Thrifty grocer: Tips on grocery shopping on a budget

June 5, 2:07 PMLA Frugal Living ExaminerTheresa Ward

Previous Next

Comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the LA Frugal Living Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Grocery List © Alicia Dearmin | Dreamstime.com

If you read my last article on budget gourmet cooking you’ve probably made a grocery list and have one foot out the door.  However, before you head out, may I advise taking a look at the frugal grocery shopping tips below – tips that will fill up your cart without siphoning your bank account.  

First off, make a list and stick to it so you won’t be tempted to fill your cart with pricey or unneeded ‘extras.’  Go online or look in your Penny Saver for coupons on your must-have items.  My father, a man who once made a friend and I split a bean burrito at Taco Bell, recommends shopping more frequently and only buying enough fresh foods for two or three days.  This way, fresh foods – fruits, veggies, dairy, meat, fish – (which are better for you, ahem) won’t have the chance to spoil.  Hence, you won’t be wasting your money.  

Grocery stores can be very expensive when it comes to fresh foods.  As I’ve written before, 99 Cents Only Stores have great dollar priced produce, but if you want organic try farmers’ markets, which tend to be cheaper than store prices and better for our environment.  Trader Joes and Costco are great sources of wine and booze.  If you want to pair a glass of red with cheese, buy it in block form as opposed to the pricey pre-shredded bags.  For fish, Tilapia is about as cheap as you can get and absolutely scrumptious.

However, if you feel the urge to trot over to high-priced Whole Foods, despite your best intentions, try the Raw Kale Salad in the deli section.  This mixture of raw kale, dried cranberries, raw pine nuts, tomatoes, olive oil, canola oil and black pepper is light as air so you can buy a ton of greens for mere pocket change.  For a cheap, quick and über healthy snack, Whole Foods also sells Sea’s Roasted Gift Seaweed Snack for 79 cents a pack.  

A frugal cook and friend that currently resides in Portland, Oregon (an exemplary frugal town) highly recommends buying all your tea, herbs and spices in bulk.  Jars and packaging add to the price of goods immensely, so clean out your old jars and refill them time and time again.  Grains, nuts and beans will also save you money in bulk. 

Lastly, my stepmother recently mailed me a news clipping from the Monday March 23, 2009 issue of The New Mexican.  The article by Eileen AJ Connelly, “Grocery spending a moving target,” offered up the following price-buster grocery websites full of great advice, budgeting tools and coupons.

• www.betterbudgeting.com
• www.couponmom.com
• www.stretcher.com
• www.grocerycouponguide.com
• www.grocerysavingstips.com
• www.wesabe.com

If any of you have more advice or tips, I’d love to hear from you.  We all must eat, but we don’t have to go broke doing it.