Save on Grocery Bills – Without a Coupon.

With the price of gas going up and food prices increasing due to droughts and the increased demand for corn to make the alternative fuel, families may be especially hard hit by the grocery bill for the next couple of years. Relief of the high prices at the gas pump will not likely happen any time in the near future, but there are ways to relieve the higher costs of food. Recent deals with Brazil and allowing US farmers to use lands they are currently paid not to grow crops on will ease the high food price situations.

I do not know all the tricks to clipping coupons and I much prefer the get in get out method when it comes to most forms of shopping, but the advice I am about to give does not rely on scanning magazines and your Sunday paper and saving the good bargains. In many areas there are discount outlets – Save a Lot and Aldis being the two biggest chains local to me. These chains typically specialize more in generic foods. However, a recent switch in the Aldis chain has caused them to offer more convenience foods rather than general groceries.

While store brands are often perceived as being of lesser quality than the name brands that is quite frequently not the case. In some cases, the store brands may be superior to the famous name brands that they compete with. For most of the generic brands, larger chains often contract with companies such as Con-Agra owner of Chef Boyardee to make the product and put the stores labels on the can.

Even though clipping coupons is a nuisance for many people, grocery stores often do send circulars in the mail. Do not be afraid to search them for the best deals each one has that week. If you do not feel like going to more than one location, see if one will match the prices of the other. Many stores have a policy like this in place to encourage more money being spent in their retail locations.

An excellent way to save money especially on bread is to see if the store has a day old bakery section. It may not always work out for you, but with anything else sometimes you get lucky. It may not always be white bread that you can find but pumpernickel and rye are just as filling and add a little more variety to the grain selection in your diet.

A recent article in Woman’s Day suggested not shopping with your kids if you can avoid it. Many parents I know prefer not to do this anyway, but taking along your offspring can add about $100 a month to your shopping bill, not to mention potentially adding a few inches to your waistline.