Cutting your grocery bill in half (Part three): Q&A

I thought I would take the opportunity to respond to my readers’ questions & comments regarding their grocery budgets.  Since many of the comments could apply to many readers, I thought I would share my responses here so we can all join in.

Question: I’m looking forward to hearing what you do for cleaning supplies. 

-Virginia from Akin Family

Answer:  My guest post from the Frugal Girls provided two recipes for homemade cleaning solutions. I also found this post from the Simple, Frugal Green Co-Op to be useful: 20 ways to use vinegar.  They also have a nice summary on Environmentally Friendly Cleaning. Also check out this recipe for homemade laundry detergent from Trent (from The Simple Dollar). I also found this recipe for homemade dishwasher detergent from TipNut, which I can’t wait to try.  

Q: You are right that by eliminating the junk food we can save a lot. If I had the time to eliminate many of those I’d be a happy camper, but trying to find time to bake all that good stuff is tough for me. 

- Money Funk

A: I agree, it’s hard to find the time.  My best strategy is to pick an weekend afternoon or weekday evening and do a lot at once.  One weekly or bi-weekly cooking/baking batch is all that’s required.  Don’t forget you can bake extra cookie or muffin batter or pizza dough and freeze it.  You can also freeze loaves of bread.It’s also a good idea to make multiple meals/snacks with similar ingredients. For example, I made granola bars, trail mix and granola cereal at the same time.  These things last for several weeks if stored properly.

Q: Just wondering where you are coming across coupons for milk and butter. I’d love to shave some pennies off that section of my list.

- Katie from Taming the Life

A: The answer to this question depends on whether you live in Canada or the US. If you live in the states, I highly recommend Money Saving Mom.  She has the best suggestions for getting tons of free groceries by using the coupon system and combining coupons with sales, catalinas, double coupon days, etc. She also posts coupons and freebies on her site everyday.  While it’s worthwhile for Canadians to have a look as well, most of the coupons and strategies she lists apply to Americans. 

For Canadians, I wrote an article, which is on my side-bar, about how to get great Canadian coupons.  The best places to find coupons for dairy usually come from the stores themselves.  I found coupons for butter in coupon books in the stores recently.  The coupons are not limited to the stores you shop in, rather they can be used anywhere! Yogurt coupons are easy to find in stores as well.  Lately Lactancia milk has been producing milk bags with coupons on the back. This includes coupons for milk and yogurt.  I always clip these off and use them. Whenever you find coupons in store, grab a bunch and hang on to them, even if you aren’t going to use it right away.  After a while you’ll build up a coupon stash.

The next best place to get coupons for healthy food are with Canadian magazine subscriptions, such as Canadian Living and Homemakers magazine.  Not willing to pay for a subscription?  Go to Catelli’s website and enter 5 UPC codes for their whole grain pasta products  to get a free subscription of Homemakers or other Canadian magazines. (Hopefully you already found their coupons in stores on at http://save.ca/.)  It’s best to combine the coupons with sales.  A few months ago I combined Catelli coupons with a great sale at Price Chopper, which brought each box down to 39¢ each. Let it be said, though, that lately I’ve found great coupon offers are dwindling. I think it has to do with the economy - companies seem less willing to give away products at reduced cost.  

Q: I would love your granola bar recipe!

I make alot from scratch too. Though I do have an addiction to coca cola and if I just cut that out I would (a) lose weight and (b) save money.

-Ter from With an angel on my shoulder

A: Girl, you’ve got to start weaning yourself off your pop addiction. (Americans, read: “soda” addiction!) It will kick start your weight loss, you will feel better, and you will definitely save money!  My suggestion is to start slowly - and get in the habit of drinking something else, like tasty herbal tea.

The granola bar recipe can be found on my blog.  This recipe did not work out as intended on my first try, because I accidentally used minute oats, instead of old fashioned rolled oats. I made the switch recently and tried it again - and they came out great!  Don’t they look yummy? I wrapped them individually in plastic.  Not very environmentally friendly but I couldn’t think of a better way to have them prepared for on the go snacking. (Any suggestions?)

Q: Do you choose the cheapest store or shop using the flyers? 

- No one asked this question, but it’s a good question to ask so I took the liberty of posting it!

A: I used to watch the flyers like a hawk, comparing savings on a list and then heading to the store whose flyer had the most savings. I don’t think this is necessarily the best approach, since more expensive stores like Loblaws have loss-leaders.  The flyer lures you into the store for a few inexpensive items, and then you find yourself buying all of your groceries there, at a higher price than a cheaper store like Food Basics or Price Chopper.  It’s actually cheaper overall to scrap the flyers and focus on buying the bulk of your groceries at the cheaper store.  If it’s convenient, you can always dash in to the more expensive store for a few on-sale items, but stick to the list.  And if it requires a long trip in the car, it’s probably not worth it!

Does anyone else have any questions about how to save money on your grocery bill?