From Dani: Reducing Your Grocery Bill

This week's goals are:
1-To reduce your grocery bill


Tips to save at the grocery store
Make a list: Making a list and avoiding impulse purchases adds up to hundreds of dollars in savings annually

Try couponing: Stick to the items you purchase regularly.

Check your receipt: Make sure you weren’t overcharged.

Write prices down: Keep track of the best prices for your weekly staples so you know which stores have the best deals. Look at the weekly supermarket advertisements to see if the items you purchase frequently are on sale. Shoppers who watch prices and stock up during sales report saving 20% or more.

Avoid snack food: Make your own bulk snack mix when items such as raisins, nuts, chocolate chips, mini marshmallows and dried fruit are on sale.

Stretch protein: Protein often is the most expensive part of a main portion. You can stretch your protein in casseroles, stews and sauces. Or try bulking up casseroles with extra protein by adding beans or lentils. (can order from the cannery this week still! deadline moved to March 15th)

Order in Bulk: hamburger (91% lean) can be purchased at Sam's in 80-lb boxes (8- 10lb rolls) for much less than normal (ex: $2.00 lb prices change sometimes less) - you can split with others and freeze.

Pack your lunch: Avoid pre-prepared meals- you can make your own for those rushed days. I like to freeze left overs rather than eating them later that week. Freeze and reheat for a quick, convenient meal without the cost of prepackaged food or eating out.

2- Put 1/6th of your 72 hour kit $ goal into your kits- you should now have half your goal- Way to go!!

"Plan and work in a way that will permit you to be happy even as you do without certain things that in times of affluence may have been available to you. Live within your means and not beyond them. … Purchase your essentials wisely and carefully. Strive to save a portion of that which you earn. Do not mistake many wants for basic needs.

Let us as individuals, as families, and as wards and stakes learn to live within our means. There is strength and salvation in this principle. Someone has said that we are rich in proportion to that with which we can do without. As families and as a Church, we can and should provide that which is truly essential for our people, but we must be careful not to extend beyond that which is essential or for purposes which are not directly related to our families’ welfare and the basic mission of the Church."

Chapter 11: Provident Living: Applying Principles of Self-Reliance and Preparedness,” Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Spencer W. Kimball, (2006),114–23