How to Save Money Grocery Shopping

If you pack peanut butter and jelly for your kids' lunch every day and resist the temptation to eat out at pricey restaurants, you shouldn't be penalized with an enormous grocery store bill. Yet, thousands of frugal families find themselves holding back tears as the total adds up at checkout. Here's how to save money on groceries.

Difficulty:

Moderate

Instructions

1. Cut coupons from newspapers, magazines, direct mail flyers and the Internet. Coupons are readily available and easy to find. Join the mailing lists for your favorite brands, and coupons will eventually come to your email inbox and your mailbox. Clipping and sorting coupons is time-consuming, but you will save hundreds of dollars a year.

2. Buy frozen. Fresh produce is appealing, but items such as broccoli, green peppers and strawberries are considerably cheaper when purchased from the frozen aisle. Most frozen items still carry the same health benefits.

3. Skip the red meat. Buying ingredients for vegetable and pasta dishes will instantly lower your grocery bill. Meat, especially red meat, is the most expensive item purchased by shoppers. Start preparing meat dishes once a week, and you'll find more money in your pocket.

4. Give generic a chance. Many generic food brands contain the same ingredients as their brand-name counterparts. Look for items that say, "Compare our ingredients to the brand-name competitor" on the jar or box.

5. Plan meals. Charting out what you will eat during the week can save you money because it helps you avoid waste. If you know that you will serve pizza on Monday and tuna casserole on Tuesday, your shopping will have more structure, and you will skip aisles you don't need to visit.

6. Sneak off to the grocery store alone. Shopping with other people, even adults, can instantly increase your bill.

7. Eat before you shop. Avoiding the store when you are hungry is a common piece of advice, but it is advice worth taking. When you are hungry, everything looks good, and as they say, your eyes are bigger than your stomach.

8. Stay away from portion-size, individually wrapped food. Package your own snacks, such as chips, cookies and nuts, in reusable containers. You will be surprised how much money you save when you stop buying single-wrapped Twinkies and snack-sized potato chips.

Tips & Warnings

• Cut back on buying bottled water by purchasing a water filtration system (such as Brita) that attaches to your kitchen faucet. You will save at least ten dollars a week by refilling bottles with the filtered water.

• The "Manager Special" is a beautiful thing. Stop by the front of your local grocer to see what's been tagged as the manager's pick for that week.

• Just because you clip a coupon or spot a sale does not mean you should make a purchase. Many shoppers fall into the trap of feeling obligated to buy something if it's on sale. This will cost you more money in the long run.