Budget Grocery Tips - Spend Less On Groceries, By Susan Matsumoto

The money you spend on groceries can easily rank in your top 5 permanently recurring monthly bills. It may not seem like it because most of us generally don't take care of all of our grocery shopping in one outing. In one month we might go to a membership store once, then hit the local grocery 2-3 times, and then probably dine out or get some prepared food to go 4 or more times - and that is a conservative estimate.
When the spending is spread out it is difficult for us to get a good gauge on how much of our budget is dedicated to food. Surveys say that the average amount spent on food in one month is $225 for a single person, $500 for a couple, and onward and upward once children are added to the mix. Start adding in dining out or "eating out" to generalize the category of buying prepared meals and you can easily factor in another $20-40 per work week.

All things considered it would save you a great deal of money to create a cheap grocery list. So where to start? Begin with learning the basics, which includes knowing what form of food (fresh, frozen or canned) is the cheapest. It is also helpful to know the pricing hierarchy of meats. Know what meats are cheap and what cuts of meat are inexpensive.

What's Cheaper - fresh, canned or frozen?

Vegetables: Studies show that canned is cheaper than frozen which is cheaper than fresh.

Fruit: Studies show that the prices are generally comparable across the 3 categories. In some cases canned is significantly cheaper than fresh while in other cases fresh is significantly cheaper than canned. The bottom line here is that the packaging methods (especially fruits packaged with juices) and local/seasonal availability plays a big role in pricing making a direct comparison difficult.

Meat: Studies show that frozen is cheaper than fresh which is cheaper than canned.

Meat Prices - What costs more, what costs less?

Listed in order from most expensive to least expensive, the choices are beef, pork and chicken. Within those categories is another hierarchy. Here they are from the highest priced to the lowest priced cuts.

Beef

•Choice steaks

•Roast beef

•Flank

•Ground beef

Pork

•Bacon

•Boneless chops

•Shoulder

•Boneless hams

Chicken

•Wings

•Skinless & boneless breast

•Leg (drumstick & thigh)

•Whole bird

It is important to note that there are always exceptions but these are the general findings based on average prices. If you really want to be thrifty it will come down to you doing your own price comparisons for the products you wish to consume. In order to save on more money (gas) and time, do your price comparison with your computer first.

Other ideas for saving money include cutting down on buying prepared food, buying produce that is in season, and considering alternative shopping outlets like membership stores and farmer's markets. Lastly, never forget the added savings found in coupons, sales and special store deals.

Want to know more ways to decrease your expenses and build your savings? Read more at http://www.frugalsensei.com/shopping/food for additional ideas on saving money on food. Visit the Frugal Sensei where the primary goal is to get you the most for the least.

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