Saving Money - Food Shopping (Part 3)

Buy in bulk.

Buying in bulk whenever possible will help reduce your overall grocery bill. Yes, it's a bigger initial cash outlay to buy in bulk, but it is absolutely worth it. Whether it's meat or rice, the overall savings will amaze you. Not only will your price-per-pound be better, you reduce the number of trips you make to the store, saving on gas as well. To help to ease the pain of the initial outlay, choose a different bulk item to purchase every trip, don't try to buy them all at once!

Be careful of over dependence on big-box club stores like Sam's Club, Price Club, Costco or BJ's for your bulk items - they aren't always the best deal! Take the list you created from your sales papers, and compare the price-per-pound.

Shop during "off" times.

You'll find the shelves better stocked and the atmosphere less harried if you shop during non-peak shopping times. Weekends are the biggest peak time, for obvious reasons, so try to go during the week. Middle of the week, middle of the afternoon is ideal, if you can manage it. If you must go on the weekend, try very early morning, or after 7pm.

The advantage to shopping during the off-hours in terms of saving money is this: If you are less harried, you can pay better attention to your shopping. Believe it or not, this is really important! When you are paying attention, you can sometimes compare unadvertised prices to what you found in the sales papers. Sometimes store brands are cheaper than what is advertised in the sales papers, and there is rarely a difference in quality. It does happen occasionally, but you'll quickly learn which products have that issue.

Also, look out for better per-unit prices on different sizes than what was advertised. The breakdown on store tags can be useful, but beware! They aren't always correct. Bring a calculator and do the math yourself for best results.

Attention to the little details can save you more than you think.