I thought I would join in on the linky discussion of keeping in budget at the grocery store. I believe Susie Orman stated one of the biggest wastes of money is at the grocery store. Here are the ideas that work for feeding 6 jellybeans on a single paycheck!
Use what you have first!
Stock up on what you use regularly when its on sale.
Try store brands
Try new cost effective recipes
I use a $2.00 rule on buying meats. Trying to buy whats on sale under $2.00lb.
We plan meals with what is on sale and with what we have on hand.
If you use coupons: A binder method is fantastic.
Use it up if its getting close to expiration, that is what we use first.
Less meat, more beans and veggies.
Quality food, not processed foods.
Cook at home, cook and freeze. Make foods easily edible, cut up the cantaloupe, watermelon.
Using a crock pot allows for cheaper cuts of meat.
Lastly, those last few pieces of corn or greenbeans in the serving pans get saved into a bag in the freezer, for later use of "garbage soup" a free meal that would have been otherwise tossed in the trash.
I wish there was some big secret, if you know it, please share. Check out what other families do to save at the grocery store.
http://raisingolives.com/