Question: Where does Frugal Grocery Shopping begin?
Answer:
- With understanding your job.
- With fixing frugal meals.
Some people think that Frugal Grocery Shopping requires regular trips to the supermarket with an enormous wad of coupons and the ability to get $200 of stuff for only $4.37. You may do extreme couponing, but if most of your purchases are for unhealthy junk-food, then you won’t be saving much money over all. Your coupon savings can be wiped out by increased trips to the doctor’s office. Your job is to purchase and provide the best nutrition you can with the resources available to you and to save as much money as possible doing it. Couponing or smart shopping strategies can only do so much. If you don’t know how to fix healthy, thrifty meals, you’re ability to save as much as possible will be limited.
In reality, Frugal Grocery Shopping consists of a combination of strategies that you can work on here and there over time:
- Strategy: Build a collection of decently nutritious, thrifty meals
- Strategy: Improve your “from-scratch” cooking skills
- Strategy: To keep your family safe from harm and to stop wasting food, know basic elements of food safety—in preparation and storage
- Strategy: Savvy Grocery Shopping—using store ads and couponing
- Strategy: Pantry Power-Build up and maintain an effective Frugal Pantry
- Strategy: Eliminate or reduce waste—Buy what you eat and eat what you buy. Develop leftover skills.
