Grocery hopping or avoid needless trips.

If getting one item at a different store saves you 50 cents... what does the drive cost you? There is a calculation to consider if the 50 cents per 5 minutes for the purchase is a worthwhile purchase but the ENTIRE purchase is much more than 5 minutes when you consider the drive. 

Make groceries pay you back by cashing in on gas rebates.

With gas prices soaring, various businesses are offering rebates on their receipts for gasoline purchases. They want your money in their store and they want your money at their affiliate gas station. Consider this amount of savings when choosing your one store shopping if you don't grocery hop to various stores. 

Save on pets.

Don't get a pet. I didn't say to get rid of your pet because that pet is a member of your family. Don't get one in the first place and avoid all pet support and food costs associated with said pet.

Keep your pet healthy. A sick pet can easily become an expensive pet. Feed your pet properly, keep them at an appropriate weight, provide fresh water, exercise regularly, and make sure they get the shots and essentials they need.

Break apart flea drop packets. A rescue group clued me into this one. Take a small glass bottle with an eye dropper top. (Ours came from cleaning drops that belong to the fish tank I believe. health food stores may also sell them for essential oils.) Purchase the pack of flea drops for the absolute biggest dog available at your store in the bulk packaging. Make sure the jar is clean, then break open and pour the individual applications into your jar. Typically the price is nearly the same no matter the size of the dog and we were able to get 2 years of appropriate drops out of a 6 month package. Here is a much more precise explanation. http://www.starlightbostonterriers.com/fleamedchart.htm

Make your own treats. This can be a super fun and creative hobby as well and a bonding experience with your pet. Here is a nice compilation of biscuit recipes for your dog: http://www.thekitchn.com/cookies-for-canines-homemade-d-135078

Spay and neuter your pets to help limit the pet population and to prevent you from supporting additional unplanned pets.

Turn in those rebates!

You know you've done it! Because of a rebate displayed in the store, you purchased something you might not have otherwise. You made the purchase, walked out with the instructions, and they were never seen again. Clip those things into your sun visor or on your fridge so you can get them done. Or better yet, do it right when you get home!

Split large packages of food with a friend.

 If you don't need the bulk package of three jars of peanut butter from the warehouse, check the expiration dates first. If they are a long distance out maybe you can store the extra but otherwise check with a friend to see if they want to split the purchase with you. Once a month shopping with a friend to do big bulk splits can be a real relief.

Watch the screen at the register for errors.

 Sometimes the computers have numbers that are not up to date. Other times you may have selected a product based on the shelf label that ended yesterday or starts tomorrow. It's not about being nasty, it's about being right. If you picked up 10 of something because of a good price, it better be the good price on the shelf. Carrying a shopping list can let you jot down all prices as you pick up items. This can be very tedious but beneficial. Look for a Smartphone app to make totaling and comparing your bill easier!

Bring your own bags

Bring your own bags - some stores will reward you for it. Our local Giant actually took 10 cents per canvas bag used off our grocery bill for several years. Besides the monetary reward, it's great for the environment and seldom does a canvas bag rip open while you are walking across the parking lot.

Take advantage of double coupons.

 Double coupons can really take your grocery budget to a whole new level. One of our local stores ran double coupon specials one day a month for a limit of 10 coupons - and you had to have the local paper coupon for the event. This double coupon event was WELL worth it if you had just the right coupons and could make most of your products free.

Get a rain check even if you may not use it.

Get a rain check even if you may not use it. Walking through the store, you see a great sale on one of your periodically used products. They are all out but you didn't need it anyway. BUT if you pick up the rain check for the price, you will be able to use the same sale price when you do need it.

Try the generic brand.

 Generics have always had a very negative view from the consumer world. These days, generic brands are typically produced in the same factories as the name brand and sometimes even with the same recipe. The label put on the generic brand is not advertised so without that cost it can be sold much more cheaply. Look above and below eye level to find better prices for equal products. Buy one to taste before stocking up, though, because some generic products still use inferior produce. Get to know which ones are good enough for your household.

Use your food processor

Use your food processor instead of buying labor+food. Consider shredded cheese and chopped veggies. Blocks of cheese are much cheaper than shredded cheese. If you buy a block and throw it in your food processor to grate, you've saved money. Companies also put ingredients in the shredded cheeses to keep them light and separate. The weight you are paying for includes these ingredients. I adore a nice bag of chopped onions but I can buy a bulk bag of onions, do all the food processing at once and freeze/refrigerate them in packages until I need them. 

Don't by "10 for $10" if you don't need 10.

 They really cost $1 each and you don't have to get 10. There are a lot of marketing strategies to get people to buy. One of the big legends is to sell 10 for $10 (which is $1 each in the end). Then they add limit of 10 per person and limited time. These both make you think you NEED to make this purchase, it's only here for a moment and there isn't enough for everyone. Think through their marketing and just buy the one you need for the $1 and walk away - UNLESS this is a great deal on your price list and you use a lot of this product. Then you could consider purchasing six months of the product or the limit if it is truly something you will use and a good price. You make the decisions for your family, not the store.

Watch for unit pricing!

Sometimes the BIG jar is not the best deal! Many companies are getting tricky with their pricing, sizing, and packaging. Recently a peanut butter jar was changed. It didn't look any different because the concave bottom of the jar came up into the container and took a few ounces of product away. Well, when stocking the shelves it looked exactly the same unless you saw the tiny numbers had changed on the ounces. Even the stores didn't realize so the shelving labels were not changed. We all know buying bulk is always cheaper, but for some reason the industry doesn't seem to agree all of the time. Just watch for the unit pricing on your shelf labels and verify the bar code matches the one on the item you picked up. If you're a real math nerd, check them occasionally to see if they are true to their ink.

Shop the discount section first.

This works for so many reasons. If you find something you were going to purchase in the discount section, pick it up. Then when you are in the regular aisle, you can check the price to see if it's a discount at all. While in the meat and produce mark-down areas, you may even want to readjust your menu and shopping list because of major sales. Four wilting peppers won't last until next week's menu but sure would make a great stuffed pepper dinner tonight.

Don't grocery shop hungry.

Absolutely make sure you have eaten well and allowed your meal to digest properly before you go shopping. Being hungry will cause you to think of food, which will certainly have you thinking 'mmm yummy' instead of 'shopping list aisle one.'

Consider all stores by using sales sheets.

If you live in an area with several grocery store options, consider before writing your week's menu cruising through all of your sales ads. Look at the slashed-price front pages to help choose your major ingredients but look through all pages to locate sales on your key ingredients. If you are loyal to one store you may be missing out on highly valuable deals elsewhere.

Watch for/Ask for freebies and discounts

Watch for/Ask for freebies and discounts - military, kids, senior, teacher, … Whatever you do that's the slightest bit special, always ask if there is a discount for you. If they don’t post the cutoff ages for kids or seniors, ask – you may be surprised to find you qualify! USAA members get discounts, AARP, teachers, students, kids, military, seniors... see if you get a discount wherever you go! You may even want to look online. Many service members don't know, and even the business locations that aren't used to the transaction may not be aware, but Home Depot and Lowe's generally both give military discounts on all purchases. Search and Ask. Then if you really think you need to, ask someone else at the store, too.

Create a price list

Create a price list for watching for good deals on regularly purchased products. A Full Cup http://www.afullcup.com/ is a website for coupon swappers. They suggest you create a products list so that you can watch for coupons on the products that will really help your budget because you use them regularly.

You can take that project one step further by walking through the store occasionally and jotting down the price of each item. I went through two of our local grocery competitors, the military commissary, and our local warehouse with the same list. The comparison between final costs of the entire purchase was just amazing. That week in our specific location the stores ranked BJs, Giant, Commissary, and then Safeway as the most expensive. No more Safeway for us unless there was an advertised sale that we couldn't beat.

This can be as elaborate or simple as works for you. I'm a certified mathematician and loved the challenge of working through this once and I needed a second time to verify my results, which it did. After that I felt like I knew my stores pretty well. That price list let me watch sales sheets for good deals and know which stores might have specific categories of food at a better price if I was willing to shop at more than one store. There are Smartphone apps available which let you enter product prices for different stores. Some also even act as your shopping list.

Frozen standby meal.

Keep something quick in the freezer so you don't order out. You get home from a lousy day, you had a meal planned but you just can't cook tonight. Don't use excuses! Have a backup plan in the freezer. Stouffers is a great small package-big meal in the freezer section. Save one or two meals out of the way in the freezer and don't eat them when you just want to be lazy. Save them for when they save you from ordering delivery or going out. This meal also needs to sound good most of the time so pick carefully.

Immediately freeze or can any fresh produce you don't plan to use.

 I remember when I was younger you had to be careful not to leave your car doors unlocked because you might end up with a 10-pound zucchini sitting in your driver's seat when you returned, or a basket full of tomatoes. Whether through gifting or a good deal you realize you have more than you needed, immediately put the extra produce you don't plan to use into the freezer or can them to prevent waste.

Don’t wash your strawberries before you freeze them. This prevents mushy thawed strawberries later! Wash and cut only as many as you will use within a day or two before thawing.