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(ARA) - Summer is almost here and with the kids out of school and back in your house, food is sure to fly off the shelves and into their hands. Here are some great tips for stocking up on food while saving money at the same time! You no longer have to go to warehouse club stores and super centers to get the best deals. CEO and founder of www.TheGroceryGame.com Teri Gault, shares her great tips to get more for your money while shopping at your own local grocery store. Stockpiling versus Need Shopping -- Buy more than you need of a fairly priced item to save the most. Stockpile those items that are useful to your family, even if you don't yet need them. If you don't have certain items in your stockpile that you must have right away, you may have to purchase them as Need Items, and will have to pay a higher price. Your Need List gets shorter as your stockpile grows.
Go to www.TheGroceryGame.com -- Subscribe to this online grocery list. The Grocery Game posts a list each week that highlights sales at supermarkets across the country. Gault advises you when the best time is to shop, when to use your coupons and when to hold onto them for an even better deal. There is a 4 week trial which is just $1 and after that the cost is just $10 for every 8 weeks for one list, which comes out to $1.25 a week! The small cost to join will no longer matter to you when you see how much you are saving each week at the store!
Grocery Hopping -- Going to a number of markets to use coupons each week is not productive. Each major supermarket will run most of the same sales on the same items within a few weeks of one another. If you choose the right market for stockpiling, all the best deals should eventually come to you in one weekly stop.
The Coupon File -- Less is more! Get your coupons from the Sunday paper only; most other sources for coupons are substandard, for lesser savings (which will never provide better savings than generic brands). Toss out expired coupons, as well as those that you will never use. Use a simple cancelled check file to organize your select coupons.
Coupon Redemption -- Be careful to read everything on the coupon. You don't want surprises at checkout. Also, look for phrases like "good on any . . ." of that manufacturer's products, not just the pictured item featured on the coupon. Some of the best deals are found when a coupon may be honored for an item less extravagant than the featured item.
Smaller Package Equals Better Value -- Do the math. Most often when a smaller package and a larger package of the same name brand product are both on sale, the better deal is the smaller package, if you have a coupon.
Be Creative -- According to Gault, being creative is a great way to find hidden savings. For example: when fruit gets ripe, press it into ice trays and freeze. Then once frozen, empty the frozen fruit cubes into plastic baggies for storage in the freezer. It makes a great healthy treat for kids; just put them in a blender with juice or yogurt, for delicious smoothies! The ice cube method also works for preparing healthy and time-efficient baby food.
Another tip is if you buy snacks in bulk, like pretzels, separate them into individualized servings in plastic bags. This can provide your child with a great snack for after school instead of running to the store to pick up a snack on the way home.
Follow these helpful tips and you will be sure to see a surplus of food in your cabinets and less of a dent in your wallet!
Courtesy of ARA Content
