photo © 2005 K.I.T. | more info (via: Wylio)I’ve compiled a short list of money saving techniques I’ve been practicing lately. Some of these things may seem obvious to some while epiphany moments to others. For me, my groceries are one of my largest expenses each month. The tips listed below are some helpful, handy and simple steps to help cut down one’s grocery budget.

1. Plan Dinner Based On What’s On Sale. One of the best things I’ve found to do is to go through your local grocery store’s circular and find out what is on sale instead of digging into your recipe folder or trusty cookbook. If your grocery store has a sale on chicken this week, pick some meals you can make with chicken. If beef is on sale, see what you can make with beef.

2. Find Recipes With What You Already Have. Something I find terribly helpful are websites that help you find recipes based on ingredients. One example is RecipeMatcher.com. On Recipe Matcher you can browse recipes based on ingredients or actually make an account, set up your “ePantry” and find matching recipes. It may seem tedious when first setting up your account but once you input your non perishables and spices it is easy to upkeep when you get home from the grocery store.

   My pantry is rather bare at the moment but based on what I currently have I could easily whip up “Too Easy Garlic Chicken” since I have all of the ingredients necessary. I didn’t even know I had a makable meal available right now! According to my found recipes there are a few recipes I could throw together without having to go to the grocery store! If you find a recipe that doesn’t match 100% of your available ingredients you can see what you need and add it to your grocery list. More than likely, if you just need one or two items you’ll probably spend less at the store than you would have with a recipe that had multiple ingredients you don’t have readily available.

3. Use a Crock Pot. My crock pot is probably the biggest money and time saver I have in my kitchen. There’s nothing nicer than dumping in ingredients in the morning, setting the temperature, leaving for the day and coming home to a cooked meal for dinner. The best thing about cooking in a crock pot is that many recipes don’t require TONS of ingredients which is friendly on the wallet. I almost ALWAYS have left overs so my dinner from the night before makes for an excellent lunch for a following day.

Post any easy money saving techniques you’ve found along the way in the comments below!!

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Read the full article at GetOutOfDebt.org, click here: How To Save Money Cooking Dinner

Two years ago today Steve put together and published a comparison shop of major wholesale food clubs, local grocery stores and convenient marts to find the lowest prices for staple items needed in kitchens and households.

Today, 730 days later, we bring to you our 2010 Grocery Store Price Comparison Video.

Last week Steve and I set out on a grocery quest to find out which stores (excluding major wholesale clubs) had the lowest prices for Sunbeam Giant Bread, Charmin Ultra Strong 9 Pack MegaRoll Toilet Paper, a gallon of store generic whole milk and a 12 pack of Cherry Coke Zero (Steve’s favorite soda).

We compared our local Wal-Mart, Harris Teeter, Super Target and Food Lion.

I put together this little video with our research and findings….

It wasn’t surprising to me to see that Wal-Mart had the lowest prices but we were disappointed. To Steve and I, the few extra bucks saved just isn’t worth the stress of shopping at Wal-Mart (always packed, lines to infinity and lousy customer service). I personally would live in a Target store if I was allowed and Harris Teeter had the nicest store overall (sans Justin Bieber music echoing through the aisles).

Here’s a snapshot of our entire findings in chart form….

And for your entertainment, be sure to check out our funny Blooper Roll from this experience. Who says you can’t have fun at work??

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Read the full article at GetOutOfDebt.org, click here: Shop-o-nomics: “Which Grocery Store Has The Lowest Prices?”

Information is already leaking out about the efforts of American Express to closely watch the places their card members shop at as an indication of credit problems.

With mounting losses by credit card companies and an avalanche of new bad credit card debt to come, creditors are looking for ways to identify potential high risk customers in order to reduce credit limits or increase interest rates.

I would think that a pattern that involved a lot of entertainment expenses, casino charges, thrift store shopping or using the card to pay another card, could potentially be an indication of brewing problems.

Any formula put together by creditors to screen use is going to be inherently unfair. For most people a pattern of recent charges that gets flagged can be easily explained, but for others, this might allow creditors to nip a debt problem in the bud.

I would think that another warning sign would be increasing balance on other cards you carry. We already know that creditors are monitoring your credit report for evidence of other late payments so watching balances on other cards seems logical.

Or maybe watching for a sudden use of credit cards for expenses not typically charged in the past. This might be a flurry of charges for utility bills and at grocery stores when this was never the pattern in the past.

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Read the full article at GetOutOfDebt.org, click here: Soon, Where You Shop Will Control Your Credit

So with all the shopping I did recently for my two stories about price comparing between grocery stores and warehouse clubs, I was curious about what the cost for bread would be that this discount bread store I pass from time to time. The store is tucked off the main drag but I’ve caught a glimpse of it as I passed.

This morning I pulled in to check some prices and walked out with bags of bread. I asked the kind woman helping me if it’s gotten busier with the economy the way it is and she said that they are normally packed and can’t keep stuff on the shelves. “Honey, it’s busy all the time.”

I asked her why the store was empty now and she reminded me that they just opened for the day and I was the first one in the door. She assured me that the crowds were coming.

I started my trolling for bread prices and noticed they did not carry the same white sandwich bread that I had used in my comparison surveys but a same sized loaf of white sandwich bread (24 oz) rather than the smaller grocery store 20 oz loafs was available.

Between the grocery stores and warehouse clubs the least expensive loaf of bread was $3.32 for a double pack. Here at the discount bread store, a loaf of bread that had a sell by date 4 days from now was $0.99 for a similar sized loaf. That’s a huge price savings.

But not only was the bread less expensive and the selection broad but I got free bread as well. The store had a special on some items that were buy one and get one free. On top of that since I spent over $5 I got another loaf of bread for free. All together I spent $5.67, including tax, and purchased all the stuff below that my dog wanted to badly examine.

In these uncertain economic times the ability for us to increase what we earn may be difficult so we can instead turn to spending what we do make more wisely. For me that will mean stopping at the discount bread store on my way home from the warehouse club. I would imagine that by doing that we will be able to trim 25% of our food budget and still be able to eat all the things we normally enjoy.

In case you are wondering what I;m going to do with all that bread, I already put it in the freezer. I’m not going to have to buy bread for a month now and that makes me feel good.

Note:
On the way to the bread store I was behind a car that had a personalized license plate that read NANEPOOH. I’m sure there is a pretty good story behind that. It made me laugh.

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Read the full article at GetOutOfDebt.org, click here: Where to Buy Really Cheap Bread