Drastically Cut Grocery Prices Without Coupons
There are many ways to cut grocery bills without using coupons.
Personally I use coupons, but only when the item is free or cheaper than the store brand. There are few coupons for meat and not many for vegetables, so those I still shop for the way my mother did.
I grew up on a small working farm with parents who lived through the great depression.
My mother knew exactly what she had in the refrigerator and in the pantry. Today, first step takes time. Go through every area in your home that contains food. Use as much as you can of what you have; this can save an amazing amount. Other than milk, bread and fresh vegetables, I did not have to buy anything for two full weeks!
List what you have and then keep track. Never go to the store without checking your list. Plan at least a week's worth of meals and build your shopping list. If you don't...hey, you'll walk down an aisle and can't remember if you have beans. Worse yet, you can't remember if you have stew meat, and you've promised homemade stew sometime this week.
Comparison shop store ads for all groceries, but especially meat because it is so expensive.
Chop up and stew cheap roasts when they go on sale. Don't buy pre-cut anything, whether it's meat or vegetables. Buy cheaper chicken and pork if it isn't totally larded with fat. Fat makes up a lot of the weight you get charged so it's not economical. It also is unhealthy.
If you don't hate it, plan liver once every week or so. For some reason, this is one totally non-fatty meat that has not gone up astronomically in price. It's full of iron, too.
Buy ham only when it's on sale. Buy sale ham at few pounds larger than you need. After serving baked ham, chop the leftovers. Make a macaroni, ham and cheese casserole, ham croquettes or something else that uses small chunks of ham.
Then boil down the bone and scrape off the leftovers for ham and beans. Ham and beans is a truly cheap budget-stretcher. Never buy ham just for this, especially pre-cut. Pre-cut ham dhunks are the same bone scraps at ridiculous prices.
The same rule holds true when turkey is on sale. One turkey can provide mega meals. So can chickens and even pork roasts and chops. Just plan your meals so that one meat purchase gives you at least two meals. Sometimes you can get more.
If you family does not want to eat ham or turkey or chicken every week, freeze the leftover meat. Use at least one of your pre-cooked meats for next week's menu planning. Some foods like soups, stews and other casseroles also freeze well so cook double and keep a container for later use.
A year ago I would have recommended shopping the outer aisles where there is meat, bread, eggs and other staples, including fresh vegetables and fruit. At this point, fresh vegetables and fruit are so overpriced that unless there is a "loss-leader" sale, I'm buying frozen.
In summer I buy at farmer's markets so I can have more fresh produce at better prices. During cold months I use frozen. For one thing, most produce is shipped non-ripe and for so many days that it has lost nutritive value by the time you eat it. Frozen fruit and veggies are picked ripe and frozen very quickly.
Definitely try generic brands for all fruit, vegetables, canned meats, cereals, crackers and snacks. I still don't like the local generic cereals, but with most other items I can't tell a difference. In fact, I like one generic brand of all vegetables better. And while this article doesn't concern over-the-counter medications, you can save mega-bucks buying generic brands. The important ingredients are the same.
To truly save money on food, do a real budget. Compute exactly what you can afford to spend on food. Then plan your shopping so that you go once a week only. It's too easy to buy just one impulse item on each trip if you go more often. If you shop at more than one store, make sure you buy no impulse items at any of them.
Finally, go back to that list of what you have in your cabinets. It your cabinets are like mine, not everything will work for favorite recipes. Goggle recipes for whatever you have that's hard to plan into your regular menus. This can include even spices (get with friends and share spices; we all have too much of some things and spices go bad if not used).
Definitely look up recipes for anything different from what you usually serve. A hunter gifted me with a nice lot of venison last year. I had only one cookbook with game recipes and they were complicated and not always realistic.
I went online and found a lot of recipes. Plus I noted ingredients and marinade times that worked to make the meat less "gamy" so I could experiment with my own beef recipes, too.
We all need to save money at grocery stores. Go for it, and learn to coordinate what you have with what is healthy for your family.