Tag Archives: grocery bills

Inside the Grocery Game

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Reader’s Digest, by way of The Consumerist, has published quite the expose about the grocery biz. It has some good tips on savings, as well as the way stores get you to spend more time and, of course, more money.

We’ve always known the supermarket is a veritable jungle, set with snares and traps designed to lure even the most observant shopper into buying whatever that heavenly smelling thing is, or lulling us into a contented stupor so we linger longer in the aisles. Consumerist

Feeling the fruit: Produce workers say that people pick up the fruit and put it back a LOT. Be warned!

The carts never get cleaned: You don’t even want to think about the gross stuff that makes contact with that cart. At least Walmart offers disinfectant wipes when you pick out your cart

Ten for $10 trickery: Take an 89-cent can of something, mark it 10 for $10, and watch them fly off the shelf. My Publix does this a lot, Well, the secret’s out, suckers!

Bigger carts, bigger sales: Apparently new, larger carts (or Buggies as we say in SC) are responsible for 20% more purchases.

You probably only know the price of four items: I know even fewer than that, and I do all of the shopping!

Feel the heat! Kroger uses heat sensors to track where shoppers are in the store, so when they sense a rush coming on, they can open more registers.

As usual, just the highlights. Many more to be found at the original pieces, Here and Here. What do you think? Any surprises here? Let us know over at the MindField Online Facebook page, and have a great weekend!

Slash Your Grocery Bill!

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Tip #17: Instead of Hundreds, try eating only Fives and Tens!
Savings Tip #17: Instead of Hundreds, try eating only Fives and Tens!

A while back we talked about stretching your food budget by eliminating food waste. And of course, it’s common sense that cutting back on dining out can save you plenty.

But, what if you have already made these cuts, and you’re still feeling the pinch? Take a closer look at your grocery habits!

There’s a pretty interesting article at Money Talks News called “16 Ways to Cut Your Grocery Bill in Half.”

Here are some highlights:

  • Buy Discounted Meat: If you’re like me, you plan to eat pork chops, and then go buy them. Instead, see what’s on sale, and then plan your menu around that. This might not work if (like me) you can only cook 4 things!
  • Meatless Monday: Not as a moral or political statement, because YAWN. Just to save money! At my house, we have a big salad at least once a week.
  • Only Buy Food: At a Publix or Kroger or whatever, things like laundry detergent can be crazy expensive. Save that for Walmart!
  • Buy Generic: Store brands, yo! You can save up to 30% on things like pasta, salt, etc.
  • Embrace Inconvenience: If it comes in snack size, you don’t want it. Buy the big box of pretzels and some baggies. Cut your own fruit salad. Spend your life combing through circulars for coupons. Convenience is pricey!

There are 11 more tips of varying awesomeness at the original article, so check it out!

Drought Brings Crops Down, Prices Up

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How colorfully depressing!

On TV, radio and the web, it’s the background noise we have been hearing all summer: the big Midwest drought. Living in South Carolina, where it rains every day at 4pm sharp, it seems like somebody else’s problem. But my grocery bill tends to disagree. The biggest factor? CORN.

Corn — a crop that has been decimated by drought — is used as feed for beef and poultry; is manufactured into ethanol, a gasoline additive; and is cooked into corn syrup, a sweetener in everything from cereals to ketchup. And, of course, that doesn’t count corn’s simple uses, whether to be eaten alone or made into anything from chips to tortillas.  CBS Money Watch

Before the planting season, they were talking about a record crop. Now they say it will be down 12% from last year. So how does this affect your wallet? And what can you do about it?

  • Buy meat now: Before long, it will be cheaper for farmers to slaughter their livestock that to feed them. When that happens, meat process will shoot up.
  • $kip proce$$ed food$: they have a lot of high-fructo$e corn $yrup.
  • Buy fruit: The weather that is killing vegetables is good for fruit, so prices are lower.
  • Substitute. Oatmeal instead of processed cereal, fish instead of beef, foods with simple sugar instead of fructose, etc.
  • Eat locally: If you happen to live in an unaffected area, the local stuff should be cheaper.

So, have you seen the difference in your grocery bill? Do you have any other saving tips? Let us know!