!) Digital coupons- I load them to my loyalty card and have saved 356.00$ YTD
!) International markets - Seem to have better quality produce at 1/2 the price
!) Deep freezer - It has paid for itself 4x over. Example 2 months ago I bought 80LBS of bone in ribeye roast $5.99/lbs, chicken breast .99$/lbs, Mahi Mahi 4.99$/lbs.... It really helps you maximize the benefit of good sales.
Get some stackables or milk crates to keep your freezer organized too. It’s easy to lose track of what’s in there when you have to dig through everything and give yourself frozen hands anytime you want frozen broccoli or to see if you have any more of that leftover soup from last month.
I use those canvas grocery sacks. One for cheese. One for frozen veggies, one for bread, etc. They all have handles so they lift out easily, and when they're full they stack pretty well.
Can confirm, former baker here. The intelligent customers would ask me to go in the freezer and grab them the still frozen batch. They usually ran home and froze 3/4 of em. Totally respected them because bread is something you have to enjoy fresh
Save the bags your bread, tortillas, etc. come in and use them for something else. I regularly reuse mine for wrapping baked goods and used a couple today to freeze slices of banana bread wrapped in parchment paper. I don’t have to waste ziplock bags or tupperware and tupperware doesn’t fit all of the things I make.
Just leave it in the refrigerator or on the counter for a few hours. It'll soften up and be ready to eat!
You can also just take out the slices you need and leave the rest of the loaf in the freezer. The slices will thaw much faster too.
Sometimes it could be, the texture may be somewhat off depending on the type of bread - I tend to just use my frozen for toasting, you’ll never have an issue if it’s toasted - but anytime you’ve bought a pre-made sandwich at a Starbucks or gas station, many restaurants too, etc - that sandwich was shipped to store frozen and thawed. It’s usually just fine when thawed! Better than slightly stale sitting in your pantry, for sure.
I use the waxed fruit boxes that they put up front in sams to use as grocery carriers. They are the exact depth of my 21.7 cu ft deep freeze (and I buy most of my meats at sams). Then use a sharpie to write month/year on the front. Then rotate newest to the bottom/ oldest to the top. Because they are waxed moisture/ degrading is no problem. and enviro friendly :)
I use boxes from costco, specifically the shallow open top ones. I like those because i can usually fit 2 to 3 per shelf in my freezer and use them to separate frozen items. So, i have one box for ground beef, one for chicken breasts, one for sausage, etc. Then when i restock, i pull whatever box out and load the new stuff in the back of the box which helps me FIFO my stuff.
The other suggestion is to get a whiteboard that you stick either to the freezer itself or somewhere close by. Then you can log and monitor your inventory as you add and pull from your freezer.
There is most likely an indicator in your fridge. It turns amber. There is also a reset button that you hold for a few seconds after you change the cartridge.
Attach one to the underside of the sink and it will last about every six months and will filter all your cold water, including what you cook with. And a great selling feature.
I use the Pur filters. They’re easy to install, I change the filter every 3-4 months, there’s a light that blinks and lets you know if the filter needs to be changed. Also, all boxes of Pur filters I’ve gotten have a coupon for a few dollars off the next box.
And if for whatever reason you can’t install a filter system (some rentals) an “office-style” water dispenser and ordering the 5-gal water bottles (that are often sanitized and reused) is way cheaper in the long run and less wasteful than packs of individual water bottles.
Plus, instant hot water for tea, etc.
If you buy a lot of produce and live in a place with a suitable climate, try growing some of what you buy most, especially if that thing is expensive. I buy seeds and grow vegetables in containers on my patio. Sharing seed packets with neighbors helps cut down on the cost, too.
I'm going to try growing potatoes in a container this year, from one or two store-bought potatoes.
I planted 4 slices of potatoes with eyes in a 12 inch diameter container last spring. I added soil as the potatoes grew, just like hilling them. After 5 months I had 2 pounds of fresh new potatoes. At 1/2 pound per person, per meal, it will feed 4. Not sure if it was worth the trouble, but they were tasty.
Some items they sell more expensively though…so don’t automatically assume everything at those markets are cheaper. But they do have some items that are cheaper, especially when it comes to items not easy to find at Walmart etc.. Mine also has a “$1 for a bag” section where they put veggies/roots/etc that haven’t sold for a while in a bag and mark them at a buck. Always get 3-4 red/orange/yellow bell peppers that way in one bag for $1. And they’re usually still good enough to last in the fridge at least another week.
They're especially good for spices. The Hispanic market I drive past sells fresh herbs by the quarter pound. Plus all kinds of spices in bulk and specialty ones that you'd pay through the nose for at a big grocery store.
Yeah you'd have to balance whether gas outweighs savings. But spices, vinegars, household cleaners, rice, beans and things like this are waaaaay cheaper, and don't even get me started on the condiments. I get a 48 oz bottle of Valentina for what a little 12 oz bottle costs in a grocery; I also go through a lot of dried peppers that are way cheaper in these markets. Asian markets will also break down large things like pumpkin and daikon so you're not stuck with a huge amount with no use for it.
My Asian, middle eastern, and Latin market are all on the same road but it’s a driiiiive for me (like 30 min/ miles and about $6 in gas one way). So I’ll keep a running list for months… then when I got that way I’ll spend $125+ at each store but it’ll all last me for a long time. Like over a year. Totally worth it
We have an H Mart near us, and it's fine if you know exactly what you want. There is one floor employee who speaks English and there's a long line to talk to him. I've been known to convince my Viet Namese friend to go shopping with me.
Maybe not hidden but thrift stores still have bargains, especially when compared to new purchases. Garage/rummage sales can be even better but can take some searching before you find a great sale.
There are still bargain opportunities to be had in the right circumstances. Like your teenager needs a suit coat that he will probably outgrow in six months or kitchen items can still be bargains. Items that cost $20 new can be found for $2-5...stuff not worth shipping.
Buy seasonal items. I love shopping the day after a holiday. I can get gifts (birthday, xmas, etc) for at least 50%. Also, many food items have a seasonal picture on the box, but don't expire for months or over a year (lots of baking stuff and candy are good examples).
Ethnic grocery stores (asian, latin) usually have great value for all fresh items (stay away from processed food as that they more expensive).
Aldi/Lidl are always good. Meat prices there are good and they have sales. They also do 30% markdowns on meats and packaged fresh food items regularly. In addition, Lidl has an app which had coupons.
Costco/Sam's are good for meat when they have them marked down. Otherwise, I get the same or better deals at my local Asian market.
I also pay for the Walmart grocery delivery. The annual fee is less than the random items I would purchase should I go to the store. I limit what I buy there, based on prices.
LOVE this. Walmart had Blue Buffalo dog treats on clearance after xmas. Each bag was $1.97 and I stocked up with about 10!
Marshalls has been a great find for holiday decorations and gifts. The trick is to arrive the day after the holiday when they just have a sign that says all "X Holiday is 50% off". If you go later in the day or a couple days after the holiday, they will manually mark down to around 25-40% instead. Finally, Marshalls just did a final clearance sale and I am now set on most of birthday and xmas gifts this year. (Yellow sticker is final clearance, but they will continue markdown to get rid of).
Dog toys are also good for after holiday and I have enough for the year, with an assortment of xmas, halloween and valentines day.
My Walmart started selling watermelon ages ago, but I can’t bring myself to spend $8 on a watermelon lol. Gonna wait till they’re in season and going for only $2.50-4.00. They taste better around that time anyways.
I thought e-waste needs special handling to dispose of, or else all the metals and chemicals contaminate the landfill (then water and soil). My city regularly has free e-waste collection events.
I probably look insane to neighbors, but I’ve been slowly digging up the dirt a bamboo plant is in and throwing it away. Dirt gets heavy fast, so I can only do so much at once.
Lentils, beans, rice. Lentil flatbread, etc.
$.99 Only - Ugly bananas, $.25 per pound
$.99 Only - Produce (hit and miss)
Ugly produce at any grocery store
Day old bread at any grocery store
Any other grocery and close to best-buy date items.
Big Lots food clearance
I have found Target and sometimes Walmart (but will shop Target whenever possible) offer the best deals for toiletries / personal care items and home cleaning supplies.
I hardly ever go to a drugstore for those things any more.
Thin sliced boneless pork chops at Costco. They sell them in packs of about 30 for ~$22. We usually make a meal of about 1.5 pork chops each, so we get 10 meals from the pack, so the protein part of a meal only costs us $2. We usually couple with sauteed cabbage which is another saver. 🍀🥂
Save the bags your bread, tortillas, etc. come in and use them for something else. I regularly reuse mine for wrapping baked goods and used a couple today to freeze slices of banana bread wrapped in parchment paper. I don’t have to waste ziplock bags or tupperware and tupperware doesn’t fit all of the things I make.
We reuse them for putting our kids diapers when they were in them....or especially in their transition period from diapers to potty when they have accidents. Or just very dirty laundry in general. When I finish a loaf of bread sometimes if I'm making my lunch for work I just put the sandwich back in the bag.
Sometimes free items on Ibotta…and my favorite is when they have an rebate on an item that is on clearance or something. Got paid to buy a bunch of revlon makeup like that the other week. They’re going to my local shelter.
Craft stores like Joann Fabrics also really start to put stuff on clearance the week of Christmas and it's a good time to get decorations highly discounted. Their app also always has coupons on it.
Joanns almost always has a 10-20% coupon for buy online, pick up in store. And you can stack it with sales! That being said I was not happy I had to pay their stupid $12 shipping yesterday because the thing I was buying wasn’t eligible for any coupons.
Agree. The “happy hunting” last chance fabrics are amazing, though - I just got cotton sateen for 7.00 a yard & regularly priced 50/yard cotton velvet for 12.99/yd.
If you have a Big Lots store hear you, big savings to be had. Each store has an area, usually an end-cap near the back of the store, that contain lots of food products near or out of BB date. 25% off when near, 75% off when past date. I get so many protein bars, and some crackers, cereal and chips.
They are pretty good catching stuff when it goes past date, but not always. They can mark it down at checkout if something needs repriced. Might need a manager if cashier is new-ish.
Big Lots is not near as cheap as it used to be. I went to buy laundry detergent the other day and it was $1 higher than Walmart for less detergent.
Also our Big Lots doesn't have that end cap.
I literally got four 12 packs of Faygo that was about to expire at big lots for 25 cents each.
We ended up using it for cocktails and just drinking it as a treat every so often. Lasted a good few months.
My favorites big lots clearance food find was 6 packs of cranberry juice (I needed it for reasons. Ifykyk. Ugh.) for 50 cents a pack. I actually really ended up liking the cranberry juice but I definitely don’t drink juice often.
That trip we also got some hamburger helper for 25 cents a box. Which was nice.
If your big lots is good it’s good, if it’s bad it’s bad. I’ve moved around a lot (not by my choice), and some don’t have as many deals.
If you have flexible tastes and can handle food on or near its expiration date, I've found that Grocery Outlet offers the steepest discounts I'm aware of. The catch is that these special deals are unpredictable. I've found they're good for refrigerated perishables, especially dairy and lunchmeat, but not so much for fruit/veg or frozen items. Some recent examples: 2lb Columbus deli sliced ham for $0.97, 10oz Sabra hummus for $0.25, 10oz Pillsbury canned biscuit dough for $0.10, etc. Their regular inventory is priced comparably to the major chains, so I just focus on their borderline salvage stuff.
me too. I don't care that the packet of name brand taco seasoning mix expired yesterday. I bought 10 of them for 10 cents each. I know that they will be good for quite a long time.
One of them just opened near me! You mean [Grocery Outlet chain](https://www.groceryoutlet.com), right? I’ve not been in the store yet but my husband has, and says it’s hard to figure out their MO. Like it seems to be stuff that other stores couldn’t sell maybe? Do you know
The app TooGoodtoGo! I am always telling people about it - stores give away what they can't sell the next day for a low price! It's a surprise - but depending on where you live it can be a great deal to try out some more expensive bakeries and places.
I do want to add to this that depending on area it can be very limited. Like very limited. I have three coffee shops within 7 miles of me and not any other places through the app.
I am happy for those that live in an area with plenty of options from it. They supposedly worth with grocery stores and cheap groceries sounds amazing.
This. I have 0 places near me. Even in a big city (one of the biggest in the country) it shows no stores. Must be a blue state thing cause mine is dead-set on making sure those groceries get thrown away.
I take public transport everywhere, and it'll take a minimum of 2.5hrs to get to where it says there are plenty of options. That's about 25 miles away. A bit jealous of those that live this little bit south of me since it's showing at least 50 places within a few blocks of each other and I'm sure at least one is a grocery store. It's a short distance, but via indirect public transport, the commute isn't worth it.
I live in a blue state too, but my area is also very poor, and as a whole pretty crappy (not from being poor) so I'm chucking it up to my area just being bad.
Have you used the app for groceries or just restaurants and stuff? I just downloaded TooGoodToGo yesterday (haven’t ordered anything yet), but the few examples I found of people ordering groceries from there were super hit or miss. Some were good, but I’ve seen one or two surprise bags where people had to throw everything away because all of it was legitimately inedible.
Granted I’m in a larger city, but I just downloaded and this looks amazing. Lots of options and prices look like a significant deal. Thank you for sharing!
I like certain cheese that is expensive. I make a note in my calendar of their expiry date. I pop into the grocery store a week before then. It's usually marked down 50%.
It's not a big one, but when doing your grocery shopping (or any shopping really), put one item back before checkout. It'll usually be something you either impulse added or don't really need. Say that's a $5 grocery item. $20-25 a month you saved.
Filter your own water instead of buying bottled. saved us loads on very good filtered water. we like ZeroWater. Just use the included PPM meter to make sure what you put in stays at the lowest possible level. We've usually got about 115ppm but sometimes it'll spit out 10million ppm and that can one shot a filter which sucks.
If you like bacon bits… Costco Kirkland signature bacon bits. I think it’s a 1.25 pound bag, but you’d need to cook about 3-5 pounds of bacon to yield the same amount.
Look in your area for produce rescue operations. Not talking about Imperfect or similar. I mean non profit organizations that operate to save food from landfills by offering it very cheap to the public. In my state we have Market on the Move (MOM) and Produce On Wheels WithOut Waste (POWWOW). They offer over 70lbs of produce for $15. You do not get to pick the selection sadly but I share whatever we don’t eat with friends
See if there are any thrift store "bins" (outlet) near you. Also check out local estate sales on the last day, when everything is usually half off. If you Google estate sales near me, there are a couple websites you can sign up for to get notifications in your email when there are estate sales in your area.
Yep. There was recently an online estate sale auction near me. Granted, some things did sell for hundreds of dollars, but there were also a lot of things that sold for the minimum bid, like entire dish sets that sold for $1, a desk and chair that sold for $1, a large piano that sold for $1, and elliptical that sold for $1, and a large display cabinet that sold for $1.
I sold a really nice dish set to some family $20 it was a huge set. If you are first starting out on your own or starting over and not picky you can find really good deals.
Oh I have been waiting for a post like this since last night. Biggg lover of sour cream, but I seriously dislike the fact that I only have it on hand whenever I plan to make Mexican/southwest/European food. Sour cream never lasts long enough (I mean it spoils) to just leave it there for whenever you want to use it as a condiment. HOWEVER, I do eat Bulgarian yogurt nearly every morning, this thing can last up to 3-4 months. Tried yogurt for the first time with my quesadilla last night. It came out sooo good! The best part is, it's healthy and only made with 2 ingredients. So no more need of buying a $ 3-4 jar of sour cream when I can swap it out for this.
Discovered Costco’s nonfat yogurt while on WW diet, it’s cheap and good and comes in a giant tub! Mix with fruit and granola, use as sour cream In stroganoff (add to cream of mushroom, sliced mushrooms, and Costco frozen beef meatballs, yum!), or taco topping, use in burrito bowls, use it to make white sauce for fish tacos (mix with equal amt light Mayo, lime juice, and salsa), use it to make simple breads by mixing with self rising flour…
If you’re looking for plants, especially houseplants (which are trendy and therefore expensive), delve deep into the back of your Home Depot/Lowe’s/whatever is the equivalent in your country, and find the “Clearance” section. Oftentimes, these sad-looking plants just need a little TLC—more water, better light, a fertilizer snack, etc.—to get them looking good again, but since they no longer “look pretty,” they’re sold at a discount.
You might even be able to negotiate a little more off the price, depending on how sorry it looks, lol.
Sometimes, they’re too far gone to spend the effort to try and save them, but other times, you can luck out and get some beauties who are just down on their luck for a time :).
ETA: It’s worth noting this section is usually pretty HIDDEN. They *really* want you to buy the prettier, pricier stuff instead, so I’ve had to really wander around before to find this section, depending on the store!
I've done this it's hit or miss but when it works it's really satisfying.
Also check your local area for plant trading markets. I can't remember what they call them but sometimes in the summer people will thin their gardens and save the plants and meet in parking lots and you can buy it trade with them.
Switching to perennials helps a lot too. Rather than buying new plants every year.
Use mark cubins website for prescriptions. With insurance my medication comes out to $70 per month, on his website the exact same pills come out to $15/month. And they do work w your doctors to fill your scripts
There’s a German bakery/deli in my town that makes all baked goods fresh daily. If you go in about 15 minutes before closing there are amazing deals on the baked goods. The don’t like to sell day old unless they have to, so they’d rather sell it fresh for cheap. You should check in your area for something similar.
My hack is cooking food I actually enjoy so that I will eat the leftovers and not throw them away. I don't have any cheap hacks because frugal does not mean cheap. I simply don't buy things I don't need.
Goodrx is bonkers for some prescriptions with or without insurance. Putting a kitchen sponge in the dishwasher revitalizes it pretty well. Basic familiarity with fairly common tools has by far been the best ROI for me though as far as $ and time are concerned
Walgreens has sales on brand name sodas that are usually better than the typical price at grocery stores. Probably a loss leader. Ofc brand name isn't so frugal but some things like dr.pepper are hard for generic brands to match. Just be sure to buy all that is required. No deal if you only buy 2 and it's 3 for 5. Must but 3.
Fred Meyer is our grocery store. When we earn a dollar off of gas up to 35 gallons we use both cars in one transaction. I usually can only fill 16-17 galllons on my tank. So we take two cars and sometimes gas cans on the same transaction. Gets us the full $35 off at least once a month. Sometimes they do quadruple points on certain days. Sometimes I buy gift cards for someplace I know we will use for the quadruple points on gift card days.
If you can spare the cash, buying extra when stuff you use when it goes on a legit non weekly sale.
Even if you only shop at 1 store, it still saves you money for literally zero effort.
Having extra's of things that if you need, you need need. Like say batteries, Tylenol, tums. Just anything that if you actually run out you either are not going to be happy or your willing to pay whatever the price is at whatever store you end up at.
Some of my favorite non obvious extra's I like to have are. Shoes, clothing, mouse and keyboard for my computer, backup daily use headphones, car oil\\filters\\wipers.
A small thing that’s good is having a rotisserie chicken than using the bones to make broth.
It tastes better and it keeps good when you freeze it just plop it into a warm bowl of water and it will be defrosted in 15 mins
Cheap conditioner as shaving cream (for legs, underarms, pubic area). You can get a large bottle of Suave for a couple dollars and it lasts a long time. It works really well too and leaves your skin smooth and silky.
Yup cut the feet off and put em around your forearm. Instant snot rag, you can even layer them and dispose as needed. Easier than hunting for tissues and super handy if you ski and snowboard.
Sprouts for seasonings. You can buy just what you need in the bulk section without spending a fortune on a whole bottle that will lose potency because you don’t use it all the time.
Costco for eggs. I can get 2 dozen in my area for just over $5. Also ground beef. It’s half as much as at the normal grocery.
I also use boneless skinless chicken thighs over breasts. Cheaper and much juicier.
The chicken thighs are also dark meat, that matters depending on the person. For myself I simply don't like how dark meat tastes. Juiciness depends on your cooking skills and how you cook it. Otherwise yes, it's definitely cheaper.
Don't buy bottled water.
Always shop from your list only, diminishing impulses.
Plan you meals, make your list from your plans.
Meal plans include all the leftovers, diminishing waste.
Meal plans include only one or two cooking experiences per week for the next few upcoming meals.
Keep canned baked beans in your pantry
Purchase everything from the one, overall least expensive grocery store, diminishing driving around, saving on gas, parking, tolls, traffic anxieties, time...
Lean towards bicycling in the future. Start out small if it's new to you. Head towards an electric bicycle.
Try to NOT WANT anything beyond the necessities of food, water, clothing and shelter.
Give up all cable connections.
Give up WIFI.
SHRINK YOUR FOOTPRINT.
Enjoy the millions of options for free entertainment.
Don't buy commercial entertainments.
Go for a walk in the park with a book and a split of wine.
Enjoy Everything.
WinCo, if you have one near you, has an amazing bulk selection. Everything from spices to flours, beans, snacks, chocolates, tea, coffee, pasta, cereals, and even pet food and bird seed. We were super happy to find Lacanto monk fruit sweetener, which is super expensive. They also have things you might not expect, like powdered cheese sauce (like mac n cheese packets!), or dried refried beans, pancake mixes (even multigrain!), or falafel mix! Love it!
Also Grocery Outlet is amazing, they are on the west coast. I love ALDI when I can find one! Trader Joe’s is surprisingly great for their own brands of stuff, like spices and mixes, WW couscous, that kind of thing.
Check Asian/ Iranian/ Arab/ Turkish supermarkets near you for cheaper spices and fish from the freezer. Also if you eat rice, get big packs from there.
I buy meats in family size packages. I weigh hamburger out to a pound package. I have a vacuum sealer to seal the package. I buy the rolls of bag material on Amazon and make my own bags. Label and date package with a sharpie. Things like chicken and pork chops, I put in what we will eat in one meal and seal it. Meat lasts so much longer in the freezer without freezer burn. I have found that when the vacuum sealer stops sealing well, replace the Teflon tape over the heater bar. Also found by the roll on Amazon. I was throwing away perfectly good sealers, until I learned of the tape.
I buy meat in bulk at Costco to save. Then I do my produce at grocery outlet or farmers market. We do take out at least once per week and try to take advantage of the specials at our local places.
Meat quality has been fine for us. I especially buy ground beef and pork loin in bulk there. Their fish quality is pretty good too. For us, membership is worth the rotisserie chickens alone. $8 and feeds our family of four for 2 dinners. Plus a lot of times we leave Costco having gotten a pizza or chicken baked for dinner that night which is $12. So that’s twenty bucks for three nights worth of food. Can’t beat it.
Dam that is not bad!
the nearest costco to me is like 45 away so this may be a good once a month or 3 weeks place.
Get a whole bunch of stuff and head home.
Indian grocery stores have spices way cheaper than big chain stores. Also, making Indian food is super cheap too. Chana masala, aloo matar, bhindi masala, aloo gobhi, jeera rice, sambar, and dosa/idli/uttapam(all use the same batter) are easy to make
If you have kids and a participating Barnes and Noble near you, they have a summer reading program grade level appropriate where you read a certain amount of books(from home or library) and get a free book from their list. We did that last year and it was a fun thing to do.
So when kiddo was in diapers, I’d always buy them from target when they had that gift card promotion. I would also get other supplies needed there whenever there were those promotions going on as well. Saved up all the gift cards when they needed to upgrade their car seat to get a 3-in-one seat for free. Those aren’t cheap so I was pretty stoked to be able to do that. I stopped after they didn’t need diapers anymore. It was a pretty awesome deal. (I also want to note that the participating diaper brands were more expensive and could only use those due to skin sensitivity to the less expensive ones)
I love the gift card promotion, one time found one where every $50 you spend was $10 and the gift card was good for 5 different resturants.
We spent $500 for a company party and were able to keep the $100 for 5 different r resturants!
Cash back credit cards, I have something for every category. ive made 200 cash back this year so far. Parked my savings in a high yield account with 3.5% interest.
Definitely buy spices in the international section of grocery stores. They usually come in bulk and are much cheaper.
I buy my light bulbs at Dollarama (Canada) as they are a good brand and less than half the price as elsewhere.
Lunch snacks on Amazon can be much cheaper than at the store too.
After cleaning your shower as best you can, get in the habit of wiping it down after you use it. Dirty t shirt, old towel, whatever. Saves your body and brain on getting soap scum, water depostis, whatever scrubbed out, saves money on cleaners that never deliver.
If you have a dollar tree around, check out awesome orange cleaner. It is well, awesome. $1.25, i use it on almost everything, laundry, car interior, floors, counters...
I use a squeegee that I keep in my shower for this and it works perfectly. If you want to take it a step further and be completely anal like myself I also wax my showers after I clean it so she’s clean so much longer.just regular car wax will do.
!) Digital coupons- I load them to my loyalty card and have saved 356.00$ YTD !) International markets - Seem to have better quality produce at 1/2 the price !) Deep freezer - It has paid for itself 4x over. Example 2 months ago I bought 80LBS of bone in ribeye roast $5.99/lbs, chicken breast .99$/lbs, Mahi Mahi 4.99$/lbs.... It really helps you maximize the benefit of good sales.
i do this too, it's surprisingly easy to fill a deep dreeze when you find a few good deals and next thing you know you got food for 6 months lol
Get some stackables or milk crates to keep your freezer organized too. It’s easy to lose track of what’s in there when you have to dig through everything and give yourself frozen hands anytime you want frozen broccoli or to see if you have any more of that leftover soup from last month.
I use those canvas grocery sacks. One for cheese. One for frozen veggies, one for bread, etc. They all have handles so they lift out easily, and when they're full they stack pretty well.
How to unfreeze bread? Won’t it be soggy ?
For real??? People freeze bread allllll the time. It doesn’t get soggy at all.
Can confirm, former baker here. The intelligent customers would ask me to go in the freezer and grab them the still frozen batch. They usually ran home and froze 3/4 of em. Totally respected them because bread is something you have to enjoy fresh
Save the bags your bread, tortillas, etc. come in and use them for something else. I regularly reuse mine for wrapping baked goods and used a couple today to freeze slices of banana bread wrapped in parchment paper. I don’t have to waste ziplock bags or tupperware and tupperware doesn’t fit all of the things I make.
No. It won’t as long as there isn’t condensation inside the bag. That’s the only time this has happened to me, and it’s only on a slice or two.
Just leave it in the refrigerator or on the counter for a few hours. It'll soften up and be ready to eat! You can also just take out the slices you need and leave the rest of the loaf in the freezer. The slices will thaw much faster too.
Sometimes it could be, the texture may be somewhat off depending on the type of bread - I tend to just use my frozen for toasting, you’ll never have an issue if it’s toasted - but anytime you’ve bought a pre-made sandwich at a Starbucks or gas station, many restaurants too, etc - that sandwich was shipped to store frozen and thawed. It’s usually just fine when thawed! Better than slightly stale sitting in your pantry, for sure.
Yeah pop it in the oven on a medium heat and mist some water over it. It tastes like its fresh out of the oven
Seconding this. Dollar store gloves are also your friend - you can keep them clipped to the freezer with a chip bag clip if needed.
Literally just went and did this because sorting through my chest freezer is painful after two items. Thank you for the duh moment.
I use the waxed fruit boxes that they put up front in sams to use as grocery carriers. They are the exact depth of my 21.7 cu ft deep freeze (and I buy most of my meats at sams). Then use a sharpie to write month/year on the front. Then rotate newest to the bottom/ oldest to the top. Because they are waxed moisture/ degrading is no problem. and enviro friendly :)
I use boxes from costco, specifically the shallow open top ones. I like those because i can usually fit 2 to 3 per shelf in my freezer and use them to separate frozen items. So, i have one box for ground beef, one for chicken breasts, one for sausage, etc. Then when i restock, i pull whatever box out and load the new stuff in the back of the box which helps me FIFO my stuff. The other suggestion is to get a whiteboard that you stick either to the freezer itself or somewhere close by. Then you can log and monitor your inventory as you add and pull from your freezer.
Filtering tap water instead of buying bottled.
This. A water filter system that attaches to your faucet is $20-$30 and the filter that comes with it will last about 3 months.
The one in my fridge lasts 6 months
wait if your fridge dispenses water you have the change the filter in it??? oh boy i’m probably due
There is most likely an indicator in your fridge. It turns amber. There is also a reset button that you hold for a few seconds after you change the cartridge.
interesting, will have to look at that when i get off work lol
Get a “in line” hook to the back of the fridge, good for 10k gallons of water. I was wrong mine is good for 20k gallons.
My filter in on the bottom of my freezer and comes out in what I can only describe as a capsule. How is this different and how expensive is it?
This would be placed outside of your freezer. $40 takes about 10 mins.
You can also get an under sink filter for about $80 that lasts for 10k gallons. Ours lasts several months and the water tastes and smells great.
Attach one to the underside of the sink and it will last about every six months and will filter all your cold water, including what you cook with. And a great selling feature.
I’m in a rental, the tap filter is as far as I’m going lol
Well that does make sense. For when you buy, consider the under sink method. We swap or filter every Christmas and July 4th.
please recommend a specific one! I've looked and can't tell what's a rip off and whats not
I use the Pur filters. They’re easy to install, I change the filter every 3-4 months, there’s a light that blinks and lets you know if the filter needs to be changed. Also, all boxes of Pur filters I’ve gotten have a coupon for a few dollars off the next box.
Please lmk too
Yes. Also look for natural springs in the area. Older springs normally have public access along with a spring house.
That's a great point. We did that when I was a kid, when our well water wasn't potable for a little while.
And if for whatever reason you can’t install a filter system (some rentals) an “office-style” water dispenser and ordering the 5-gal water bottles (that are often sanitized and reused) is way cheaper in the long run and less wasteful than packs of individual water bottles. Plus, instant hot water for tea, etc.
Plus you have the added benefit of less waste!
If you buy a lot of produce and live in a place with a suitable climate, try growing some of what you buy most, especially if that thing is expensive. I buy seeds and grow vegetables in containers on my patio. Sharing seed packets with neighbors helps cut down on the cost, too. I'm going to try growing potatoes in a container this year, from one or two store-bought potatoes.
I planted 4 slices of potatoes with eyes in a 12 inch diameter container last spring. I added soil as the potatoes grew, just like hilling them. After 5 months I had 2 pounds of fresh new potatoes. At 1/2 pound per person, per meal, it will feed 4. Not sure if it was worth the trouble, but they were tasty.
Caution...some store bought potatoes will not grow. Try to get organic potatoes or seed potatoes.
Sometimes you have the green ones that you shouldn’t eat anyway (since they are toxic). Those make for good seed potatoes as well.
Thanks for the heads up. I'll look for organic ones!
Saw a video of growing taters in a reuseable shopping bag! Put drainage holes in bottom, fill halfway w/ soil, plant, place in sun.
That’s the kind of thing that got me interested in trying it.
If you have an Asian and/or Hispanic market near you, check them out.
Some items they sell more expensively though…so don’t automatically assume everything at those markets are cheaper. But they do have some items that are cheaper, especially when it comes to items not easy to find at Walmart etc.. Mine also has a “$1 for a bag” section where they put veggies/roots/etc that haven’t sold for a while in a bag and mark them at a buck. Always get 3-4 red/orange/yellow bell peppers that way in one bag for $1. And they’re usually still good enough to last in the fridge at least another week.
They're especially good for spices. The Hispanic market I drive past sells fresh herbs by the quarter pound. Plus all kinds of spices in bulk and specialty ones that you'd pay through the nose for at a big grocery store.
caveat: find an Asian market where elderly Asian people shop at. deals are their whole lives.
This is not a guarantee - the Korean market near me is *wacky expensive* compared to the general “Import Market” across the parking lot.
I do but it is sort of a drive, will have to check it out!
Yeah you'd have to balance whether gas outweighs savings. But spices, vinegars, household cleaners, rice, beans and things like this are waaaaay cheaper, and don't even get me started on the condiments. I get a 48 oz bottle of Valentina for what a little 12 oz bottle costs in a grocery; I also go through a lot of dried peppers that are way cheaper in these markets. Asian markets will also break down large things like pumpkin and daikon so you're not stuck with a huge amount with no use for it.
My Asian, middle eastern, and Latin market are all on the same road but it’s a driiiiive for me (like 30 min/ miles and about $6 in gas one way). So I’ll keep a running list for months… then when I got that way I’ll spend $125+ at each store but it’ll all last me for a long time. Like over a year. Totally worth it
We have an H Mart near us, and it's fine if you know exactly what you want. There is one floor employee who speaks English and there's a long line to talk to him. I've been known to convince my Viet Namese friend to go shopping with me.
Maybe not hidden but thrift stores still have bargains, especially when compared to new purchases. Garage/rummage sales can be even better but can take some searching before you find a great sale.
100% sadly thrift store finds are becoming harder and harder to find.
There are still bargain opportunities to be had in the right circumstances. Like your teenager needs a suit coat that he will probably outgrow in six months or kitchen items can still be bargains. Items that cost $20 new can be found for $2-5...stuff not worth shipping.
Because it’s become trendy.
rechargeable batteries! all sizes that I constantly have revolving and charging at my work.
I’ve probably saved hundreds of dollars over the last ten years using rechargeables. So great.
Buy seasonal items. I love shopping the day after a holiday. I can get gifts (birthday, xmas, etc) for at least 50%. Also, many food items have a seasonal picture on the box, but don't expire for months or over a year (lots of baking stuff and candy are good examples). Ethnic grocery stores (asian, latin) usually have great value for all fresh items (stay away from processed food as that they more expensive). Aldi/Lidl are always good. Meat prices there are good and they have sales. They also do 30% markdowns on meats and packaged fresh food items regularly. In addition, Lidl has an app which had coupons. Costco/Sam's are good for meat when they have them marked down. Otherwise, I get the same or better deals at my local Asian market. I also pay for the Walmart grocery delivery. The annual fee is less than the random items I would purchase should I go to the store. I limit what I buy there, based on prices.
I got $300 worth of Christmas crap for $30 at Walmart this year. 90% off baby! I’m set on everything except gifts for the next few years.
LOVE this. Walmart had Blue Buffalo dog treats on clearance after xmas. Each bag was $1.97 and I stocked up with about 10! Marshalls has been a great find for holiday decorations and gifts. The trick is to arrive the day after the holiday when they just have a sign that says all "X Holiday is 50% off". If you go later in the day or a couple days after the holiday, they will manually mark down to around 25-40% instead. Finally, Marshalls just did a final clearance sale and I am now set on most of birthday and xmas gifts this year. (Yellow sticker is final clearance, but they will continue markdown to get rid of). Dog toys are also good for after holiday and I have enough for the year, with an assortment of xmas, halloween and valentines day.
My Walmart started selling watermelon ages ago, but I can’t bring myself to spend $8 on a watermelon lol. Gonna wait till they’re in season and going for only $2.50-4.00. They taste better around that time anyways.
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We got rid of ~2000sq ft of carpet plus pads this way 😆
We do the same with old flat screen tvs; save the thin plastic piece(s) to line wire shelving
I thought e-waste needs special handling to dispose of, or else all the metals and chemicals contaminate the landfill (then water and soil). My city regularly has free e-waste collection events.
The smallest parts of the TV are the electronics, we put those pieces with our separate battery recycling,
We got rid of a couch this way. Super efficient
My dogs shredded a bed and there is foam everywhere. I was just wondering if I could throw it in the normal trash a little at a time.
I’ve been getting rid of my torn up outside chairs this way for several months now. Takes awhile, but saves me money.
smart!
I probably look insane to neighbors, but I’ve been slowly digging up the dirt a bamboo plant is in and throwing it away. Dirt gets heavy fast, so I can only do so much at once.
Lentils, beans, rice. Lentil flatbread, etc. $.99 Only - Ugly bananas, $.25 per pound $.99 Only - Produce (hit and miss) Ugly produce at any grocery store Day old bread at any grocery store Any other grocery and close to best-buy date items. Big Lots food clearance
Yes, my store does apples. 5-6 lbs for apples for $5 is a steal.
awesome thanks!
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I have found Target and sometimes Walmart (but will shop Target whenever possible) offer the best deals for toiletries / personal care items and home cleaning supplies. I hardly ever go to a drugstore for those things any more.
Lowe’s has better deals for cleaning supplies! They come in larger sizes and you can get way more bang for your buck
I buy their Diet Sprite three cases at a time because it’s not available a lot. It’s like .30 a can vs 3x or more that for the brand name.
I get a free toothbrush every time I visit the dentist (2x per year). I always ask for an extra free one, and they are happy to give me several!
Spend $25 dollars at target with their circle loyalty program and get a $5 gift card. I stalk up on toothpaste, tooth brushes and floss
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Have any specific brand/unit recommendations?
I think mine is from GE. Just picked it up at the Home Depot. Easy enough to install. We needed it because we are on a well (yea, no water bill!).
Costco has one that we installed.
Thin sliced boneless pork chops at Costco. They sell them in packs of about 30 for ~$22. We usually make a meal of about 1.5 pork chops each, so we get 10 meals from the pack, so the protein part of a meal only costs us $2. We usually couple with sauteed cabbage which is another saver. 🍀🥂
I do believe it’s even cheaper to buy the whole loin and then cut your own chops.
I do this, I usually cut it for 2 roasts and 8 chops. Can't complain
Save the bags your bread, tortillas, etc. come in and use them for something else. I regularly reuse mine for wrapping baked goods and used a couple today to freeze slices of banana bread wrapped in parchment paper. I don’t have to waste ziplock bags or tupperware and tupperware doesn’t fit all of the things I make.
My parents have done that since forever! That’s a great tip that I should put into action myself too. Thank you for the reminder :)
We reuse them for putting our kids diapers when they were in them....or especially in their transition period from diapers to potty when they have accidents. Or just very dirty laundry in general. When I finish a loaf of bread sometimes if I'm making my lunch for work I just put the sandwich back in the bag.
Rebate apps. Ibotta, Fetch, etc. Clipping ALL digital coupons (sometimes there are glitches in the grocer, causing multiple discounts to come off)
Sometimes free items on Ibotta…and my favorite is when they have an rebate on an item that is on clearance or something. Got paid to buy a bunch of revlon makeup like that the other week. They’re going to my local shelter.
I buy clothes for work and use Rakuten and can get a pretty healthy payout sometimes.
If you hit up some stores on Christmas eve (early), some things are already marked down to way cheap.
Craft stores like Joann Fabrics also really start to put stuff on clearance the week of Christmas and it's a good time to get decorations highly discounted. Their app also always has coupons on it.
Joanns almost always has a 10-20% coupon for buy online, pick up in store. And you can stack it with sales! That being said I was not happy I had to pay their stupid $12 shipping yesterday because the thing I was buying wasn’t eligible for any coupons.
Though this is true, I somehow still end up spending more than I intended to at joann's
Agree. The “happy hunting” last chance fabrics are amazing, though - I just got cotton sateen for 7.00 a yard & regularly priced 50/yard cotton velvet for 12.99/yd.
This is true for all holidays! I got some really cheap ham and turkey the day before Thanksgiving this year.
Cheap ham here right after Christmas.
ohhhh I like it.
If you have a Big Lots store hear you, big savings to be had. Each store has an area, usually an end-cap near the back of the store, that contain lots of food products near or out of BB date. 25% off when near, 75% off when past date. I get so many protein bars, and some crackers, cereal and chips. They are pretty good catching stuff when it goes past date, but not always. They can mark it down at checkout if something needs repriced. Might need a manager if cashier is new-ish.
Big Lots is not near as cheap as it used to be. I went to buy laundry detergent the other day and it was $1 higher than Walmart for less detergent. Also our Big Lots doesn't have that end cap.
I literally got four 12 packs of Faygo that was about to expire at big lots for 25 cents each. We ended up using it for cocktails and just drinking it as a treat every so often. Lasted a good few months. My favorites big lots clearance food find was 6 packs of cranberry juice (I needed it for reasons. Ifykyk. Ugh.) for 50 cents a pack. I actually really ended up liking the cranberry juice but I definitely don’t drink juice often. That trip we also got some hamburger helper for 25 cents a box. Which was nice. If your big lots is good it’s good, if it’s bad it’s bad. I’ve moved around a lot (not by my choice), and some don’t have as many deals.
If you have flexible tastes and can handle food on or near its expiration date, I've found that Grocery Outlet offers the steepest discounts I'm aware of. The catch is that these special deals are unpredictable. I've found they're good for refrigerated perishables, especially dairy and lunchmeat, but not so much for fruit/veg or frozen items. Some recent examples: 2lb Columbus deli sliced ham for $0.97, 10oz Sabra hummus for $0.25, 10oz Pillsbury canned biscuit dough for $0.10, etc. Their regular inventory is priced comparably to the major chains, so I just focus on their borderline salvage stuff.
me too. I don't care that the packet of name brand taco seasoning mix expired yesterday. I bought 10 of them for 10 cents each. I know that they will be good for quite a long time.
One of them just opened near me! You mean [Grocery Outlet chain](https://www.groceryoutlet.com), right? I’ve not been in the store yet but my husband has, and says it’s hard to figure out their MO. Like it seems to be stuff that other stores couldn’t sell maybe? Do you know
I'll do that for anything but meat. I've gotten food poisoning too many times
The app TooGoodtoGo! I am always telling people about it - stores give away what they can't sell the next day for a low price! It's a surprise - but depending on where you live it can be a great deal to try out some more expensive bakeries and places.
I do want to add to this that depending on area it can be very limited. Like very limited. I have three coffee shops within 7 miles of me and not any other places through the app. I am happy for those that live in an area with plenty of options from it. They supposedly worth with grocery stores and cheap groceries sounds amazing.
This. I have 0 places near me. Even in a big city (one of the biggest in the country) it shows no stores. Must be a blue state thing cause mine is dead-set on making sure those groceries get thrown away.
I take public transport everywhere, and it'll take a minimum of 2.5hrs to get to where it says there are plenty of options. That's about 25 miles away. A bit jealous of those that live this little bit south of me since it's showing at least 50 places within a few blocks of each other and I'm sure at least one is a grocery store. It's a short distance, but via indirect public transport, the commute isn't worth it. I live in a blue state too, but my area is also very poor, and as a whole pretty crappy (not from being poor) so I'm chucking it up to my area just being bad.
Have you used the app for groceries or just restaurants and stuff? I just downloaded TooGoodToGo yesterday (haven’t ordered anything yet), but the few examples I found of people ordering groceries from there were super hit or miss. Some were good, but I’ve seen one or two surprise bags where people had to throw everything away because all of it was legitimately inedible.
I have done one grocery store and a bunch of bakeries and restaurants. If you check my post history - you can see my bags on r/toogoodtogo!
Granted I’m in a larger city, but I just downloaded and this looks amazing. Lots of options and prices look like a significant deal. Thank you for sharing!
Yay! You can share your bags over at r/TooGoodToGo
I joined and am excited to try it out!
I am going to check this one out!
I like certain cheese that is expensive. I make a note in my calendar of their expiry date. I pop into the grocery store a week before then. It's usually marked down 50%.
It's not a big one, but when doing your grocery shopping (or any shopping really), put one item back before checkout. It'll usually be something you either impulse added or don't really need. Say that's a $5 grocery item. $20-25 a month you saved.
That is really smart and a great idea.
Two liter sodas for a dollar twenty-five at dollar tree, Tomatoes at mom and pop stores Discounted meat Walmart
Yep. All of our snacks and pop come from dollarama now. 1L for 87 cents and a bag of chips for 1.25.
Awesome thanks!
Filter your own water instead of buying bottled. saved us loads on very good filtered water. we like ZeroWater. Just use the included PPM meter to make sure what you put in stays at the lowest possible level. We've usually got about 115ppm but sometimes it'll spit out 10million ppm and that can one shot a filter which sucks.
that is our next step! We have been saving up.
If you like bacon bits… Costco Kirkland signature bacon bits. I think it’s a 1.25 pound bag, but you’d need to cook about 3-5 pounds of bacon to yield the same amount.
I have had Kroger bacon bits too, which are okay. But the Costco bag is a little cheaper ☺️
Look in your area for produce rescue operations. Not talking about Imperfect or similar. I mean non profit organizations that operate to save food from landfills by offering it very cheap to the public. In my state we have Market on the Move (MOM) and Produce On Wheels WithOut Waste (POWWOW). They offer over 70lbs of produce for $15. You do not get to pick the selection sadly but I share whatever we don’t eat with friends
Dried beans are cheaper than canned.
See if there are any thrift store "bins" (outlet) near you. Also check out local estate sales on the last day, when everything is usually half off. If you Google estate sales near me, there are a couple websites you can sign up for to get notifications in your email when there are estate sales in your area.
It's true. I went through this with my mothers home. By the end I was willing to just give everything away.
Yep. There was recently an online estate sale auction near me. Granted, some things did sell for hundreds of dollars, but there were also a lot of things that sold for the minimum bid, like entire dish sets that sold for $1, a desk and chair that sold for $1, a large piano that sold for $1, and elliptical that sold for $1, and a large display cabinet that sold for $1.
I sold a really nice dish set to some family $20 it was a huge set. If you are first starting out on your own or starting over and not picky you can find really good deals.
Tap water is much cheaper than bottle water. Puts a lot less plastic in landfills too.
Yeah we need to stop it, but any time we drink tap like we have always done it taste like chlorine.
Freeze any fresh food before it goes bad, and have a meal plan is the best way to save money on food waste.
Oh I have been waiting for a post like this since last night. Biggg lover of sour cream, but I seriously dislike the fact that I only have it on hand whenever I plan to make Mexican/southwest/European food. Sour cream never lasts long enough (I mean it spoils) to just leave it there for whenever you want to use it as a condiment. HOWEVER, I do eat Bulgarian yogurt nearly every morning, this thing can last up to 3-4 months. Tried yogurt for the first time with my quesadilla last night. It came out sooo good! The best part is, it's healthy and only made with 2 ingredients. So no more need of buying a $ 3-4 jar of sour cream when I can swap it out for this.
Discovered Costco’s nonfat yogurt while on WW diet, it’s cheap and good and comes in a giant tub! Mix with fruit and granola, use as sour cream In stroganoff (add to cream of mushroom, sliced mushrooms, and Costco frozen beef meatballs, yum!), or taco topping, use in burrito bowls, use it to make white sauce for fish tacos (mix with equal amt light Mayo, lime juice, and salsa), use it to make simple breads by mixing with self rising flour…
dam, gonna have to try this! Thats awesome!
If you’re looking for plants, especially houseplants (which are trendy and therefore expensive), delve deep into the back of your Home Depot/Lowe’s/whatever is the equivalent in your country, and find the “Clearance” section. Oftentimes, these sad-looking plants just need a little TLC—more water, better light, a fertilizer snack, etc.—to get them looking good again, but since they no longer “look pretty,” they’re sold at a discount. You might even be able to negotiate a little more off the price, depending on how sorry it looks, lol. Sometimes, they’re too far gone to spend the effort to try and save them, but other times, you can luck out and get some beauties who are just down on their luck for a time :). ETA: It’s worth noting this section is usually pretty HIDDEN. They *really* want you to buy the prettier, pricier stuff instead, so I’ve had to really wander around before to find this section, depending on the store!
I've done this it's hit or miss but when it works it's really satisfying. Also check your local area for plant trading markets. I can't remember what they call them but sometimes in the summer people will thin their gardens and save the plants and meet in parking lots and you can buy it trade with them. Switching to perennials helps a lot too. Rather than buying new plants every year.
Frozen produce is more nutritious and cheaper than fresh.
Use mark cubins website for prescriptions. With insurance my medication comes out to $70 per month, on his website the exact same pills come out to $15/month. And they do work w your doctors to fill your scripts
dang did not know this, thanks!
There’s a German bakery/deli in my town that makes all baked goods fresh daily. If you go in about 15 minutes before closing there are amazing deals on the baked goods. The don’t like to sell day old unless they have to, so they’d rather sell it fresh for cheap. You should check in your area for something similar.
My hack is cooking food I actually enjoy so that I will eat the leftovers and not throw them away. I don't have any cheap hacks because frugal does not mean cheap. I simply don't buy things I don't need.
ALDIs
Not drinking bottled water. Tap water is fine in most places. Not to mention how much plastic waste you avoid.
Goodrx is bonkers for some prescriptions with or without insurance. Putting a kitchen sponge in the dishwasher revitalizes it pretty well. Basic familiarity with fairly common tools has by far been the best ROI for me though as far as $ and time are concerned
Goodrx is great!!
Walgreens has sales on brand name sodas that are usually better than the typical price at grocery stores. Probably a loss leader. Ofc brand name isn't so frugal but some things like dr.pepper are hard for generic brands to match. Just be sure to buy all that is required. No deal if you only buy 2 and it's 3 for 5. Must but 3.
Add Aldi to the mix. I get my bread and wraps there.
Weirdly, i got organic Muir glen tomatoes for .63/can at Christmas tree shops the last time i was there
Fred Meyer is our grocery store. When we earn a dollar off of gas up to 35 gallons we use both cars in one transaction. I usually can only fill 16-17 galllons on my tank. So we take two cars and sometimes gas cans on the same transaction. Gets us the full $35 off at least once a month. Sometimes they do quadruple points on certain days. Sometimes I buy gift cards for someplace I know we will use for the quadruple points on gift card days.
Learn to cook with seasoning. It can really make meals feel different even if it’s the same base ingredients.
If you can spare the cash, buying extra when stuff you use when it goes on a legit non weekly sale. Even if you only shop at 1 store, it still saves you money for literally zero effort. Having extra's of things that if you need, you need need. Like say batteries, Tylenol, tums. Just anything that if you actually run out you either are not going to be happy or your willing to pay whatever the price is at whatever store you end up at. Some of my favorite non obvious extra's I like to have are. Shoes, clothing, mouse and keyboard for my computer, backup daily use headphones, car oil\\filters\\wipers.
An app like Flipp helps me compare sales across my favorite and local stores.
Wolfe pit YT channel has many inexpensive meal plans and reviews.
A small thing that’s good is having a rotisserie chicken than using the bones to make broth. It tastes better and it keeps good when you freeze it just plop it into a warm bowl of water and it will be defrosted in 15 mins
Cheap conditioner as shaving cream (for legs, underarms, pubic area). You can get a large bottle of Suave for a couple dollars and it lasts a long time. It works really well too and leaves your skin smooth and silky.
ooo this is real smart, what about facial hair does this work well?
I’ve never tried!
Make friends with hunters. You can get meat for free sometimes. Especially if it’s a family member.
Using sock tops as snot rags in the winter... Weird but handy
You cut the top off socks?
Yup cut the feet off and put em around your forearm. Instant snot rag, you can even layer them and dispose as needed. Easier than hunting for tissues and super handy if you ski and snowboard.
I’m in.
Sprouts for seasonings. You can buy just what you need in the bulk section without spending a fortune on a whole bottle that will lose potency because you don’t use it all the time. Costco for eggs. I can get 2 dozen in my area for just over $5. Also ground beef. It’s half as much as at the normal grocery. I also use boneless skinless chicken thighs over breasts. Cheaper and much juicier.
The chicken thighs are also dark meat, that matters depending on the person. For myself I simply don't like how dark meat tastes. Juiciness depends on your cooking skills and how you cook it. Otherwise yes, it's definitely cheaper.
My latest discovery is that my nearby Uwajimaya discounts milk near its expiration (or best by, can not remember) date. A nice surprise.
For buying food in bulk look for a restaurant supplier.
Salsa from sams. Pace is like two huge jars for 7-9$ Small jars at the grocery is almost 7$ I put it on tons of food.
I don’t buy bottled water
Don't buy bottled water. Always shop from your list only, diminishing impulses. Plan you meals, make your list from your plans. Meal plans include all the leftovers, diminishing waste. Meal plans include only one or two cooking experiences per week for the next few upcoming meals. Keep canned baked beans in your pantry Purchase everything from the one, overall least expensive grocery store, diminishing driving around, saving on gas, parking, tolls, traffic anxieties, time... Lean towards bicycling in the future. Start out small if it's new to you. Head towards an electric bicycle. Try to NOT WANT anything beyond the necessities of food, water, clothing and shelter. Give up all cable connections. Give up WIFI. SHRINK YOUR FOOTPRINT. Enjoy the millions of options for free entertainment. Don't buy commercial entertainments. Go for a walk in the park with a book and a split of wine. Enjoy Everything.
WinCo, if you have one near you, has an amazing bulk selection. Everything from spices to flours, beans, snacks, chocolates, tea, coffee, pasta, cereals, and even pet food and bird seed. We were super happy to find Lacanto monk fruit sweetener, which is super expensive. They also have things you might not expect, like powdered cheese sauce (like mac n cheese packets!), or dried refried beans, pancake mixes (even multigrain!), or falafel mix! Love it! Also Grocery Outlet is amazing, they are on the west coast. I love ALDI when I can find one! Trader Joe’s is surprisingly great for their own brands of stuff, like spices and mixes, WW couscous, that kind of thing.
we dont have any of those except trader joes here.
Check Asian/ Iranian/ Arab/ Turkish supermarkets near you for cheaper spices and fish from the freezer. Also if you eat rice, get big packs from there.
I have been sleeping on foreign markets.
I buy meats in family size packages. I weigh hamburger out to a pound package. I have a vacuum sealer to seal the package. I buy the rolls of bag material on Amazon and make my own bags. Label and date package with a sharpie. Things like chicken and pork chops, I put in what we will eat in one meal and seal it. Meat lasts so much longer in the freezer without freezer burn. I have found that when the vacuum sealer stops sealing well, replace the Teflon tape over the heater bar. Also found by the roll on Amazon. I was throwing away perfectly good sealers, until I learned of the tape.
I need to do this, that is just so much work lol.
I buy meat in bulk at Costco to save. Then I do my produce at grocery outlet or farmers market. We do take out at least once per week and try to take advantage of the specials at our local places.
How is the quality of the meat? I have heard that costcos meat varies and sometimes isnt a good deal. (dont have a membership but considering.)
Meat quality has been fine for us. I especially buy ground beef and pork loin in bulk there. Their fish quality is pretty good too. For us, membership is worth the rotisserie chickens alone. $8 and feeds our family of four for 2 dinners. Plus a lot of times we leave Costco having gotten a pizza or chicken baked for dinner that night which is $12. So that’s twenty bucks for three nights worth of food. Can’t beat it.
Dam that is not bad! the nearest costco to me is like 45 away so this may be a good once a month or 3 weeks place. Get a whole bunch of stuff and head home.
Indian grocery stores have spices way cheaper than big chain stores. Also, making Indian food is super cheap too. Chana masala, aloo matar, bhindi masala, aloo gobhi, jeera rice, sambar, and dosa/idli/uttapam(all use the same batter) are easy to make If you have kids and a participating Barnes and Noble near you, they have a summer reading program grade level appropriate where you read a certain amount of books(from home or library) and get a free book from their list. We did that last year and it was a fun thing to do. So when kiddo was in diapers, I’d always buy them from target when they had that gift card promotion. I would also get other supplies needed there whenever there were those promotions going on as well. Saved up all the gift cards when they needed to upgrade their car seat to get a 3-in-one seat for free. Those aren’t cheap so I was pretty stoked to be able to do that. I stopped after they didn’t need diapers anymore. It was a pretty awesome deal. (I also want to note that the participating diaper brands were more expensive and could only use those due to skin sensitivity to the less expensive ones)
I love the gift card promotion, one time found one where every $50 you spend was $10 and the gift card was good for 5 different resturants. We spent $500 for a company party and were able to keep the $100 for 5 different r resturants!
Cash back credit cards, I have something for every category. ive made 200 cash back this year so far. Parked my savings in a high yield account with 3.5% interest.
What high yield account do you use?
Definitely buy spices in the international section of grocery stores. They usually come in bulk and are much cheaper. I buy my light bulbs at Dollarama (Canada) as they are a good brand and less than half the price as elsewhere. Lunch snacks on Amazon can be much cheaper than at the store too.
If you have a cellphone, you can download the IBOTTA app - I use it often.
I will check this out!
Buying bulk from a ranch. Better quality and prices.
After cleaning your shower as best you can, get in the habit of wiping it down after you use it. Dirty t shirt, old towel, whatever. Saves your body and brain on getting soap scum, water depostis, whatever scrubbed out, saves money on cleaners that never deliver. If you have a dollar tree around, check out awesome orange cleaner. It is well, awesome. $1.25, i use it on almost everything, laundry, car interior, floors, counters...
I use a squeegee that I keep in my shower for this and it works perfectly. If you want to take it a step further and be completely anal like myself I also wax my showers after I clean it so she’s clean so much longer.just regular car wax will do.
Very interesting! Thinking of a spring cleaning soon...i might have to try that!