Simple Ways to Slash Your Grocery Bill (Repost)

The original article is here: http://frugalliving.about.com/od/foodsavings/tp/Slash_Grocery_Bill.htm

Struggling with a too-big grocery bill? Here are simple ways to slash it down to size:

1. Only Buy On Sale

Start a stockpile, and only buy items when they are on sale.

• Grocery Stockpile List

2. Plan Your Menu Around the Sales

Enjoy cheap meals throughout the week by planning your menu around the weekly sales flyers.

3. Be Willing to Substitute

Have a recipe that calls for an ingredient that you don't have? Then, see if you can substitute it for an ingredient that you do have. It'll save you money at the store and space in your pantry.

• Yeast Substitute
• Buttermilk Substitute
• Honey Substitute
• More Ingredient Substitutions

4. Buy Ingredients Instead of Prepared Meals

Frozen dinners and boxed mixes may be convenient, but they're also more costly. Get in the habit of buying the ingredients that you need to prepare the foods that you eat, and watch your grocery dollars go further.

• Bread and Baked Good Recipes
• Condiment and Spice Recipes
• Dinner Recipes
• Dessert Recipes

5. Shop Seasonally

Foods are cheapest when they're in season, so learn when all of your favorite foods are in season, and buy them then.

• The Cheapest Fruits and Vegetables Month-By-Month
• The Best Time to Buy Everything

6. Switch to Generic

Make the leap from name brand to generic brand, and you'll shave an easy 25% or more off of your grocery bill. Some generics worth trying: cereal, spices and baking supplies.

7. Buy Reduced Price Items

Want a true bargain basement price? Then, scour every aisle of the store for reduced priced groceries. Ultra ripe produce, scratch and dent items, closeouts, food at or near its use-by-date – it's all reason for a reduced price sticker.

Not sure you'll be able to use something before its use-by date? Then, toss it in the freezer, and you won't have to.

• How to Freeze Milk, Eggs and Other Unexpected Foods

8. Shop at Drug Stores

Grocery stores aren't the only place to look for grocery bargains. Get in the habit of checking the drug store ads for deals on cereal, oatmeal, raisins, spices, baking supplies, soda, paper goods and more.

• Maximize Your Savings at Walgreens

9. Cherry Pick

Stores tend to sell a few items below cost each week to entice customers to shop. Learn to spot these bargains, and snatch them up – even if it means going to more than one store.

For help spotting the bargains:

• Start a Price Book

10. Stack Discounts

A sale is nice. A sale combined with a coupon and a rebate? Well, that's even better. Look for any and every opportunity to stack discounts, and slash that grocery bill right down to size.

• More Advanced Couponing Strategies

11. Shop Locally

Local produce stands, farmer's markets and u-pick farms can be a great source for low-cost, high-quality produce.

• U-Pick Farm Directory
• Community Supported Agriculture Directory

The 10 Best Food You Aren't Eating.

Men's Health article: The 10 Best Foods You Aren't Eating.

I'm adding this to my 3-Tier list of foods. I always do like variety, and especially a reason to eat new and different good-for-me-and-you foods!

“41 Superfoods for Power Eating”

Working in a library has some cool perks. For example, you wouldn’t believe the number of interesting books that cross my hands each and every day. To be honest, there’s so many of them which have never even crossed my mind before. It’s like being exposed to different music or cultures without your say. I rather like it.

Anyway, many of the reads I bring home with me are centered around bicycling, training, eating, breadmaking, and stories about “how fat people got thin (or didn’t).” Of course, I never have any time to actually read them. I just skim them for the good stuff since school demands my actual reading attention.

Today, I brought home two books. One is called Fat Girl: A True Story by Judith Moore and the other is Eat Smart Play Hard by Liz Applegate, Ph.D. The first is frighteningly disturbing and the latter is so darn practical! I love it.

So, I’m probably going to break some kind of copyright law by posting the “41 Superfoods for Power Eating” from Applegate’s book here in my blog, but it’s a list that I want to keep around with me for a long, long time. It’s a list I want to work towards eating from on a regular basis. When I’m in the on-season, I’m pretty good about eating and thinking of “food as fuel.” But when the cold sets in and I get a little lax, so does my consumption. Pizza and burgers and fried chicken are really tasty, you know what I mean?

So as 10 lbs. have crept in during this off-season of mine, I’m thinking I should not only be doing drills and working on swimming technique and running form, but I should also be running through the gamet of “ingestion practice.” (Oh, yeah. That is my own phrase for this kind of thing.) I’m figuring that since we train and practice and drill and repeat our skills until it’s autonomous for our bodies, it isn’t insane to think we can do the same for our digestive tract. My stomach just needs some guidance and practice. So guidance and practice with a healthier food plan it’s going to get.

So, here’s “41 Superfoods for Power Eating” (pages 74-90) that I’m going to incorporate into my diet this winter:

1. Almonds
2. Asian Fish Sauce
3. Bagels (whole-grain)
4. Bananas
5. Beans
6. Broccoli
7. Brown Rice
8. Canola Oil
9. Cereal (high fiber & protein)
10. Chocolate (<2>
11. Clams
12. Collard Greens
13. Energy Bars
14. Fig Bars
15. Flaxseed
16. Garlic
17. Ginger
18. Green and Black Tea
19. Kiwifruit
20. Lentils
21. Milk (<2%>
22. Oatmeal (steel-cut)
23. Oranges
24. Oysters
25. Pasta (wheat)
26. Peanut Butter (natural)
27. Pretzels
28. Pumpkin (or any winter squash)
29. Raisins
30. Red Meat (flank or round steak)
31. Salmon (and other fish)
32. Soup (broth-based, low-sodium)
33. Spinach
34. Strawberries (or any berries)
35. Sweet Potatoes
36. Sweet Red Peppers
37. Tofu
38. Trail Mix (”tropical” versions)
39. Turmeric
40. Whole Grain Bread
41. Yogurt

Yum!