10 Tips to Save at the Grocery Store

It seems my grocery bill is never low enough. So I compiled a list of my top 10 ways to save money at the grocery store. Share your tips in the comment section!

1. Practice the bargain hunters mantra - buy ahead of need. Get an extra cart if a sale is that good.

2. Become a freezer diva. Like, I can totally stuff more meat into my freezer than you can!

3. Grab coupons from the newspaper, the mail, manufacturer Web sites and online sites. You can never have enough coupons for the things you buy most frequently.

4. No one store - not even Costco - has the best prices on everything. (If they did, we would all shop there and everyone else would close up.) Shop around until you get a feel for which stores have the best prices on your favorite items.

5. Set a grocery budget and at the end of the month if you run out of money, eat out of your pantry. Get creative with recipes or turn to leftoverchef.com.

6. Check meat prices with the butcher. The pre-packaged stuff is not always the lowest priced. When whole chickens go on sale, ask the butcher to cut them up for you. Many stores offer this service for free.

7. Veggies in season are more likely to be on sale.

8. Grow your own herbs, which can be super expensive from the grocery store. Rosemary is particularly hearty.

9. Check your receipt for mistakes. If you catch an error ask a clerk nicely to make it up to you.

10. Eat vegetarian when possible. Protein from vegetarian sources like soy and beans is about a $1 cheaper per person per meal than animal protein.

Bonus tip! Snoop around until you find the day-old bread rack. Freeze/eat within 12 hours or prepare for an invasion of green mold.