine trips or walk. It's not far to walk, but most of the time my husband has to go out for something work-related anyhow so we just wait for him to go out. Community Tags Coupons, frugal, grocery shopping, meal planning, saving money Discuss this article
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