How do you save money on food?

I just buy foodstamps from the neighborhood junkie

do you have an Adli food store near you? They have awesome produce...for example this week a bag of baby carrots in $.49...they have all kinds of great prices...i buy the majority of my groceries there and then go to the larger chain if there is a name brand i really need.

My grocery store has different types of fresh lean meats on sale BOGO-Free every week. I stock up on those and freeze them in family dinner-size quantities. I also by lean ground beef in bulk and freeze it in one-pound portions. I use my FoodSaver for freezing and that helps keep the meat a lot fresher.

Doing this, I have found I can usually stockpile enough fresh (frozen by me) meats over the course of two or three weeks that I do not have to buy any meats for the remaining one or two weeks in a month. That cuts my monthly grocery bill down significantly.

I haven't been much of a coupon or price match type of person, but I decided to give it a try. By price matching I was able to get a week's worth of groceries for around $50 for a family of four. To get better prices on fruits and veggies, price matching is the way to go. If you have an Aldi store near you or in your town, get your ads out and compare prices. I found that Aldi was cheaper than anywhere else and our local Wal-Mart price matched the item as long as it was the same size bag and product (even though it wasn't the same brand).

I used to think price matching was CRAZY! However, my husband just lost his job, so I have a whole new understanding of saving everything you can at the store!

I shop at Aldi too for most all of my produce. At Aldi cucumbers are 49 cent each, at the others they were on sale for 89 cent each. Onions are 69 cent for a 2 pound bag and the lowest I've found anywhere else is .59 a pound.

I buy my meat in bulk at Sam's and then split it up before I freeze it. This week skinless boneless breasts at Sam's were $1.99 a pound and the cheapest grocery store they were $2.99 a pound. I know I can buy bone in breasts occasionally for .99 and debone myself but the extra dollar is worth it to me not to mess with it.

I also try to keep a price list so I can compare prices to make sure I'm getting the lowest price.

Man, my Aldi isn't that cheap!

I still shop there for produce though. They're a lot cheaper than Wegman's and they're adding more fresh foods all the time. Used to be, you could only find cheesy poofs and generic hamburger helper there.

I never coupon. Like you, I tend to think it's the highly processed, packaged foods that are discounted this way.

*I shop the bulk bins at the natural food stores a lot.
*I read my favorite grocery store flyer, and shop the weekly sales, and moderately stock up on the items on sale.
*I cook from scratch mostly.
*I tend to buy seasonal produce, eg no strawberries in February.
*I eat a lot of beans and lentils for protein and fiber.
*Breakfast is usually organic oatmeal from the bulk bin--very cheap and filling.
*I try to cook simply, and avoid recipes with multiple ingredients which are likely to be used for that single recipe.

Have you tried doing your own canning? It's fun and saves $.

I found doing my own canning to be far more expensive than purchasing canned food at the store. Perhaps because I didn't have a garden. Also, my utility bills quadrupled for those months.

Don't be afraid of the markdown rack. That's usually the first place I hit on my supermarket run - mostly just in the meat section - I can't guarantee what I will find there, but if I hit up my supermarket around 4.30pm, they start marking down all the meat that's meant to be bought by the next day. Nothing wrong with any of it, but if I can get stuff I need for between 50 - 75% off, I'm not going to ignore that.

Other than that, if you have access to a food co-op, join it. The one I have near me gives me all organics at in many cases less than supermarket prices for conventionally grown produce...by being a member I get 10% those prices, but because I also volunteer, I wind up with 20% off my shopping. It's perfect though, I can buy whatever I want at bulk prices without having to buy in bulk, because the co-op has done the bulk buying for me.