Today is Frugal Friday over at Biblical Womanhood and the question has risen. How to shop well and frugally w/o coupons. I would say I'm pretty much there... not because I'm Super Woman and have all the time in the world. No, my husband and I are not big on processed foods, even the organic variety. I'm rambling....
So here's what we try to do MOST of the time.
-I keep a pantry and always try to keep it stocked. I restocked this week after eating out of it for over a month. So if it's well stocked I can usually handle a small $200 or $300 emergency.
- We use a Organic Veggie Co-op. About 1/3 of my grocery bill goes towards. We get amazing produce!
Actually we received something like 8 - 3# bags of apples this week. So I'll be making apple chips on the dehydrator for future snacks.
- We grind our own wheat and make all our bread type items. I buy it in bulk and have been doing this for well over 10 years. It doesn't take that much more time (except for tortillas, which are a labor of love).
We also get our oats and less processed sugars and honeys this way. I buy these items about 2 times a year, to keep stocked. I usually save money monthly out of grocery money for these purchases.
-Meat and Cheese I buy the bulk of it 2 times a year. Through co-ops also. I can get lean ground grass fed beef for $3.50 a pound. Here the regular stuff is $3.29. I also by are cheese in 6# blocks. It keeps well in the fridge for 6 months or I sometimes freeze it. It's much cheaper than cheese from the deli counter and it's hormone free!
- I do shop BOGO sales at my local grocery stores. I don't make my own sauce (don't tell anyone). So I always stock up when available. I only BOGO the things we really eat. Occasionally I buy stuff we don't for quick takes to events, but now most people expect use to bring our whole wheat chocolate chip cookies or some other concoction.
None of our stores double coupons. That ended about 20 years ago around here. So that leads me to Warehouse shopping.
- My mom and I split the cost of Warehouse memberships. So we can shop Costco and Sam's. I really like them both for different reasons and usually hit 1 or the other every 2 weeks. Our stores are located right across the street from each other so travel is easy.
I do stay away from making other purchases in these stores!
-Chickens. We live it what is commonly known as Urban Sprawl, but we are allowed to keep hens. It's our new adventure and cost just about the same I was spending in eggs at Costco. We do this because, we like to feel a bit more self sufficient and we like chickens! They make great pets for the chickadees.
-Garden. we do a bit of this, but most of our produce comes from the above co-op. Are chickens love the extra veg!
-I use Aldi (they are new here) for a couple of items. So I hit them maybe once every month or so.
-CVS can be a real pain here so I shop mostly on vitacost and get extra online discounts. But I do use CVS occasionally when I have some really good coupons.
So that's about it. Boring I know. But I do it all for apx $400 a month for our Family of 6! That's pretty good considering the quality of the foods we are getting.
Do you coupon? How about Clearance shopping in the food aisle?
I'd love to here from you!
julie
So here's what we try to do MOST of the time.
-I keep a pantry and always try to keep it stocked. I restocked this week after eating out of it for over a month. So if it's well stocked I can usually handle a small $200 or $300 emergency.
- We use a Organic Veggie Co-op. About 1/3 of my grocery bill goes towards. We get amazing produce!
Actually we received something like 8 - 3# bags of apples this week. So I'll be making apple chips on the dehydrator for future snacks.
- We grind our own wheat and make all our bread type items. I buy it in bulk and have been doing this for well over 10 years. It doesn't take that much more time (except for tortillas, which are a labor of love).
We also get our oats and less processed sugars and honeys this way. I buy these items about 2 times a year, to keep stocked. I usually save money monthly out of grocery money for these purchases.
-Meat and Cheese I buy the bulk of it 2 times a year. Through co-ops also. I can get lean ground grass fed beef for $3.50 a pound. Here the regular stuff is $3.29. I also by are cheese in 6# blocks. It keeps well in the fridge for 6 months or I sometimes freeze it. It's much cheaper than cheese from the deli counter and it's hormone free!
- I do shop BOGO sales at my local grocery stores. I don't make my own sauce (don't tell anyone). So I always stock up when available. I only BOGO the things we really eat. Occasionally I buy stuff we don't for quick takes to events, but now most people expect use to bring our whole wheat chocolate chip cookies or some other concoction.
None of our stores double coupons. That ended about 20 years ago around here. So that leads me to Warehouse shopping.
- My mom and I split the cost of Warehouse memberships. So we can shop Costco and Sam's. I really like them both for different reasons and usually hit 1 or the other every 2 weeks. Our stores are located right across the street from each other so travel is easy.
I do stay away from making other purchases in these stores!
-Chickens. We live it what is commonly known as Urban Sprawl, but we are allowed to keep hens. It's our new adventure and cost just about the same I was spending in eggs at Costco. We do this because, we like to feel a bit more self sufficient and we like chickens! They make great pets for the chickadees.
-Garden. we do a bit of this, but most of our produce comes from the above co-op. Are chickens love the extra veg!
-I use Aldi (they are new here) for a couple of items. So I hit them maybe once every month or so.
-CVS can be a real pain here so I shop mostly on vitacost and get extra online discounts. But I do use CVS occasionally when I have some really good coupons.
So that's about it. Boring I know. But I do it all for apx $400 a month for our Family of 6! That's pretty good considering the quality of the foods we are getting.
Do you coupon? How about Clearance shopping in the food aisle?
I'd love to here from you!
julie
Comments
I see no reason to pay full price for toiletries and cleaning products though, so I use coupons on those items when it makes sense.
and...thanks for stopping by the lylah blog and leaving such a sweet comment :=
blessings...lylah