[nmls29]

Hello, I was taught by my mother since I was little on up to use coupons and sales together. I can't say that she was so good at it. It seems we never had anything to eat. But about 4 years ago I got on board with CVS and their EB program. I'm not sure if that is when they started it, or if I was a little late. I used to spend less than a dollar and get $30 worth of stuff every single week. My stockpile grew and grew. I started donating some to make room for more. My big problem lies in saving money on food. I have 3 children, 1 step child and I am feeding more and more people every single night. Everyone's kids are always here and sometimes we end up feeding the adults too. And we don't mind. We love it. But especially when the weather warms up and we light up the grill. We can spend $100 just for the weekend. We love to eat expensively. In order to save money, do we have to start eating hot dogs and drinking water? The other problem is I am in close proximity to Weis, BG's, Don's Food Rite, Walmart, and CVS. The coupon policies are horrible. I even travel 45 minutes once a month, to go to Karns and Amelia's. Wegman's doesn't take any internet coupons, none of the CVS take internet coupons, Karns won't take more than one coupon for the same item, and a lot of times I am limited to how many of one item I am allowed to buy. So I just don't understand how anyone stockpiles food, or buys any meat or fresh produce. But I am here to learn. Please help.

[shoppingfever]

Find out when your grocery store marks down their meats. I know that before I even started couponing, I would get up on Saturday mornings at be at Walmart by 7 am so I was there when they did markdowns. Usually 3 weekends out of the 4 a month, I got great deals. As the guy marked stuff down, I put it right in my cart. Now that I coupon and am so much more aware (thanks to AFC!), I check the flyers ahead of time, order coupons when I need to, and still go to the markdown times at my local grocery store. At Food Lion, they do a markdown first thing in the morning by 9 am, but then mark down again that afternoon. Last Sat morning at Food Lion, I picked up like 6 or so packs (can't remember now!) of Food Lion skinless, boneless chicken tenders and breasts that he was marking down to $2-$3 a pack. He put them straight in my cart!

Also, if I see something expiring the next day, I will ask when he is doing the markdown for it and usually he will go ahead and do it right then. This also goes for sausage! I find it marked down to 50 cents a pack sometimes.

Check those forums for the grocery stores you go to for specific tips on meats and produce for those stores.

Hope this helps some!

[nmls29]

Yes, I am doing this at Weis. I'm not sure about the other stores. Thanks.

[countrycakelady]

Hi, and welcome! I am pretty new at this too....I have found out that the marked down meats are a big plus...I have a meat eater dh, rofl...and I am getting in the couponing pretty well...double coupon stores are a big help. I drove 1 way about 40 minutes yesterday to hit the 4 closest to me....they were great!

Watch the sales and stay tuned on here......this place really rocks!

[Mavourneen]

Honestly? My house is like yours - it is the magnet for our friends after softball, etc - and we could spend $$$ every weekend on steaks, hamburgers etc. When we realized we were essentially subsidizing our friends ( whom we adore, don't get me wrong ) , Mr Mav started pulling a few of the husbands aside and asking them to chip in for the barbeque. Quietly, with no pressure. EVERY single one of our friends started to pony up $$ EVERY week. Some started offering to bring the steaks, or to supply the side dishes - and it was very appreciated.

We love entertaining our friends. We just couldn't continue without asking for everyone to share the weight.

[nmls29]

thanks, Maura.

[LinearChaos]

Oooh, I didn't even think about stalking the meat section for markdowns. I do look for manager's specials, those help.

I've been buying my meat in bulk in the freezer section of Costco. I gotta find out when they do markdowns around here!

[domestic_diva]

I've been buying my meat in bulk in the freezer section of Costco.

I went to speak with someone in the meat dept at Costco in Houston, TX. The gentleman told me that Costco does not markdown meats. If anyone knows something contrary to this, please let me know.

[carleighsmommy]

We live in a rural farm area so we purchase majority of our meat directly from farmers, sometimes ready to go in the freezer, but mostly DH butchers it. Just a couple weeks ago, we bought a 300 lb hog for about $150 and DH made sausage, pork chops, brats, etc. After it was deboned and we purchased seasonings, it ended up only costing about $1/lb for the meat. Of course, if you took it to a meat processor the cost would be a little higher, but its something worth looking into still if its an option available to you.

Don't know an approximate of what beef would run because we get all that from a family memeber that farms- she pays my mom w/ half a beef to do their taxes and my mom usually gives us half of that.

[chrispogue3]

nmls, I was having the very same prob regarding fresh produce and meats. I have learned so much from everyone on AFC and it has been such a huge blessing to our family, but I wasn't seeing the savings in my meat and fresh produce categories that I wanted to. Then I remembered the "Reduced for quick sale" bin in our Brookshire Bros meat dept. So, I set aside a certain amount out of my grocery budget money for that week for that. In the last 2 days ,scoping out the reduced priced meats, I've got some really great deals on ground chuck, chuck steak, and stew meat. (I have 3 whole chickens and chicken tenderloins in the freezer already).

[firewarrior]

You can often get "yesterday's grind" for a great deal from the Butcher Block area of your grocery store.
Around here, you go to Albertsons and ask them WHEN they are doing that.
I have gotten it for 99cents a pound.

And don't forget that buying the big packs of chicken or beef in "family packs" (or whatever the store calls it in your area) brings the price per lb wayyy way down. Often I will buy this way and precook it all with my own seasonings and freeze in baggiesa ready to throw into a dinner meal like over rice or into a casserole.

[nmls29]

Thanks, Carleigh'smommy. Yes, we buy straight from the farmer also. And even though it is cheaper, this is how it went. We got a 350 lb. pig, had it butchered and smoked and paid $270 for that and all in all lasted us one month. Oh, paid. $200 for the pig. So $470 on meat for one month. And our upright freezer died. I think the problem is that we feed half the neighborhood on a daily basis.