by Nancy Seddens

Created on: January 24, 2010

The world appears to be going through one of its periodic economic downturns and, although the US congress has not concerned its self with cutting expenditures, individual citizens have.  A reduction in spending by the general population can make an economy even shakier but with rising unemployment, increased energy costs and the threat of all most certain inflation on the horizon many feel they have no choice but to tighten their belts.

Regardless of one’s place on the economic ladder the one place that everyone can cut back is the food budget. Here are a few steps that will lead to lower grocery bills and more control of your financial future.

First you need to make a list, not a grocery list but a list of meals. List the meat, starch and possible vegetables that would be included with the meal. Break the meals down to ingredients and then extrapolate the quantities used for a month. What you are looking for is how much of the main ingredients used not little things like salt and pepper. For instance how many cans of chicken soup will you use a month or how many pounds of hamburger do you use.

Once you know how much of your 10 most frequently used items you are set to wait for those items to go on sale. Keep track of the cost of those 10 items and buy only what you need of them until they go on sale. When you find one of the 10 on sale buy a two or three month supply. Keep a spreadsheet for those 10 items and keep track of how often they go on sale and what the sale prices are. When you get to the point where you can predict about when each of those items will go on sale and have enough to last between sales then you are ready to pick another 10 items and repeat.

When one or more of your frequently used items goes on sale, if the item is canned or frozen then go on the Internet and look for coupons for those items. If there is a discount grocery like Sam’s Club near enough to you then check out their prices compared to your local grocery’s sale price. Some of the big discount groceries a couple of times a year have triple coupon days and if you know how much you can use and have freezer room and pantry space for you can really clean up.

Are coupons really worth the trouble and time? I personally know of a young couple who, while not your typical coupon clippers; went on line, printed off the maximum coupons allowed for items they could use when a big store advertised a triple coupon day, and got over $700 in groceries for only about $ 250. So in some cases coupon clipping pays and each household will have to evaluate for themselves whether it’s worthwhile for them. Remember though, don't buy what you can find coupons for but instead decide what you will buy and then search for a coupon.

The first secret to saving money on groceries is really not such a big secret after all; you need to know how much of an item your household uses in a given time period, what a good sale price for the item is and how often it will go on sale.

The second secret is even simpler. After you have paid the least amount possible for the groceries; don’t waste them. Plan your meals so that any leftover from one meal will either be someone’s lunch for the next day or be reincarnated as a different dish or at least part of one.

For ideas on how to cut back on food waste check out the Helium title, Never waste food again: How to organize your leftovers. There you will find several authors with tips on how to reduce waste and save money on food.

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