Frugal Grocery Shopping List at It's Best!

Here is a frugal grocery shopping list at it's best...don't forget your local dollar store for produce, name brand produce and much more when trying to stretch your budget to the max.

To all the nay sayers who think that shopping for produce at your local dollar store will seriously damage your health, you may be surpised at the finds at my local store today. I came home with four large packages of organic baby spinach, the same brand purchased for $4.99 each at our nearest health food store. As if this deal was not good enough, they also had organic bananas and berries today as well with similar savings.

One more bonus to an already great shopping day was 10 ounce bricks of Cracker Barrel 2% white cheddar cheese. I got a dozen of those and will freeze most of it to grate later for casseroles and such.

Moral of the story...Keep your eyes open for bargains and your mind open to possibilites and your frugal grocery list will get longer as the deals get better.

Grocery Discount Coupons or Dollar Store Food…What Saves the Most?

I have gotten a few emails lately about the preferred strategy for saving money on food, namely grocery discount coupons or dollar store food shopping strategies. Most of you want to know which strategy is the best.

A difficult question to answer to be sure, but I’m going to sum it up in one word…BOTH! Both strategies are worth their weight in gold quite literally can and do save you upwards of 70-90% off the full shelf price for most food items. Do you know why?

With the economy sinking still further by the day and more folks finding themselves without cash to spend, every tool in your tool box for saving should be practiced, honed and studied. Every option is a good option for savings because not every strategy will work for everyone, everyday. Sometimes grocery sales are a little thin from week to week, with few free or deeply discounted items available. When you hit a week like this, other options like living off what is in your pantry, dollar store shopping and hitting the discount store grocery aisles make a lot of sense.

I am quite an experienced grocery shopper and money saver, and use 4 main strategies to save on my food bill every week because not all of them work well every single week. In short, if the options are thin with one strategy, I move on to another. I use the following strategies the most:

1. I always hit the dollar store first, and only buy what is of good quality and a good value for the money. Some items are not, and I pass just as in any other grocery store.

2. I always use coupons, either doubled or tripled and with a sale to maximize my savings.

3. I always use multiple “like coupons” from free printable resources online BEFORE buying the Sunday paper or using a coupon clipping service. Why spend money if you do not have to? Coupons.com is the Grand Daddy of online printable coupon resources and is always free with high face value coupons. Free is always the best price in my book, so start there first. Their coupons really are tops of all the online printable grocery coupon services.

4. I always stockpile non-perishables when items can be purchased for free or pennies on the dollar. For that price, I will find a way to use the product without waste. When using the stockpiling strategy, coupon clipping services that you can find on Ebay are the way to go. The selection of coupons is tops, and the price is lower than most other clipping services online.

Each strategy will save you a ton of money on its own, but the real strength of these 4 together is that they give you more than one option for saving. Forewarned is forearmed they always say, and the ability to eat well for less is good financial self defense in uncertain times.

Which strategy is the best for keeping your food costs low? I use both dollar store food and grocery discount coupons every week and so should you if you want to save over 50% off your food expenses.

Dollar Store Food- How to Get the Most for Your Money

LOL, this short video makes a couple of astute observations about dollar food shopping that I would like to discuss in greater detail.

First, deep discount and dollar food shopping both have two main strategies in common to maximize savings. At the basis of the dollar store shopping strategy is having a good working knowledge of the prices of the products you buy the most often.

While the values of the products carried at both discount and dollar stores are usually in the range of good to spectacular when compared to the price, some products are stil not bargains. You will need to have an idea of the price of the items you are shopping for to know the difference between a deal and a so-so offer.

For example, how much is produce per pound in your local supermarket or farmers market? What is the full shelf price, and the usual sale price on canned goods, frozen foods and dairy products that you buy the most often? Finally, how much would you generally spend for the comparable name brand product when purchased both on sale and with a double coupon? Many times, but not always, you will be in the same ball park for cost when doing heavy couponing.

All of the above factors play into the relative value of the dollar store item you are considering purchasing. For example, if the price you would normally pay for the nationally known product of known high quality is either at or near the dollar store price of a generic, go with the national brand. A known product of good value is always a better choice than taking a chance on a product that may be of lesser quality.

While I will readily admit that generics most often are of equal quality to their name brand counterparts, there can be exceptions to the rule. When in doubt and the price is nearly the same, trust the quality of the product you have used in the past.

If in doubt of the quality of a product you have never used before, buy one to try before stocking up. If you can easily do a taste test in the car to make your buying decision, go for it. Remember that dollar store and discount store items come and go quickly, and you may not see them again. If you plan to stock up, do so within the next day or two or you may loose the chance. If you carry out your taste tests in the car whenever possible it will save you the trouble of returning to make the rest of your purchases. A good strategy for saving both time and gas on a return trip.

Second, creativity while shopping is key. While dollar store grocery items may come and go quickly, your creativity will never fail you. Learn to keep an open mind in how you define a bargain. Is a bargain price only? Or, is a bargain a combination of both quality and low price, meaning a good value for the price. In my mind, value trumps quality, although your defination may not be the same. What consititues a bargain to you?

Knowing what kinds of foods will go well together to make quick and tasty meals is an added bonus to help you keep meals interesting. Keep in mind that even if you need to fill in from the grocery store to complete the remaining ingredients for your menus you can do so inexpensively. If you buy the bulk of your groceries off the dollar store shelves, the porprotion of fill in itmes at the higher priced supermarket should be minimal.

Because shopping in dollar stores is hit or miss proposition, I have started to carry the grocery sales fliers for the week with me as I shop. If I need to know what is on sale that could potentially help me to add variety to the ingredients I have to work with from the dollar store, I simply refer to the ad.

Carrying the weekly sales circulars is also particularly helpful when evaluating produce for purchase in the dollar store. Sometimes the supermarket loss leaders are just as cheap as dollar store produce and there are additional items to choose from when shopping several stores a week. It helps to have a visual of what is available for the week at super low prices regardless of the store you are shopping in. shopping several stores a week will give you the widest variety of cheap ingredients and help to avoid boredom in your menus. The more options the better.

Dollar store food shopping really is not as difficult as you would think. You just need to know a few tricks to get the most for your money. The main thing to know is that the "it's only a dollar" mentality will keep you from getting your best bargains on your shopping trips. It may only be a dollar, but a dollar is still worth a lot especially when money is extra tight. Don't waste money even at the price point of a buck. Be sure you will use your purchases without waste, and keep an eye on both quality and value when shopping for dollar store food.

Dollar Store Food and Gourmet Meals

Here's some more great ideas on how to use dollar store food to create gourmet meals. I have to admit that lately, I've been in the mood to go back to my roots as I share this information with you all. I know that you can eat well by using dollar store and discount store foods. While my food budget remains low today, I'm enjoying the burst of crativity in doing the research for my latest posts!

I'm dating myself just a bit by telling you that when I was in college dollar stores were not yet the rage. My choices were limited in this regard, so I also frequeted farmer's markets, discount stores like Target, Walmart and Grocery Warehouse. I bought what was a good value and then purchased just as much as I needed from the bulk bins to supplement my coupon and sale purchases.

Case in point, no matter where you live there are some low priced options. I did not have the luxury of dollar stores, Dollar General, and Family Dollar near me, but there were other right down cheap alternatives to help me keep my budget low while still continuing to eating well.

With so many dollar stores around now, the choices are wider than ever before. Use them as part of your shopping strategy to save lot time and money. With a little prersistience and practice, you to can be a gourmet with dollar store food.

How to Cook With Dollar Store Food

I know that budgets are getting tighter still as the economy continues to sprial downward, so now is a good time to begin our lessons on how to cook with dollar store food. This short video is just the beginning, but should help you all to open your minds to the possibilites found in your dollar store.

They say that "necessity is the mother of all invention," and I couldn't agree more. I learned to be a really good and thrifty cook while I was in college. The surprising thing was that creativity and desire were the only two skills I needed to eat really well on a super tight budget. Learning how to cook with dollar store food is really not that difficult, you just need to be willing to think outside the box.

Related articles: 14 Budget Stretching dollar Store Buys, Dollar Store Deals, Dollar Store Duds