Where is the "Cents"ible Sawyer?

If you have been wondering, like I have, where the Centsible Sawyer has been here is your answer. her blog has been locked up by Google because it thought it was a spam blog. So if you have been missing Denise's great bargain finds and deal alerts as much as I have please have some patience. She will be back posting on regular schedule as soon as she gets her problem resolved. She hopes this will be sooner rather than later.

Saving on groceries Without Clipping Coupons

I found this article at money saving mom

Lower your grocery bill without clipping coupons

I've received numerous emails from people recently asking how you can lower your grocery bill if you don't live nearby stores which have good coupon deals or if you don't have time to clip coupons. While I'm a big proponent of coupons, I understand that they don't work for everyone in every season of life in every area of the country. Here would be a few of my top recommendations for ways to lower your grocery bill without clipping coupons:

1) Plan a menu and stick to it. Seriously. If this is the only thing you ever do, you'll greatly reduce your grocery budget.

2) Shop once per week or less. The less you shop invariably means the less you spend. I recommend you have a grocery budget, plan your menu and list with your grocery budget in mind, use a calculator to tally up your running total as you shop, and only bring the allotted amount of grocery money with you in cash.

3) Stick with simple, inexpensive meals. I'm a big believer in simplicity. There's an occasional time and place for the elaborate, six-course dinners, but for the everyday, keep it simple. We like to have a main dish, homemade bread of some sort, and then fruit or veggies of some sort to round things out. I plan our main dishes around what we already have on hand and what meats and other mainstay ingredients are on sale.

4) If you live nearby a store which does run sales, plan your menu based upon the store sales. The simple step of taking a few extra minutes each week to browse the store fliers and create your menu based upon what is on sale there will greatly enhance your savings. If you have more than one store which runs weekly sales, check both fliers and decide which store to do your shopping at based upon which store has the best sales.

5) Shop at Aldi. I know every area doesn't have Aldi stores, but if you do, you should be shopping there. I don't recommend buying everything at Aldi, but there are many things there which are very comparable to name brands at the store, but which are routinely quite a bit less. Our Aldi standbys include: fruit (especially bananas, apples, oranges, grapefruit, and frozen fruit), tortillas, some veggies, frozen veggies, and staple ingredients. You have to be a bit flexible since Aldi doesn't always have everything in stock and the produce is sometimes hit and miss, but we've saved hundreds of dollars each year by buying 25% or so of our groceries at Aldi.

8) Cook from scratch, as much as possible. It's a no-brainer, but cooking from scratch with simple, inexpensive ingredients is likely one of the greatest ways to save money on your grocery budget while also eating more healthfully. We enjoy some processed foods as a treat, but I attempt to have the bulk of our diet made up of fresh fruits and veggies and homemade items. With some planning ahead and cooking in bulk and freezing, you can eliminate the need for many processed foods without spending a great deal of time and thought.

One of my best tips to help one be more efficient when it comes to cooking from scratch is just to look for ways you can make extra. If you're making waffles, make a double batch or triple batch and freeze the leftovers for breakfast later in the week. If you're making cookies, double the recipe, bake what you'll eat right away, and freeze the rest of the cookie dough in balls and then pull out how many you'll need and bake them later.

Another thing which has worked well for me is to try and bake for a few hours one day per week or to take 20 minutes everyday and bake up a triple batch of something and freeze most of it. This guarantees I almost always have a few different things on hand for quick breakfasts or snacks or bread to go along with dinner.

What are your best recommendations for saving money on groceries without clipping coupons?