We found a great place to read, and to share, some great ideas for frugal food shopping! One of our sister websites, Frugal Mavens, is running a couple of contests which should help us all brainstorm and save money every week. Please visit before you make up your next grocery list!

Cheap Meal Planning Contest

This one involves meal planning for one dinner. The dinner should be healthy, tasty, and attractive to the tastes of a family with adults and kids. Entries should keep the per-person cost of each meal fairly low just to demonstrate that thrifty cooks can still provide great meals!

See the Cheap Meal Plan Tips Contest Here!

Cheap Weekly Grocery Shopping

This contest is more complex, so you may want to start with the first one. You must lay out a week’s grocery shopping for food that does not cost more than $150. The editor’s example cost about $100. With this list, you mus provide 5 breakfasts, 5 lunches, 5 dinners, and 5 snacks for a family of 4. Again, meals should be balanced and healthy, tasty, and something that you believe kids or adults would enjoy.

See the Cheap Grocery Shopping Contest Here.

Can You Enter The Contests?

You can simple register and put your entry in a comment to enter. It is all free, and is meant to draw attention to the USDA guidelines for how much a week’s worth of healthy meals should cost.  We would encourage everybody to visit the website, and either join or get some great ideas for next week’s grocery shopping yourself!

Stay Updated for more Frugal Shopping Tips!

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With the economic downturn, grocery coupons are all the hot rage! Where people were searching for the latest hot gadget, they now want grocery coupons. In fact, coupon parties have replaced tupperware parties as the latest neighborhood social event. Women and men attend these parties to learn “couponing” strategies, and even to exchange coupons.

Frugal Pig Has Free Online Grocery Coupons

In the spirit of being helpful, we have installed a COUPON WIDGET in our side bar that you can see to the right of this post. You can print them from your computer, and it does not cost you anything. Simply search for the grocery products like cleaning supplies and food that you would normally buy, and then see if you can save some money.

Free Grocery Coupon Strategies

Now I am not a coupon expert, but here are some tips from people that actually make a living (or save a lot of money) by using coupons!

• You can usually use coupons on sale items, so try to combine discounts to save even more money!
• 2 For 1 Deals often allow you to use TWO coupons, because they actually count as 2 sales.
• Look for grocery stores with double or triple coupon deals to multiply your savings.
• Don’t go out and buy food or supplies you would not use just to save money. This may sound silly, but it happens.
• Don’t go crazy with coupons. They are not your only source of savings. You may find store brands or sale items that are less expensive than the coupon discount price. So, as we say, keep your head!

Now go have fun, just start playing with the coupon printing widget from coupons.com, and save some money on food and groceries!

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Even when we are struggling financially, it is great to celebrate with a good steak (unless you are a vegetarian). We know some great cooks with marinade recipes to make cheaper cuts of steak tender to cut and chew, and they also add a great taste!

You Need an Acid and an Emulsifier

A good marinade should enhance the meat’s natural flavor while making the meat more tender. Every good marinade needs an acid to break down connective tissue and tendorizer. It also needs an emulsifier which carries the marinade deeper into the meat so all of the action is not on the surface.

Coca Cola, citrus juice, vinegar, beer or wine are examples of popular acids that you may already have around the house.

Emulsifiers are oils, like sesame oil (Asian flavor), canola oil, and olive oil.

Some people say that acids do not really work, but I think that is because they do not also add the oil to their marinade. Be sure and let the meat soak in your mixture for 6 hours in order for it to work.

One of my favorite cheap steak marinades – 1 can of coca cola, 1 cup of oil, a pinch of ginger, and a clove of crushed garlic. I use this on flank steak or other cheaper cuts before I barbecue or broil the meat. If you are in a hurry, or just don’t want to mess with the grill, you can even saute thinly cut steaks in a frying pan. Just use a little extra oil to cook the marinaded meat until it is done the way you like it. Add some onion slices and mushrooms to the pan for extra flavor and a garnish.

This steak is great when served with broiled green pepper slices, a tossed salad, or any other side dish.

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• Can you avoid taking anybody else with you? Of course, you will want to get your spouse’s and kid’s input when you plan a grocery shopping trip. But I find that if I take another family member with me, it is much harder to control my spending. We, sort of, give each other permission to impulse buy.
• Try not to buy too much. OK, if cans of tuna are on sale, and you know you use them all the time, it is probably a good idea to stock up. But you need to resist overbuying fresh produce that will spoil. I have probably thrown out as much bread lettuce as I’ve eatern, and I am really trying to stop the waste.
• Check the sales. I know that my local grocery store always has some meat on sale, and I plan my menus around that, rather than planning my shopping around set meals.
• Compare prices. I know that my kids pick up anything at eye level, without checking prices. Of course, grocery stores plan it that way. For instance, a popular kid’s snack has the well advertised brand level at chest to eye level. But the bottom shelf has the very same snack with the store label on it for about half the price.
• Coupons - I am not a big fan of coupons. Since I try to plan my menus around fresh foods, the coupons are usually not for things I buy anyway. Oh sure, I buy dishwashing soap and paper towels, and you can find coupons for these. But the coupons are usually for the brand name, and the grocery store label tends to work out cheaper anyway. Look, if you love coupons, go for it. In my humble opinion, grocery store coupons are just not worth the hassle.

OK, those are my tips. Oh, and try to make a list and, mostly, stick to it. Make your list general, though, because you may find a great sale on steak which makes it cheaper than the ground beef you were going to buy.

Speaking of hamburger, do not just look at price, but also look at fat content. In my opinion, the lower fat content is worth spending more money on because the high fat ground beef just cooks away anyway. But again, that’s me!

OK – Please add your comments. I’d love to hear some great tips from all of the smart shoppers out there.

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A lot of us visit the big package stores to buy in bulk and save money, but this strategy can backfire sometimes. Some of the problems with buying in bulk are storage, consuming more food then we would otherwise, and letting food go bad.

Organizing Bulk Grocery Buys

It might seem like a good idea to buy 24 rolls of name brand paper towels at a time. Each roll is cheaper, and we will certainly have the ability to handle a big mess! However, the first problem you may have is where to put the other 23 rolls when the first one is in the paper towel holder! If it is too big of a problem to store, and stay organized, with months worth of supplies, you may actually find that the savings just do not work out that well.

Too Much Of A Good Thing In Bulk

Now we come to the 12 pack of Chocolate Delish Bars or some other favorite. Do you think you can just reward yourself with one treat when you get home, and then save the rest for later? Well, many consumers do not buy high calorie food in bulk for just this reason.

Keeping Bulk From Spoiling

And what about the jumbo party pack of hamburger? Let’s say your family is comfortable with 2 pounds of meat, and that provides you with a substantial main dish and some leftovers. But the jump pack contains 6 pounds of ground meat. Well, my tip is to seperate that meat into 3 equal portions, and then put the meat you do not need into a freezer bag to store for later.

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Bread, along with all groceries, has gotten a lot more expensive lately. If your family runs through a loaf of bread as fast as my family does, this can really strain the budget. Of course, sometimes one loaf of bread gets eaten and another goes stale.

One of my favorite blogs, Cheapskate Living , has posted an article on the uses of stale bread, including a great recipe for bread pudding.

The bread pudding recipe looks yummy, and I doubt anybody’s family will turn up the nose at it. They will never realize it was made from stale bread. Make sure you check out the article because it also includes some other great uses for stale bread that you may not have thought of.

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Your grocery bill will look more like 1999 if you switch to breakfast for dinner a few times a week. Plus, everybody likes breakfast food, and these meals are usually very quick to prepare. I actually got this idea from my brother who adopted this practice while he was putting himself through graduate school. I wanted to mention this to be fair. Not all frugal grocery shopping tips come from women!

In my house, the kids tend to grab a very quick real breakfast, or else purchase breakfast at school so they can eat with their friends. Personally, I applaud their decision to purchase breakfast at school because it conforms to health standards, and there is no way that I can even make them a warm meal for the price the school charges. Besides, I am just not a morning person, and neither are my kdis. They never feel like eating much when they wake up, but they seem to get their appetite back by the time they get to school. Public school meals are subsidized by federal government programs, and I have no problem with having my taxes help pay for something useful lke feeding school kids!

But my family does enjoy having traditional breakfast foods at suppertime when they have more leisure to enjoy them. Plus, I can provide really healthy breakfast meals in a jiffy, and for a fraction of traditional suppertime foods.

Ideas: Two eggs, whole grain toast, a glass of milk, and a home made fruit salad is a pretty good meal, and I can feed all 4 of us for about $5~You can’t beat that. For variety, turn the eggs and bread into French Toast and top with fruit and syrup.. A box of Bisquick (I buy the low fat variety) can be the basis for waffles, pancakes, or of course, biscuits!

• Eggs – These are a great value, and can be turned into any style eggs, omelettes, or as an ingredient for french toast.
• Potatoes – Always a cheap staple, and they are great sliced thin and fried in PAM or oven baked.
• Biscuit Mix – You can make almost anything that people have for breakfast with biscuit mix like biscuits, pancakes, waffles, and even desserts!
• Fruit – I always want some fresh produce, and fruit goes with breakfast. Shop sales. We like to cut up a variety of fruit and put a dollop of whipped cream (or imitation) on top for a healthy treat.  Sliced bananas or berries turn a pancake mix into a gourmet meal!
• Bread – I usually spend a little more to get healthier bread with more fiber and less sugar.
• Peanut Butter – Add in extra protein and fiber on the cheap.
• Spreadable Fruit – I try to replace jelly and syrup with the no sugar added spreadable fruit. My kids do not really know the difference, though of course, sometimes they ask for syrup. The store brands are pretty inexpensive for the flavor they provide.

Anyway, I think breakfast for dinner is a great way to stretch a grocery budget, even if you only do it once or twice a week. However, if you are ever really strapped for cash, you can declare it Breakfast For Dinner Week and eat very well, and very cheap!

Please feel free to comment with your own cheap eats ideas!

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Oh it is a good idea to jot down staples that you have run out of. You need to remember to pick up ketchup and milk and toilet paper if you have run out. But I am not a big fan of detailed shopping lists. For one thing, I find it tedious to have to plan out an entire week of meals, and with the way my life runs, that list seldom works out for my family anyway. For another thing, when I shop sales, I need to plan meals on the fly.

Take a Calculator and Sticky Notes

No, I think the one thing you should take to the grocery store is a small sticky note pad and a calculator.  You can use the top sticky note to jot down your very short shopping list of things you absolutely need!

Shop the sales as we mentioned in a previous post. Since price tags seem to belong to another era, use the sticky notes to put the price on the items you purchased. Then keep a tally in your calculator. C’mon, you know you are surprised every time you get to the checkout lane!

Then, if you start to go over your budget, you can rethink your shopping as you go. Replace a few more expensive items with cheaper ones, and keep your running total up. You will be surprised how much less your bill will be at the end.

And I am not saying you should do without. But if peaches are on sale, do you really need apples? I always want to keep fresh fruit in the house as a healthy snack, and buying it gets more and more challenging, but my family can be flexible on the type of fruit. And sometimes when I bring home a type of fruit that is less common, it is a great incentive to get the kids to eat them instead of less healthy snacks!

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We are all told to eat more fish, but sometimes that seafood counter has some pretty expensive prices. In order to be healthy, and get our share of fish, we need to turn to good old canned tuna and salmon. But tuna with mayo gets old after awhile. So let’s dress it up with a great recipe for tuna cakes. These are very similar to crab cakes, but cheap and easy to make!

By the way, a good way to handle your grocery budget in a frugal way, is to look for tuna and salmon on sale.

We found this recipe on CheapSkateLiving.org — Tuna Croquettes Recipe So just visit that page, because we don’t see the need to waste time and repost it here.

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Most taco recipes do not include the tortillas. But I learned this from one of the most frugal cooks I ever met, and in my humble opinion, nothing tastes better then fresh tortilla right out of the pan. Compare fresh tortillas to packaged tortillas. Its like the difference between fresh bread and day old bread! And of course, it is much cheaper to make tortillas then it is to purchase them. On the other hand, time is money, and if you are pressed for time, don’t feel guilty about buying a package of tortillas either. Note: I added another cheap recipe for bisquick tortillas to the end of this post.

The recipe here is for 12 tacos, so this may be two meals. If that is too much for your family, you can freeze the rest in a a freezer bag or use them for lunches the next day.

Wheat Tortillas

You Need: 4 Cups Flour, 2 tsp. salt, 4 tsp baking powder, 2 tbl oil, approx. 1 1/2 cup warm water.

Stir all the dry ingredients together. Then knead in the oil and add the water until you have a soft, but not sticky, dough. Form about 1/4 cup of the dough and make a ball. Then flatten it out so it is about 1/8 inch thick. You can buy an inexpensive tortilla press, and I like mine. But a flat plate works too!

Heat a heavy skillet or griddle to a medium-high heat. Cook your tortillas until they are brown on each time. Trust me, it will be hard to keep your family from eating the warm and delicious fresh tortillas before you get the tacos done.

The Cheap and Easy Tacos

You Need: 2 LB ground beef or ground turkey. Salsa (Mild to Medium as You Prefer).

Brown the ground meat. Drain the oil, and then stir in the salsa to taste and cook until the flavors are blended and the meat is well done.

Extras

Serve with lettuce, tomatos, quacamole, etc. as you desire. The addition of the veggies makes this a pretty healthy one dish meal that everybody loves.

Bisquick Tortillas! You can also use bisquick to make tortillas. Use 1 cup of Bisquick, 1 cup of flour, 1/2 cup of water, and 1 tsp. of salt. Mix up the ingredients, and then roll the dough up in box and brown them in a pan or griddle.

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