Tips for Reducing Your Grocery Bill

1. Build your grocery list around planned menu ideas. Shopping with a list will help reduce unwanted spending on impulse buys.

2. Use the Supermarket Flyers for finding additional discounts. If chick thighs are .98/lb then you might buy extra and freeze for a later time.

3. Use coupons only for the items you normally buy.

4. Use coupons on sale items on double coupon day to maximize your discount.

5. Don't go to the store hungry! You are more apt to buy something you don't need just because it sounds so good.

6. If possible, shop alone. Kids are wonderful at adding additional things to the cart. It is much easier to say no to yourself than to say no to your children.

7. Put together a price book. A price book is a homemade book where you keep track of the items that you buy and their prices at the various stores. For example, you may make a pricebook out of a spiral notebook. The first page may be milk. Under milk you will write the various stores and the prices they have milk for. A pricebook can be a very valuable asset when shopping since it will tell you the cheapest places to buy your groceries. Don't forget that stores such as Walmart and Target also have grocery items and in many instance offer a savings over your local grocery store.

8. Cook with whole foods and eliminate packaged meals from your diet. Although packaged foods are much easier and take less time, they cost more and a generally have food additives that you and your family could do without. If you need to be able to throw a meal on the table consider cooking a few meals ahead of time, freezing and using as needed.

9. Rather than buying expensive boxed cereals, frozen waffles, and packaged breakfast food why not make french toast, oatmeal, eggs and toast, pancakes, omletes, and biscuits for breakfast. If time is a issue why not make some pancakes or waffles in bulk ahead of time, freeze and use as needed.

10. Plan on having 3 non-meat meals a week. You can buy pasta, beans and eggs a lot cheaper than meat.