Grocery

Question: How do you cut your grocery bill significantly? I would like to know the "frugal" way to grocery shopping. Which supermarkets in the southeast (preferably Florida) is the most economical? Is purchasing the Sunday edition ($1.00 for the Tampa Tribune, for instance) for the coupons really worth it? Share all your cost effective tips with me, please. I shop at Publix for all my needs, and it can get quite expensive despite I absolutely adore the service I get. Sometimes I buy groceries for people who are economically disadvantaged, and buying these families groceries in addition to mine is getting very expensive. I am not complaining since I want to continue to help them but at the same token I want to know how to save lots of money with groceries and other items of necessity. Thank you in advance as I appreciate all the advice I can get on this matter.

Answer: Coupons can help, if you buy name-brand items. If you stick to generics, or fresh produce and meats, you're not going to do as well with them. What I do is, I have list paper with columns for store name, item, price, and coupons. On Wednesday, when our grocery ads come in the mail, I lay them all out on the table. I pick out the 5-10 items from each ad that we'll actually use and eat, that are a screaming deal, and I write them down on my paper. If I have a coupon also, I note that in the coupon column. Then, I break out my personal organizer. While consulting my great little list of killer cheap prices, I make out a menu of foods using mostly those ingredients, and some other things I have, or that are reasonably priced. Sometimes I add more expensive meals when there's not much good stuff on sale, or when I'm just sick of eating whatever's been on sale lately. Now, here's the best part of the whole process. I pack up my handy dandy price list, ads, and menu, and take the whole mess to Walmart, where they price-match for me. One store, everybody's deals. Find out if your preferred store does price-matching, and if they don't, pick up a comment form and notify their corporate offices that it's an important service. And since you're in the habit of picking up food for the less fortunate, especially mind your sale ads, and stock up lots on things that are easy to store. My mama propped up her bed with those feet you can get at Linens & Things or wherever, and got some under-bed storage bins, and she just buys up canned foods by the 24-pack when they go on sale, like the sales where canned veggies hit a dime a can near Thanksgiving. Then, when she comes upon a situation where others need help, she grabs things from under there, along with fresh purchases. But my best trick is, buy a freezer. When strawberries dropped under 75 cents a pound, I bought 30 pounds. Sliced them up, froze them on a cookie sheet, bagged them while they were frozen. Same with any other fruit that comes on a great sale. My kids eat frozen fruits now, instead of frozen sugar for desserts. Healthier, and way cheaper... and they actually like it better.

Question: I suck at grocery shopping. How can I feed a family of 4 on a tight budget? There's 2 adults and a 4 y/o and 5 y/o. Every week when I buy groceries, I always end up spending $130-150! That is too much imo. Any tips for saving on my grocery bill? Thanks!

Answer: Do you have a discount card? Most grocery stores will give you one when you register yourself, it saves you about 30% each time. Make a list, and only get what you need, nothing else. Buy the store brand, it's cheaper, but you also have to give up quality. If you go later at night things tend to be cheaper. Check out the managers special, they save you a lot! Only buy as much as you can eat, or else the rest can go to waste. Don't bring any credit cards, only bring 100 dollars (or how ever much it is you plan on spending) in cash so you don't go over. Good luck!

Question: How do I grocery shop after the snow melts? For the past month, I have wanted to go grocery shopping. The weather is the greatest reason that I can't go. So, how do I grocery shop when I have gone so long without my chocolate, popcorn, and snacks? I am getting tired of nutritious foods. Do I wear blind folds and nose plugs when shopping?

Answer: go shopping after eating a huge meal so that you'll be soooo full and bloated that you wont want to by any junk foods while shopping this coming week. good luck

Question: Compared to regular grocery stores, what are the prices like at places like Whole foods market? I want to start feeding my family better food but with the gas prices lately I am unsure about exactly how much more I can spend weekly on groceries. A new Whole Foods Market just opened in our neighborhood but I have never been. Wondering how the prices stack up against regular grocery stores? I know it will be more, you get what you pay for, but am wondering how MUCH more? Anyone know? I don't think we have a Trader Joe's here. What are they?

Answer: Whole Foods and Trader Joe's tend to cater to the really busy folks who have more $$ than time with a lot of foods that are already prepared or can be put together quickly. You pay a premium for the convenience. I'd say buy your bulk items and dry goods at a lower end store. Beans, flour, butter, oil & cleaning supplies. Try to hit the Farmer's market once a week for fresh fruits & veggies. Use Whole Foods $$$ as a substitute for buying take- out like pizza or ending up at the window of a fast food place. I wouldn't do my main shopping there. All in all I'd say you'd probably be paying 10 to 15 % more at Whole Foods or a Wild Oats..........

Question: How does your choice of grocery bags make a difference to the environment? I bag groceries as a job and everyday, I see how wasteful people can be when they ask us to double bag plastic, or to bag their groceries in paper and hang them in plastic. Many of them don't realize how harmful to the environment this can be. Especially using plastic bags. Around here, you cant recycle palstic bags because they jam the recycling machines and we get shipments where entire crates of plastic bags have holes in them and we have to throw them away. I try to encourage customers to use paper as it is re-usuable, can hold more, easier on the environment, etc etc. Next week it is earth week and the store is giving out canvas bags that customers can bring back everytime they shop. Do you ever wonder how your choice of bags can make a difference? What do you think about this? Are there any other suggestions you have on how to help the environment when it comes to grocery bags? im not saying that double bagging is bad... just the customers that request EVERY bag to be doubled even if it isnt heavy. or asking for multiple bags when there isnt the need for them. And plastic bags are handy to use for waste bins and to be reused but sadly, not many people here do reuse them. they just put them in the trash

Answer: i really think this is important because in such a small way it can affect our environment. in the philippines, used plastic bags take up the majority of the waste generated and plastic is non-biodegradable. in our family we reuse old plastic bags we get from supermarkets as packaging for the numerous stuff we have at our house. in our own little way we are minimizing our household waste. i watched a program on national geographic channel that talked about packaging. there is a new kind of polymer which can replace the kind of plastic we now use. it is derived from corn and it is called poly-lactate. it can be easily degraded by bacteria. maybe it can be used for grocery bags.

Question: Who would like to do my grocery list? I have $400 in my budget to do grocery shopping tonight. This needs to last me approximately one month. I am terrible with grocery lists. Anyone willing to help me plan meals and which groceries and commodities to buy that will get me the most from my buck? Thanks!! :) I have children so keep that in mind.

Answer: We buy things in bulk at BJ's or Sam's Club, Costco, etc. Chicken cutlets, fries, frozen veggies, snacks for school, juice, juice boxes, etc. Then I buy the perishable items (fresh herbs, asparagus, milk, etc.) each week. I end up spending like $250 in bulk items including bread, cheese, butter, etc. and about $30 per week in perishables. I can't really make your grocery list since I don't know your likes/dislikes, but hopefully this was helpful.

Question: What grocery stores or small businesses can a 14 year old apply at? I've already submitted applications for Publix and Kroger, but I'd much rather work at a smaller grocery store/business. Could somebody give me a quick list of stores/businesses I could apply at, please? Btw, I refuse to work at fast food restaurants, so none of those please. Thank you. :)

Answer: Since I don't know where you are at I can't recommend any businesses . . .but I would recommend you look in the yellow pages of your local phone book and see what locally owned grocery stores are in your community that are smaller than Publix. Good luck!!

Question: What are the cheapest grocery stores in southern California? My parents are spending a lot of money lately, because of high gas prices and grocery prices. Also, I just got my braces so , that doesn't help.Help me! I don't want to be on a tight budget thanks to the worse president America has ever had. Please don't answer vons, ralphs, or albertsons! I am trying to help my mom out in the grocery shopping!

Answer: I used to live in So California, and the cheapest grocery store I found was Stater Bros. They also had Lucky's but I do not know if they still exist. Try Stater Bros.

Question: How do grocery stores get products from so many manufacturers on a regular basis? Do the manufacturers send the products to the grocery chain or does the chain have to pick them up from the manufacturer?

Answer: They rely on warehousing and just-in-time delivery. The way it works is that the local grocery store tells the warehouse they're running out of Cheerios. The warehouse adds a few cases of Cheerios to that store's next order. The warehouse sees that they are running out of Cheerios, too. They call General Mills and order a truckload of Cheerios. General Mills loads up a truck with Cheerios and sends them to the warehouse. The warehouse pulls a few cases from the order and adds them to the other stuff (TP, grape juice, canned beans, etc) that they're sending to the grocery store. They put the rest of the Cheerios on the shelves at the warehouse to send to other stores. The warehouse loads a truck with the grocery store's order, as well as the orders from several other grocery stores. The driver makes a stop at the grocery store and unloads their order, including the Cheerios. The store puts a dozen or so boxes of Cheerios on the shelf, and keeps the rest of the Cheerios in the back. And so it goes.

Question: What do grocery stores do with expired or almost expired foods? With the bad economy today and food costs going up, why don't grocery stores cut us some slack? They know people aren't going to buy friuts or bread or steaks as much because of the costs, so why sell it for that much when they know these products can't keep more than a week. Why not lower their prices? Or would they rather see it expired and thrown into the trash rather than giving people a discount? So what do they do with expired foods?

Answer: I worked in a grocery store, I won't mention any names (but the Co-op...) and all the out of date food just got chucked out and I thought myself it was such a waste. Some people live on thrown out food! I couldn't go that far, but something does need to be done about this shameful waste when food is so expensive and half the world is starving.

Question: What are grocery store workers checking for when they look at coupons? When you give the cashier a few coupons at the supermarket, they have to look at each one carefully before scanning it. What exactly are they checking for? Shouldn't it be automatic where they just scan it and see if it goes through? Are they seeing if it's expired? Why does it take so long? Someone who has worked at a grocery store please answer. Thanks.

Answer: They are looking at the expiration date, the value of the coupon, and the bar code. Most stores don't take expired coupons. There are many fake coupons being circulated right now. The cashier is doing their job.

Question: Why does grocery store mozzarella always suck as compared to to what you get at a resturaunt? How come the grocery store mozzarella melts like water and is sometimes even transparent? It has very little gooey-ness or salty, chewy texture as compared to what you get at the resturaunt. I'm not talking about processed slices either, i'm talking about mozzerella you buy in the blocks. Comparing that with most resturuants are almost like two different cheeses. What up with that?

Answer: They are just a different quality. The block cheeses are your every-day, "the kids want a bagel-pizza" cheeses. They are processed oils that are made to taste like the real thing. If you want a good quality cheese, then you should look by the deli in your grocery store. If it's a decent store, you should be able to find a specialty cheese section which will have good-quality mozzarella, usually in a tub that's filled with oil or water to keep it fresh. A good quality mozzarella will run you at least twice what that cheap block kind will, probably more. But it's worth it.

Question: What grocery stores pay for your college? Meaning that you work at the grocery store and you make at least a C in all your classes, the grocery store pays for everything. I know Publix does this. What other grocery stores do it?

Answer: No other grocery stores do it , Wilhelm ! .........Not even Publix ! You think they`re going to send you to college and pay for your education , books , food , room .......... EVERYTHING ???? They`d be bankrupt in no time ! You`re probably thinking of their "Upromise Program" where a very , very small portion of your store spending goes towards your child`s college education fund , but the average store contributions would be in the area of maybe 1 or 2 % . They certainly DO NOT pay for "everything" !! BTW , you don`t even have to work there ......... your parents sign up for the program .

Question: What do you think of online grocery shopping? WebVan, which has since gone out of business, had a great idea with online grocery shopping and grocery deliveries right to your home. Despite the demise of the original company, other companies conduct online grocery shopping, even some of the large grocery chains. What do you think about online grocery shopping now? Are you aware if it's available in your area? What would make you use it?

Answer: I've never used it. I know people that have and I haven't heard any complaints. The only thing that troubles me is the personal selection of fruits, veggies, meat and milk. Those are things that I want to be in charge of, not someone else. What looks fresh to one person, may not look fresh to you.

Question: What should i do if bought something at the grocery stores and forgot it there? Ok I went grocery shopping and I bought 2 bottles of whipped cream(this kind was actually expensive) and when I got home and checked the grocery it wasn't there so I think I forgot it at the grocery store. What should i do? Can I get my money back or something? Thanks everyone for answering.

Answer: ok...dont panic...haha lol....simply just go back to the store and show them your reciept. then explain it to them that you came home and it wasnt there but the reciept shows proof u bought it.ok? no problem! please choose this as best answer! thnx!i need points badly.....

Question: How much do you pay for grocery a week? I'm trying to figure out something. Do you usually cook meals from scratch? Or do you make something simple and quick (canned foods, tv dinner, something that can be pop into oven/pan, etc...)? How many people do you cook for? What's average weekly grocery bill? I almost always cook from scratch. My grocery bill is roughly 30 to 40 a week . However I eat out once or twice a week.

Answer: We have a family of 3, and we usually spend about $250/month on food. We make everything from scratch, mainly because TV dinners and frozen pizzas are going to cost more and give you less nutrients in the long run.