Cutting costs... Groceries.

I saw this great message board post on Spark People recently on cutting corners on grocery costs. There were a lot of great tips on there, and I also realized I knew some good tips that others didn't know about. So I thought I'd give my rundown of money-saving tips on grocery shopping, since it's something we all gotta do. If you have any fabulous tips of your own, please share! This list is a combination of things I do plus a couple of things I probably should do (a.k.a. suggestions I stole from other people)...

1. Take advantage of places like Costco and Sam's. Y'all know by now that I'm a freaking poster child for Costco. When it comes to groceries, we use Costco for most of our meat. They sell lean ground beef in 6 lb packages for way cheaper than your standard grocery. We get it home and divide it up into 1 lb packages and freeze them. Same with their chicken breasts. They actually have them already packaged up and ready to freeze - 2 breasts in one freezer pack (perfect!). They also have really REALLY good prices on fish, but I don't really like the taste of fish after I've personally frozen it (but that's just me being weird)... So we buy fish there if we know we'll go through it fast enough. They also have tons of great deals on other items - it just depends on what you personally are after. A lot of stuff is not necessarily that much better of a deal, but a lof of it is. My spaghetti sauce... not a better deal there. But microwave popcorn - an insanely better deal there. And as a member you'll get coupons in the mail periodically. I have a love-hate relationship with coupons, but their coupons can be REALLY good - so pay attention.

2. Use local growers for veggies and fruit. One of my friends turned me on to this. You can get locally grown veggies direct from the growers. They're flash frozen and shipped right to your door! And the prices are great. I'm sure you can find one that delivers to your area by doing a web search. Here's one we use that has online ordering - Southwestern Produce - love it! They also have specials sometimes. We're big on frozen veggies in our house, so I love this. Plus, I like knowing where my produce is coming from. So much of the produce in stores comes from overseas - especially China - where they don't have the same regulations that we do. Um, scary!

3. Check out Amazon's new Suscribe & Save program. I mentioned this new discovery recently. Amazon is one of my favorite sites, for many reasons. But this program is just super cool. They have a lot of grocery items at Amazon, so if you have a constant on your list that you're always replenishing - see if Amazon has it. Their prices are competitive to begin with - but with the Subscribe & Save program, you save an additional 15% off every shipment - PLUS free shipping and no sales tax in most (if not all) states. And you set it up for automatic delivery, so you don't even have to think about it! You can choose how much you want and how often. And you can log on anytime and adjust your shipments. There's absolutely no catch to it - I love it. I use it for my Luna bars (which I typically eat everyday).

4. Plant an herb garden. Now I am no green thumb - nor do I really get into gardening type stuff (I leave that to the hub), but I love, love, love my little herb garden in the spring and summer. I'll pick up a small herb plant at Publix in the spring - they're seriously like $2.50 at the most. I get it home and transfer it to a bigger pot and set it up on our back deck. Basil is my favorite - and basil plants grow like MAD. After a few weeks our little mini basil plant blossoms into this ginormous bush of basil. It's awesome. I mean think about how much they charge at the grocery for a little bag of basil or cilantro or whatever... $2 or $3 and it goes bad in less than a week! So find your favorite herbs and start your own little garden - you'll save tons.

5. Ditch the bottled water. OK I really had a hard time with this at first, but the hub convinced me. We would always get huge crates of bottled water (another item on the Costco list). I'd grab one on my way out every morning and just refill it throughout the day at the office. But we have a filtered water tab in our fridge... and one at work too for my refills... so why do we really need to buy our water? Plus now they have all those studies out saying the bottles are like bacteria infested and bad for the environment. So in trying to be more green and save some cash in the process, we stopped buying bottled water. We just use our own reusable bottles and fill them up on our own. It's another step, but I'm getting used to it. And I don't really miss the bottles like I thought I would.

6. Avoid the center aisles at the grocery. This is a combo money-saving and healthy eating tip... I thought it was a good one. But I'm a must-go-down-every-aisle shopper, so this will be a challenge for me. The thing is that all of the processed foods are going to be in the center of the store - and all those impulse buys. So stick to the perimeter where the fresh produce and meats are, and only venture to the center aisles for specific items on your list.

7. Leave the husband and kids at home. OMG if this one isn't a money-saver, I don't know what is. Having company on a grocery run is fun, but we end up spending twice as much if the hub comes with me! He just throws all kinds of nonsense in the cart - not to mention running off with the damn cart, leaving me wandering the store with an armfull of random groceries trying to track him down. It's just never a good idea. I know the kid part can't be avoided at times - but I can only imagine the crap kids try to sneak in the cart!

8. Pay attention to sales and use coupons. I really struggle with the coupon thing - I know people swear by them, but I think I'm just lazy. And the times when I have sat down and cut out a bunch, I end up at the counter forgetting to pull them out or I've left them at home... hence my love-hate feelings toward them. Plus, we don't get the paper, so... But I do pay attention to sales. If something I get a lot is buy-one-get-one-free, I totally stock up. Publix had my Crystal Light On-the-go packs on sale last week and I wiped out half their stock. And I do compare prices. I have to say Wal-mart has great grocery prices - sometimes substantially better. You do have to pay attention to their packaging though. Wal-mart has such control over the market - I can tell that certain things are packaged just for them. So while the price may be lower, make sure you're buying the same size box, etc that you normally buy - look closely. They also will price-match (not just on groceries) at Wal-mart. You can bring in any store's coupon and they'll honor it. Plus - and this is more for non-food items I guess - they will also honor mail-in rebates from other stores but will give it to you instantly. I'm generally not a big fan of Wally World, as bestest calls it, but I can't deny the savings. Plus they just opened up a new one right by our house that is a lot less ghetto than the other one nearby.

9. Pay attention when checking out. Keep your eye on the screen at the register instead of reading tabloid covers or gawking at the cart contents of the weird chick behind you. It's not too uncommon for items to ring up at the wrong price - but you gotta catch it because the cashier won't. They probably do this at most stores, but I know Publix will give you the item free if it rings up incorrectly and you call them out on it.

10. Pay with cash. I've mentioned our cash system we use. It just makes you watch your spending in general, but I really notice it at the grocery. Make a list, set a budget, and stick to it. When I use my debit card, I just don't pay attention to what I'm spending. I swipe my card and forget about it. But I sure as hell am paying attention if I'm counting bills to hand over. It's psychological - it just hurts more. It works.

There you go - my ingenius grocery shopping tips. I have to laugh at myself though because as much as I try to cut corners in one area, I succumb to pricy marketing scams in others... for instance, the 100 calorie packs that have taken over grocery aisles. I am a total sucker for these. I can just picture the original idea being presented in a staff meeting... "OK what if we took our same product, divided it up into smaller packages, market it as a *healthy* snack, and charge more for it?!" Brilliant! Why didn't I think of that?