2010 is as good a year as any to get the finances back on track and start eating better for you. One food that has been around forever in many forms are beans. There are tons of types and almost all are like little pockets of low fat protein, perfect for your healthy eating plan. The other great news is that they are also extremely cheap, especially if purchased dried. I know the idea of preparing beans from dried may sound like hard work but it really is not.

Introducing Dried Beans Into Your Diet

Image Credit: CF Whitney

At this stage in 2010 a lot of us are looking at our sad excuse for a belly and sad excuse for a savings account and wondering what we are going to do about it! All of the infomercials, paid television endorsements and latest celebrity fad diet food will have us believing that eating well and staying healthy is a pricey affair. However this just is not the case.

In this article I am going to look at three common and nutritious dried beans and show you how you can easily prep them.

Firstly though, let’s take a look and see what beans can be used for:

• Stews, chillies and curries:beans can easily replace meat in a good hearty chilli or curry. I make these every few weeks and use almost no oil and a whole bunch of veggies.
• Dips:many beans can be blended with herbs, spices, tahini and other things to make really nice and nutritious dips.
• Burgers: bean burgers are pretty easy to make and can be grilled or lightly fried.
• Soups: Most soups can benefit from a few added beans

And much much more…..

You will get much better value buying all of these beans dried. If you have never looked at the dried beans and pulses section of your local supermarket then you may be very surprised at the prices and the amount of savings that could be had on many foods, if purchased dried. For example, in my experience, a bag of dried chickpeas containing the equivalent of around 2 or 3 cans will cost about the same as a single can.

Chickpeas

Image Credit: Phxpma

This is my favorite bean. I add them to soups, stews, chillies, curries, make hummus, burgers and even like them plain as a snack.

1/2cup (roughly 100g) will provide about 365 calories, 6g fat (only about 0.65g of that is saturated fat). You will also get around 19g of protein and 60.5g of carbs (17g of that is dietary fiber)…. Basically a very nutritious and hearty, healthy food.

Preparation from dried:

1. Spread the chickpeas over a flat surface, remove any bad beans or foreign objects.
2. Rinse the sorted peas.
3. Put into a large Tupperware, fill with clean water, 2 or 3 times higher than the beans.
4. Put in the fridge for 24 hours.
5. Pour out the water, rinse and fill with the same amount of clean water.
6. Transfer to a pot with a lid and put on medium heat.
7. Boil until beans are tender, 1-2 hours normally, so check periodically.

Black Eyed Peas

Image Credit: Frangrit

These are great added to rice or salads. They also make a great dip and are nutritionally comparable to meat for many dishes.

A 100g serving will provide about 243 calories, almost 0 fat, 62g carbs (27g of those are dietary fiber) and 24g of protein.

Preparation from dried:

1. Spread the beans over a flat surface, remove any bad beans or foreign objects.
2. Rinse the sorted peas.
3. Put into a large Tupperware, fill with clean water, 2 or 3 times higher than the beans.
4. Put in the fridge for 6 hours.
5. Pour out the water, rinse and fill with the same amount of clean water.
6. Transfer to a pot with a lid and put on low heat.
7. Boil until beans are tender, 40mins-1hr normally, check throughout.

White Beans

Image Credit: WontonBrutality

Quite a few Italian dishes call for white beans. They make excellent spreadable pastes, are great for pasta sauces and are good in stews, lasagnas, chillies and more. I also really like eating them cold as a snack, with a little salt and spice.

A 100g serving will provide approximately 335 calories, 0.9g fat, 60.8g carbs (15.5g dietary fiber) and 23.5g protein (there are various types of white beans so these numbers may vary slightly)

Preparation from dried:

1. Spread the beans over a flat surface, remove any bad beans or foreign objects.
2. Rinse the sorted peas.
3. Put into a large Tupperware, fill with clean water, 2 or 3 times higher than the beans.
4. Put in the fridge for 12 hours.
5. Pour out the water, rinse and fill with the same amount of clean water.
6. Transfer to a pot with a lid and put on low heat.
7. I have found boiling time to vary greatly for these beans, so ideally check every 1/2hr or so until they are just tender.

See, nothing to it! I hope this post inspires you to try and get a few more beans into your diet. Let us know how it goes.

Post by Frugal Dad

I posed the question of leftover longevity to Twitter followers last week and received a number of thoughtful responses. One reply from “jessc098“ caught my eye. It referenced a site called StillTasty.com, which allows visitors to search from a list of food choices and receive feedback on how long that particular item will keep refrigerated and frozen. The search results also include a number of tips related to your selection for helping to preserve foods longer.

Here’s an example from StillTasty.com using the previously mentioned meatloaf – a crowd favorite in our house:

Meatloaf – Homemade, Leftovers

Refrigerator: 3-4 days
Freezer: 3-4 months

Tips

• Refrigerate within two hours of cooking
• Refrigerate cooked meatloaf in shallow, airtight containers or wrap tightly with heavy-duty aluminum foil or plastic wrap
• Freeze in covered airtight containers or heavy-duty freezer bags, or wrap tightly with heavy-duty aluminum foil or freezer wrap.
• Freeze time shown is for best quality only – foods kept constantly frozen at zero degrees will keep safe indefinitely.

Shared with permission from StillTasty.com

There are a couple of ways you can use this information to help shave money off your food budget. One idea is to stockpile ingredients for various dishes when they are on sale, make the dish, freeze it and enjoy it later to realize the cost savings. We frequently do this with things that keep for a couple months in the freezer, and it’s great to simply thaw and reheat a dish on nights when the kids have football practice, or you just don’t feel like cooking a big meal after a long day at work.

Another strategy for reducing your food costs by incorporating leftovers is to plan your meals around recipes that naturally produce a lot of leftovers. In our house, we all eat spaghetti the night it is cooked, I eat it for lunch the next day at work, and we all finish it off the next night. That’s nine servings of spaghetti enjoyed at home with salad and garlic bread for a fraction of what you would pay at a place like Olive Garden.

Leftovers can also be combined with new ingredients to produce new meals. My grandfather had a knack for this and frequently used leftover meats to “beef up” new meals. For instance, spicy smoked sausage sliced the next day and added to a pot of red beans and rice, onion, and Tabasco sauce made an excellent semi-cajun dish we could eat for another couple days.

Frugal living is not only about thriftiness, it is also about reducing waste and using resources wisely. I’m convinced reducing food waste is a great way to help your wallet by stretching out the cost of food purchases across a number of meals. Plan your meals, properly store leftovers for safe keeping, and enjoy maximum savings on your food bill.

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Sulphur Mountain Restaurant courtesy of ahisgett

A couple years ago we ate out every Friday night, and then again on Saturday nights. We also grabbed something out a couple times during the week. We still enjoy the occasional meal out as a break from coming, but now we attempt to make it more of a treat than a routine. For instance, if the kids have a school function and we know we’ll be out anyway, we’ll plan a dinner out to celebrate something (we recently did this to celebrate paying off our family vehicle).

Of course, just because you eat out it doesn’t mean you have to break the bank to do it. When we do eat out, or pick something up to bring home, we like to split meals, skip drinks (order water only), pass on dessert, order a lunch portion for dinner, etc. There are plenty of strategies for surviving a meal out at a restaurant.

These days we’ve scaled back to an average of one meal out per week as a family. Recently, we splurged for a nice steak dinner at a local steakhouse. After dinner I used the opportunity for a teachable lesson for the kids. I told them that our small steak, baked potato and salad cost over $10.00 per adult. That same meal could have easily cost less than $5.00 at home, with Dad grilling steaks on the grill, Mom making her famous loaded baked potatoes, and my kids helping with salads.

Sometimes Mom, Dad, and even the kids, just need a break. So enjoy the occasional meal out. Set aside some of your budget to pay cash for the meal – using plastic guarantees heartburn later on.  Remember to budget enough for a good tip for excellent service (we’re frugal, but we aren’t cheapskates!).

How often does your family eat out? Have you scaled back because of the economy, or simply because you are trying to spend less money?

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“Eating less meat is another of those triple plays–something you can do that is good for your health, good for the environment, and good for your wallet.” -Amy Dacyczyn in The Complete Tightwad Gazette

I’ve been vegetarian for a little over a year now, and I love it. However, I’m not here to condemn or criticize people who eat meat. (How could I? My wife loves a good steak.) And I’m not trying to convince everybody to immediately go vegetarian.

Instead, I simply want to suggest that the meat eaters among us try eating less meat. As Amy says, it can be good for your health, good for the environment, and good for your wallet. And as you’ll see below, it’s not as hard as you might think.

It’s good for your body.

While cutting meat from your diet certainly isn’t a cure-all, it does have its benefits:

• Vegetarians have been shown to have lower rates of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and prostate and colon cancer. [source]
• The average American consumes about 110 grams of protein per day, roughly twice the recommended amount. Cutting back on meat can bring you more in line with the recommended about. [source]

It’s good for the planet.

• Producing a pound of animal protein requires about 100 times as much water as producing a pound of grain protein. [source]
• Producing a pound of beef puts out as much carbon dioxide as driving a typical car for 70 miles. [source]
• Producing a pound of beef creates 11 times as much greenhouse gas emissions as a pound of chicken and 100 times more than a pound of carrots. [source]

If you want to protect the environment, every little bit of meat you cut from your diet helps!

It’s good for your wallet.

The following prices are from our local market, though prices will of course vary depending upon where you live, where you shop, whether you buy organic, etc.

• Cost of a pound of T-Bone steak: $6
• Cost of a pound of chicken: $3
• Cost of a pound of ground beef: $2
• Cost of a pound of beans: $0.80

And guess what? Beans are delicious.

It’s not as hard as you might think

I hear two common concerns when talking with people about cutting back on meat:

1. How will I make sure I get enough calories and protein? (Or, “I’ve tried going vegetarian before, and after about a week my energy level plummeted, and I felt like I was going to pass out.”)
2. Most of my dinners are based around meat. What am I going to cook for my family?

To the first question: It’s essential that you maintain a proper level of protein in your diet. If you switch to eating salad for every meal, of course you’ll feel light headed all day long. There’s practically no protein and very few calories in a typical salad. (And who wants to eat salad all day anyway? Not me!)

If you only cut back slightly on the meat in your diet, lack of protein shouldn’t be a problem. If you decide to go completely vegetarian, the trick is to eat plenty of beans, whole grains, dairy, or eggs.

As to the “what will I make for dinner?” question, my answer is that Google Reader is your friend. Subscribe to a handful of vegetarian food blogs, and you’ll get meal suggestions in your Reader everyday. Surely one of them will look good.

And with that in mind, here are a few easy-to-make, inexpensive, delicious, healthy vegetarian meals (and blogs) to get you started. (Click on the pictures to see the recipes.)

Tomato Basil Cream Pasta from Vegan Yum Yum

Roman Beans and Polenta from WheatFreeMeatFree

Spinach and Vegan Ricotta Spaghetti from Vegalicious

Give any of them a try, and I think you’ll agree that meatless dinners don’t have to be seen as a sacrifice.

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Food Budgets Tightening

One of the first places families look to cut their budgets is food. After all, some could argue that food and categories such as utilities, both budget categories billed based on consumption, are a couple of only a handful of budget categories we can control from month to month. Monthly housing costs are fairly stable. Your car payment doesn’t change from month to month. Unfortunately, the effect of reducing a food budget often means poorer food choices, ultimately leading to declining health.

A diet of Ramen noodles and 2 for $1.00 generic macaroni and cheese will certainly help keep your wallet fat. Unfortunately, it doesn’t help your waistline stay trim. A quick survey of most coupon offerings reveals most manufacturers provide coupons for prepackaged or convenience food items. I know this because when shopping with coupons it is impossible to use them anywhere around the perimeter of the store (where healthier foods such as produce, meats and dairy items are typically found.

As more and more Americans look for ways to save money on groceries I imagine we will see a steady rise in obesity rates, already high relative to the rest of the world. I’m one to talk. I’ve been guilty of slashing the food budget and eating cheap things at each meal like cereals, boxed noodles and rices, etc. and have seen my own waistline expand.

After discussing things with my wife we have agreed that we should continue to spend a little more for quality foods and look for other places to sacrifice. Being the frugal person I am, I still look for deals, even on high-quality food items, and use a couple strategies to keep costs down.

Ways to Save Money on Healthy Foods

Shake produce before placing in bags. Most produce is sold by the pound, and grocery stores typically give them a good soaking fairly often to keep them moist and fresh. They water absorbed also adds a bit to their weight, and can add up if you pick up a couple pounds of fruits and veggies. Shake off any excess water before placing in the produce bags to be sure your savings don’t evaporate on the ride home.

Shop for deli meats late in the day. Often deals can be found just before the deli closes on shaved turkey and other meats nearing the “sell by” date.  Deli meats are typically of a higher quality because they are not packaged in sodium and other preservatives. Be sure to check out the meat case while you are at it. Many time we pick up a pork tenderloin or whole chicken marked “manager’s special” which is perfectly good if eaten or frozen that day or the next.

Declare a “Meatless Monday.” I was raised on meat and potatoes, so this concept seemed a little strange at first. But replacing meat with other proteins such as beans and lentils one meal a week is a great way to reduce your food budget and your intake of saturated fats. My family also eats breakfast for dinner a couple times a month, including eggs, turkey sausage and fruits.

Eliminate “empty-calorie” foods from your grocery list. When trying to save money on groceries, or lose weight, it is a good idea to remove empty-calorie foods such as chips, candies, cookies and soft drinks. They really add little to no nutritional value to your diet.  I guess this means I’ll have to give up Little Debbie snack cakes.

Take up square foot gardening. You may not yield enough to feed the entire block, but we were able to enjoy great summer salads last year complete with freshly-picked cucumbers and tomatoes. This year we are adding to our square foot garden and plan to grow even more tomato plants–hopefully they will yield enough tomatoes to can a batch or two of homemade salsa.

I’m interested to hear from readers. What strategies have you employed to help keep the costs of eating healthy down?

Post by Frugal Dad

There is no shortage of places to go out to eat in our country.  I’m continually amazed at how much food is incorporated into all forms of entertainment. You can’t go anywhere without a hotdog stand, a concession stand, or even a full-blown restaurant stuck inside a discount store.  We recently took our kids to a popular indoor play place (think of a gym for kids with inflatable equipment), but didn’t think to eat before we went.  Like all kids, it only took about twenty minutes of play and the scent of pepperoni pizza wafting through the building before they were begging for a snack.

Snack Savings

I think our lunch cost us about $12.00 that day.  It consisted of two pieces of thin-crust pizza for each of us, and three small drinks (my wife and I usually share, but kids and germs don’t mix well so they get their own cup).  We could have bought an entire pizza with all the toppings we wanted from our local Kroger grocery store, baked it ourselves, and had drinks at home for less!  Lesson learned.  When planning activities away from home it is a good idea to eat a small meal before leaving, else the activity is bound to cost significantly more with food purchases.  I recently wrote about the decision to sneak food into movie theaters instead of buying from the concession stand.  Assuming you simply ate a meal or snack at home you could easily survive a two-hour movie without buying a $5.00 tub of popcorn and a $3.00 drink.

Healthier Food Choices

Things made at home are typically much better for you than food purchased on the road.  Even the choices are significantly better.  It’s rare to find a grilled chicken salad on the menu at eateries tucked away inside amusement parks.  Most menus here resemble fast food restaurants where the most popular items are hamburgers, french fries and hotdogs.  Eating at home saves both dollars and calories.

An Annual Exception

I can easily live with this rule but for one major exception–the fair.  When the state fair comes to a city close to us once a year, part of the experience is fair food.  I’ve often joked that if a place opened and only sold “fair food” they would rake in money!  Funnel cakes, corn dogs, fried candy bars, turkey legs and homemade ice cream are all part of the experience at the fair, and we budget a stomach-ache-inducing binge into our entertainment budget just this once.  After all, what’s the point of living frugal if you can’t have the occasional treat?

How do you avoid food expenses while visiting entertainment venues?  Eat before you go, pack a picnic, or just budget in the food costs?

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Chocolate Chip Parfait

Ingredients

• 1 Pack of Chips Ahoy Chocolate Chip Cookies
• 1 Container of Whipped Topping
• 1 Cup of Milk

Directions

1. Place a big spoonful of Cool Whip into a parfait cup or bowl
2. Dunk a cookie into the bowl of milk
3. Next, place the cookie on top of the Cool Whip
4. Continue until you have three or four layers
5. Put in fridge until chilled and ready to serve

Notes from Frugal Dad:  This has become our favorite summer recipe because it is a wonderful, cool treat to have after dinner.  The recipe can be made healthy by using reduced fat Chips Ahoy cookies, fat free Cool Whip, and skim milk.  And of course you can save a little money by looking for store brand whipped topping and chocolate chip cookies.  Our daughter makes four servings of this dessert about once a week during the summer, much to the delight of the entire family!

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The costs of fast food. These days the cost of everything seems to be going up, and few product costs are inflating faster than food. With the cost of milk, meats, eggs, and even bread rising across the country, fast food chains are passing the associated increases along to customers. As the price of eating out increases, so does the opportunity costs we pay by not pocketing that money and brown-bagging a lunch made from home.

Costs per month. The brilliance behind “the latte factor,” made famous by author David Bach, was that it got consumers to think long term. Carrying daily costs out to a weekly, monthly and yearly figure was a wake-up call to those who considered a $3 expense to have a minimal impact on their overall financial life. Take fast food for example. A $6 combo meal (which typically includes a drink, sandwich and side order of fries or salad) eaten every day of the five-day workweek will cost customers $30 a week. That $30 a week, times four weeks, adds $120 a month to your food budget.

Costs per year. Continuing our fast food example, that $120 monthly fast food bill becomes a $1,440 annualized expense. Staggering, isn’t it? Imagine the things we could do with $1,400! You could open a Roth IRA, start a 529 plan for your kids, take a couple courses at a local college to further your career, start an emergency fund, or take a paid-for vacation. All for the price of a $6 cheeseburger, french fries and soda. Next time I’m craving a cheeseburger, I think I’ll just make my own from home.

I picked on fast food establishments for purposes of this example, but they are not the only place we throw away hundreds of dollars every year. Pack-a-day smokers spend nearly the same amount to fund their habit, as do beer-drinkers and wine consumers. My vice used to be bottled soft drinks from my old company’s break room. I probably bought a drink or two a day for years over the time I worked there, at $1.00 a pop! All the while I complained about a $500 minimum investment required by a mutual fund I was interested in – where was I going to get $500? I should have started with the vending machine.

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Ask for a “to-go” box up front. As soon as your meal arrives ask for a to-go box and separate about half of your meal. Restaurant meals have grown to enormous proportions over the years, and they are usually enough to feed two people.  Save the other half of your entree for lunch the next day.  Most importantly, don’t walk out and forget the to-go box (as I’ve done on many occasions).

Split a drink, or just go with water. At most restaurants a glass of tea or a soft drink can run as much as $1.50 a glass.  That’s $6.00 for a family of four.  I recommend Mom and Dad share a drink, but splurge on small drinks for the kids.  Kids are notorious for passing germs back and forth, so best to keep their drinks separate.  Water is usually offered for free, but skip the lemons.  Lemons are often sitting out around uncooked meats and are handled with bare hands, both conduscive for passing harmful bacterias.

Order an appetizer as an entree. Appetizers are usually cheaper than entrees.  Look for appetizers that offer a variety of food groups, such as nachos or quesidillas (meat, cheese, greens, sour cream, etc.).  It’s tough to make an entire meal out of fried cheese sticks.

Stick to the dollar menu, and  hold the fries. At fast food restaurants the dollar menus offer pretty good deals if ordered properly.  McDonalds double cheeseburgers were a welcomed addition to the dollar menu, though Trent at the Simple Dollar has proven you can cook a tastier, more nutritional burger at home.  Still, if you are on the go and must stop for lunch, stick to the dollar menu and skip the fries.  French fries are probably the worst possible choice based on nutritional content.  As an alternative look for a side salad, chili or baked potato.

Ask for as many “extras” as you can get, for free. When we make our weekly stop at Subway I load up on as many condiments and sandwich components as they will give me (for free).  Ask for extra lettuce to bulk up the sandwich a bit.  Try your sub with “the works” which includes all vegetables.  If you are like me and split the footlong into two meals, hold the mayo, oil and vinegar as it makes the next day’s lunch a little soggy.  You can add these yourself at home.

Don’t order from the kids menu. Some kids practically live on Happy Meals (we’ve bought our share).  At larger restaurants we’ve found it pays to skip ordering meals for the kids and simply sharing a few bites from our entrees.  This doesn’t work too well if you order backfire spicy buffalo wings, so stick to something kid-friendly like plain chicken fingers and a baked potato.

Skip dessert. Even a couple scoops of ice cream can cost three or four dollars at most restaurants.  If you really are in the mood for dessert, pay your bill and head over to a local fast food restaurant for an ice cream cone.  McDonalds offers an excellent, low-fat, soft-serve ice cream for less than a $1.00.

Don’t be a cheapskate when tipping. You might think the Frugal Dad would advocate cutting costs wherever possible.  Well, that is typically true.  However, [tag]tipping[/tag] is an area where I am generous.  If your server has been exceptional calculate 10% of the bill in your head and then double it, rounding up to the nearest dollar.  On that same subject, don’t forget to tip the pizza delivery person.  They braved traffic to drive to your home in the elements and walked your dinner all the way to your door.  Who knows, they may even be trying to get out of debt, too.

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Sign up for customer loyalty programs. Larger grocery chains such as Kroger or Publix have a customer loyalty program designed to enhance repeat business. Take advantage of “member’s only” pricing by signing up for a store in your area with the best incentives (double coupons, members-only hours, savings on gasoline purchases, etc.).  While you are at it, check out UPromise, a free service that ties your grocery store spending to college savings accounts for your kids.

Coupons are your friend. If your Sunday paper was delivered with a $10 bill attached, would you throw it away? Of course not. Well, that’s effectively what you are doing each week by not taking a few minutes to clip and organize coupons. Combined with store sales, coupons have helped us shave over 30% off our grocery bill. My wife and I have been Grocery Game subscribers for some time now, and it is a great service for helping identify those rock-bottom deals.

Plan meals two weeks in advance. Don’t be one of these daily grocery store shoppers who stops by on the way home from work every day to pick up tonight’s dinner. The more times you enter a store the more chances you have to forget frugality and succumb to the grocer’s marketing efforts.

Make a grocery list – and don’t leave home without it. I think the art of making a list is lost on most people because we are an impatient society. Who wants to take the time to make a list, when I can just “wing it.” Any good efficiency expert will tell you that organizing your thoughts in list form will make you more productive, and is well worth the time. A grocery list will also help you stay focused and lessen the chances of you picking up frivolous items on a whim.

Shop without the kids. Older kids can be great helpers, and shopping creates many teachable moments that parents can share with their little ones. However, toddlers are typically impatient and don’t have the stamina to make a full lap around the store. They are also bad about grabbing items and throwing them in the shopping cart, leading to a total meltdown when you have to explain that we can’t buy seven boxes of Lucky Charms to get each color of the magic decoder ring. Better to leave the kids with grandparents or a trusted babysitter.

Never shop hungry. I used to make the mistake of shopping on an empty stomach. Shopping while hungry makes everything look good and before you know it you’ve completely blown your grocery budget.

Bring a calculator. We use a cash envelope system for our household budget, so it’s important for us not to overspend and get embarrassed at the checkout. Take along a calculator to keep a running tab of your purchases. An easier method is to simply keep a tab on the back of your grocery list, rounding up items to the nearest dollar to make the math easier.

Look high and low for deals, literally. The hottest real estate on a grocery store shelf is eye-level, and is usually where the worst deals are found. Make the effort to look at lower shelves to find the best deals, and look for store-brand alternatives frequently stored along the top.

Search the end-caps. End-caps are the space at both ends of a grocery aisle where great deals can be found. We’ve discovered that end caps on a snack aisle (cookies, crackers, chips) often have the best deals because the idea is to draw shopper’s attention up the aisle. Save time and avoid walking the length of the snack aisle – the best deals are found at both ends.

Forget brand loyalty. Most of us grew up eating only one kind of peanut butter, or using only one brand of mayonnaise. If you want to save money on groceries you have to be willing to try new things. Using a coupon to get a different brand of peanut butter for half price makes sense, and I’ve learned to enjoy the taste of savings.

Store brands offer a cheaper alternative. Most people don’t realize that many manufacturers roll products off a conveyor and slap different labels on them – a national brand and a local store brand. Many generic or store products have nearly the same ingredients as their name-brand counterparts, but are much less expensive.

Compare unit costs, not list prices. Bigger packages don’t always mean cheaper prices. The calculator you brought along can help convert price to unit cost to compare which items are really cheaper. Simply divide the price by the total number of units (ounces, items, etc.) to get each package’s unit cost. Many times you will find it is cheaper to buy two smaller packages than one slightly larger. This is especially true of paper products, where stores rely on consumers believing the myth that bulk packages are cheaper.

Buy only the minimum amount you need. Many people are suckered into buying more than they really need by store’s “2 for $4″ sale prices. All this means is that the cost of each item is $2, and you can either buy one for $2, or 2 for $4. If you don’t need two items, just buy one. Some specials require a certain quantity, so be sure to check the fine print. If the pricing represents rock-bottom pricing, and you have more than one coupon, it may make sense to stock up, but don’t do it unnecessarily because the store’s signage persuaded you.

Don’t buy non-grocery items at the grocery store. Our primary store recently remodeled and included several middle aisles dedicated to plates, silverware, etc. These items are priced much higher than discount store equivalents. Resist the temptation to stray outside of grocery products.

Pick up toiletries, medicines and hygiene products at a discount store or pharmacy. Stores like CVS and Walmart typically have much better deals on toiletries and other personal care items than grocery stores. Unless you have a coupon that makes the price competitive, avoid these types of purchases at a grocery store. As an aside, Be Thrifty Like Us does a great job of reporting on deals at stores like CVS, and their “Frugal Friday” is a weekly must-read.

Look for manager’s specials in the meat department. Meat products have a “sell by” date and as that date approaches items that haven’t moved are tagged “manager’s special” or some similar designation. Many stores have a designated space for items marked manager’s specials, and other times the items are mixed in with regularly priced products. Ask the manager on duty if you need help finding special deals. If you plan to cook or freeze the meat right way you can find some great discounts on meats, which usually make up the largest percentage of our family’s grocery store budget.

Buy 2-liter soft drinks instead of cans. 2-liters represent a much better deal, even though they aren’t as convenient as canned soft drinks. If you must by canned drinks look for multi-unit specials on “fridge packs” such as a “3 for $10″ sale. A better plan would be to eliminate soft drinks from your diet altogether. Here is some inspiration if you are so motivated.

Keep eyes front in the checkout line. Candy, magazines and useless gadgets fill the sidelines of grocery store checkout lanes. These items typically represent the highest margin products for grocery stores. You are a captive audience while in line, and stores know that many of the items are bought on impulse. A couple candy bars to snack on during the ride home costs the same as a giant box of spaghetti noodles used to feed a family of four, with leftovers. Use the time more effectively to organize coupons, check your grocery list and get your loyalty card ready for scanning.

Recycle your grocery bags. Not only is this good for the environment, but many stores will offer a few cents off your grocery bill for each bag you bring in from home.

Keep an eye on the scanner. Grocery stores are notorious for incorrectly ringing up sale items. The other day I bought two loaves of a name brand white wheat bread on sale for $1.19 per loaf. The bread rang up $2.64. I notified the clerk who asked for a price check. Turns out I was right, and saved nearly $3.00 just by being observant.

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