When Grocery Coupons Won't Work (cont'd)

Avoid buying prepared and individually packaged foods. That means everything from microwave dinners to prepackaged potato chips and individually wrapped cheese slices. There are exceptions, but typically you pay for convenience. Quite a lot, in fact. Sure it's nice to have those little carrots already sliced. But compare prices to the unprocessed carrots and you'll see just how much it's costing you.

Food preparation doesn't need to be a burden. Your kids can help. Even young ones can learn simple tasks. Not only will you be spending quality time together, you'll be teaching them money saving skills.

The third technique is to shop like a professional buyer. A pro always wants to know when and where they last bought an item and how much they paid for it. You can do the same thing by creating something called a pricebook.

This simple tool can cut your bills by 10% or more. Most families have between 10 and 20 recipes that they make regularly. And, those recipes contain 40 or so different ingredients. So you end up buying the same things over and over. You'll also find that a large portion of your grocery bill is spent on less than one third of the items that you buy.

A pricebook helps you keep track of those items. You can buy a pricebook (search online) or make your own. All you need is a loose-leaf or spiral notebook of any size. Each item has its own page. Keep track of info on those frequently bought, expensive items. List the date, price, package size and which store you were shopping at. That way when you're shopping it's easy to identify the real bargains. Stock up when you find a particularly good sale of one of your regularly purchased items. After awhile you'll have a well-stocked pantry and the only items that you 'must buy' will be the perishables. The savings can be significant.

Next, learn more about what you buy. Don't buy low fat, low carb, all-natural or any other specialty foods without reading the whole label first. It's all too common for the expensive version to be the same as the regular product, but at a higher price. Only thing low-cal is the label.

Eat healthy. Make use of in season fruits and vegetables. Reduce the amount of meat in your diet. Not only will you lower your grocery bill, you'll probably also reduce your doctor bills.

Finally, don't buy a lot of different cleaning supplies at the grocery store. You can make all the cleansers you need for your home from a few simple, inexpensive ingredients. You do need to watch which chemicals you put together, but there's no need to buy expensive name brand cleansers. You can find all kinds of cleaning recipes on the web or at your library.

Kay is right. It is easier to save money on groceries when they double coupons, you have a choice of grocery stores and a warehouse club is just down the road. But, even without those tools it is possible to keep your food bills to a minimum without sacrificing your diet.

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Gary Foreman is a former purchasing manager who currently edits The Dollar Stretcher.com website. If you'd like to "live better, for less" visit today! gary@stretcher.com

Gary Foreman is a former purchasing manager who currently edits TheDollarStretcher.com website. If you'd like to "live better, for less" visit today! Contact info: gary@stretcher.com