Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Saving on Groceries -Frugal Family

In an effort to save money this year,  I'm joining my friends Marcy +Ben and Me  as well as Sam +Sam's Noggin  to bring you this weekly  link up full of tips for becoming a more Frugal Family. We will be sharing ideas to help you save money on groceries and meals, homeschool, crafts, and plenty of frugal DIY posts. We've made many sacrifices so that I can stay at home to teach the boys, and I've become pretty frugal in order to help make that possible and to keep it that way. It's become a challenge I truly enjoy, and one I look forward to sharing with you! 

This week: 
Saving on Groceries - without clipping coupons! 

I'm not against coupon clipping. As a matter of fact, I have a coupon binder where I keep them and, at times, have been a proficient couponer. But realistically - I'm a wife, mother, teacher, writer, part time VA, blogger . . . . . you get the idea. BUSY. 

It has been months since I've been able to keep up with coupons.  
I have gained a lot from the process of learning to coupon - which I've been able to apply, even without the extra savings from clipping and printing them. 

This week, I headed to the local Publix with no coupons. In the store, I picked up 2 peelies and a store coupon worth a total savings of $3.05 (every bit counts). 





Even purchasing milk, deodorant, shampoo, sandwich meat, trash bags, and soda - I still saved almost as much as I spent by shopping (mostly) BOGO's (Buy One Get One).

Although I do not feed my family from a box often, and don't recommend it - I couldn't pass up the opportunity to buy pasta at 2 for $1.69. I stocked up. 

I purchased sauce in jars (vs/can) at 2 for $2.50, and meatballs for 2 at $4.99. I stocked up. 
I can feed my family of 5, pasta with sauce and meatballs, for $4.60 - less than $1.00 a person! 
(I would probably serve that with raw or steamed broccoli - I buy a huge bag at SAM's club for less than $5.00) 

A good rule of thumb is to purchase enough (of the right deals) to last you about 6 weeks. 
Because I regularly shop (mostly) BOGO's, stocking up as I go, I have the ability to skip weeks of shopping when things are tight. 

There are plenty of weeks when all I need to purchase are the fresh foods such as milk, eggs, and fruit. 

I buy veggies in bulk or from local farmers whenever possible. I buy 2 pounds of cheese from SAM's club for about $6.00 and potato's at 10 lbs for about $3.00. I buy chicken from SAM's Club at about $8.00 for 2 whole chickens. (I can stretch 1 of those into about 4 meals - read about that here) 

I buy big bags of frozen veggies every time they are on sale. One of our favorite meals is to use dry pinto beans, fried okra, a box of pasta for homemade mac-n-cheese, and homemade corn bread. Even though there is a box involved, we fry the okra in coconut oil and the dry pinto's are a healthy source of protein. 

All in all - I spend about $50 - $75 each week on groceries! 

How about you? Do you go BOGO? 

Visit our Pinterest board for more Frugal Family ideas 

Each Thursday we will come together to share our frugal projects and provide a link up where you can share yours. Our goal is to encourage each other along and to build a one stop resource using the link up and Pinterest - where you can find plenty of frugal solutions for saving the family money. Be sure to let us know if there is something particular you are looking for - we may be able to help. 

Grab a button or use a text link to join me with tips for saving the family money each Thursday along with Marcy and Sam :

AdventurezInChildRearing

Check out this weekend blog hop from Our Everyday Harvest






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