Reply #30: Check your food store carefully.... [View All]

many have a bin with scratch and dent/discontinued items at reduced prices, also the deli counter sells meat and cheese ends at greatly reduced prices (think "chef salad"). Finally learn their meat reduction schedule-At my local Market Basket the meat freezers are filled on Saturday night to be ready for Sunday's sale...then the cases are refilled on Monday night and wednesday night...while refilling the cases freshness dates are checked and meats that are near to expiration are marked down...As a social security recipient, your DAMN tootin I'm there early on Tuesday and Thursday mornings-average savings there are 30% on one of your most expensive food costs...Find yourself a bakery thrift store or learn the patterns on your stores bakery reduction...for me that's on Sunday-the type of bread that was last weeks special will be STEEPLY discounted if the bakery overestimated sales for the week...well, no recipes but a few tips to think about...learn enough about your local supermarkets and you can save a lot....oh, yeah-if your store puts out coupons in the aisles near the items, make sure to take plenty. Often these coupons are part of a three part marketing gig to get you to switch brands...it works like this, stage one-(week one and two) place coupons near item, stage two-(weeks three and four) item goes on sale to undercut competitors but coupons are gone, stage three-(week five)sale over and coupons gone,but after a month of use you may have permanently changed brands....So your strategy should be weeks 1&2-collect coupons and buy only your normal amounts,if any.Weeks 3&4 use your saved coupons and stock up. Week 5 do whatever makes financial sense.Finally check the expiration date on the coupons-if the expiration date is three months away, don't be shy-make sure you get three months worth of coupons...best of luck,Cat