Frugal Homesteading Blog

As food prices rise at an alarming rate during this current recession, frugal grocery shopping becomes even more important. No matter your family’s tastes and preferences, there is likely room for improvement when it comes to your grocery shopping habits. Here’s how I make frugal grocery shopping work for my family:

*Cook with whole foods. Get as basic as you can in order to save money. Yes, white bread might be cheaper than making bread with whole wheat flour, real butter and honey, but what if you took it a step further and started with whole grain berries, bought in bulk? Your cost per loaf drops considerably.

*Buy nonperishables in bulk. Whole grain rice, natural peanut butter and dry pinto beans are far cheaper through my local natural foods co-op than at the grocery store, and they last indefinitely when stored properly.

*Avoid waste. Frugal grocery shopping is a bust if you wind up throwing out spoiled food. When it comes to buying perishables, be realistic about how much your family can consume before the items go bad. Buying a huge bag of lettuce only works if your family can eat it all. If the food is preservable, such as strawberries that can be frozen, process half right away and leave the other half for fresh use.

*Make nutrition a priority. Instead of finding the cheapest way to eat, find the most frugal way to eat well. A healthy body is priceless and will even save you money with lower medical costs.

*Buy in season. Purchasing pick-your-own strawberries at a nearby berry farm saves me the high grocery store prices and I get a much better product for my money. I pick enough to preserve some as jam and freeze some for winter use, extending my savings.

*Look for local sources. I make several trips to the nearby orchard throughout the fall, saving about 50 cents a pound on apples. I buy a large amount each trip, making each trip well worth the cost of gas. I make apple sauce and can it for winter use, making my savings last all year.

*Keep track of prices. Stay organized with your own Price Book and you’ll know whether a sale is a good deal or not. Here’s how:

“This is the most useful tool in making sure that every food dollar you spend is spent well. The basic idea of the price book is to have a system for tracking prices so that when you see something on sale, you will know whether it is really a good buy or not. I use a three ring binder and looseleaf paper. At the top of each page, I put several column headings: Date, Store, Item, Size, Price, Unit Price, Sale. At the top right hand corner of the paper, I put the name of the item (such as “bread”, “milk”, “cereal”, etc). When I see a sale or even a regular price, I write it down in the price book. It is easier to do this at home with store receipts or sale ads, instead of in the store, where some employees may mistake you for a competitor’s spy — it does happen! After a few months of tracking prices, you will know what is a good deal and what is not. The most important section of the price book is the unit price, because that tells you, no matter what size the item, how much you are actually paying per pound or ounce or other unit of measure.” — FrugalShopping.com

Whether you’re a pro or a novice at frugal grocery shopping, I’d love to hear from you! How are rising grocery prices affecting your budget? Comment below …