Checking catalogues on a regular basis is a great starting point. If you see something on sale that you would normally use, ask yourself these questions before you buy-
* Do I normally use this item ?
* How many can I use within a good time frame ?
* Is this a good price or is there a better sale price ?
* How many can I store ?
* How many can my budget afford ?
A good sale price ( for me ) is 30 - 50 % off. When it's a 50% sale and a much used item I've been known to clear out the supermarket shelf. I can do this because I always have spare money in my food slush fund especially for this purpose.
If you don't have a food slush fund yet, see if you can buy an extra one or two items. Then when you go shopping next time you can cross that item off your list. This will free up some money to buy a different item on sale. Then the cycle begins. Your food spending will gradually decrease as you shop the sales. Before you know it you'll be buying everything on sale and your grocery budget will be slashed.
Do you shop the sales ?
What grocery item will you bulk buy ?
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| You can never have too much tea. |
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| A Winter sale item |
I'm not anonymous; my name is Susan. This seems to be the only way it will let me post. In America our Kroger stores have a huge sale the first two weeks of November. The first day of the sale is also senior citizens day so that is an extra 10% off. I get canned soup, vegetables and pasta for $0.39 per can or package. Normally they are from $1.50 to $1.80. I purchase a year's worth.
ReplyDeleteHi Wendy,
ReplyDeleteEvery week I shop the specials. I usually grab a cup of tea, sit in front of the computer and google the Coles and Woolworths catalogues to see what’s on sale, and I add it to my weekly list. Like you it has to be something with shelf life, something we always use and a really good sale (usually half price)
I am lucky we have Aldi, Coles and Woolies all next to each other, so I start my shop at Aldi, where I find a lot of the staples cheaper, then I move onto Woolies to grab whatever they have on sale, then I finish up the shop at Coles. It is a bit of work, but the trade off is a cheaper grocery bill, and I’m not compromising quality or Australian made.
I stock up on Mission burritos, Vegeta stock powder Twinings Earl grey tea, Cobs popcorn and Corn thins when they are half price.
ReplyDeleteAfter Christmas Kmart were clearing large jars of Vegemite for $5 which had been an item that you could get a name printed on - I bought 6 which we are almost through.
Most other grocery items I get at Aldi which are better value even than half price at the big 2.
Marie
Hi Wendy and you are so right about stocking our pantries when we find things at their lowest prices.
ReplyDeleteThis is indeed how we have built our food storage and can now only buy most items (that do come on special) when they come on a good special and usually at preferably 30 - 50% off sales. We also look for clearances on items that can be frozen straight away such as cream and near to use by date meat that we can use too.
Like yourself and others we go through the sales brochures we get each week from all the supermarkets and pick which specials we can and do use or need to stock up on and buy as many as our budget allows. We have a $20 per fortnight pantry stocking budget to allow for this over and above our standard grocery budget of $75 per week (including pet food).
Things we usually use and stock up on sale are -
Cream, eggs, meat, spreads, tinned fruit vegetables and soups, harvest long life tins of meat and vegetables, soft drink or sparkling apple juice for special treats, fresh vegetables and fruit we don't grow which we blanch and freeze for future food stocks, herbs and spices organic if we can get them at a good price, sauces, rice, dried beans, vanilla beans and vodka for making vanilla and other extracts (we are teetotalers :)), tooth paste, tooth brushes, body wash, deodorant and vitamins.
As we have done this for quite some time and have freezer and cupboard space we can now shop 3 monthly for most of everything.
Sewingcreations15 (Lorna)
I will buy grocery items from the supermarkets when they are on sale. The things I look for are spelt pasta, tinned tomatoes, rice cakes, olive oil and dark chocolate blocks among other things. I buy staples like flour and rice in bulk. Like Cheryl, I will look at Aldi, Woolies and Coles depending on what's on offer. Meg:)
ReplyDeleteOur local market had a Labor Day deal for French's Mustard. I bought the limit of 5. We regularly stock up on certain deals like peanut butter, condiments, pasta, beans, canned vegetables, & paper goods.
ReplyDeleteHi Wendy. I always shop the sales and only make my menus around those sale items. The things I stock up when I see them on sale are tea lbags (I do like upper-priced black tea), a few soups (having high blood pressure, canned soup is strictly an ingredient - part of a casserole usually, or as a base to add leftovers to). When the stores here have what they call can-can sales (sales on most canned items) that is the time to stock up on tomatoes as they are so versatile. I also get a large amount of canned mushrooms as they are a great "stretcher" item in soups, sews and casseroles. I also stock up on frozen veggies when they are on sale - green lima beans in particular are a favorite and I can add a generous amount to a homemade soup. I do walk down aisles to see if there are unadvertised specials too, and always check to see if there are specials on meat or in the produce aisle. Norma
ReplyDeleteI always shops sales. I too have cleaned off shelves. When I can get pasta for less then 50¢ a pound I will get 40. Butter on sale for 1.99 I buy 20. If I get it for half off I can buy twice as much. Candy clearance after a holiday, a get a bunch. I think the most I ever bought was cranberry sauce. I love it as does my family. I got cans marked down to 9¢ each after Christmas. I took all of them, 73. I gave 10 to each of my sisters and 10 to my mom and dad. That left me with 33. They were marked 2 years out. We ate them in 1 year. The cashier asked me if I was buying them for a food bank.
ReplyDelete-Marybeth