How to Keep Your Food Budget in Tact, Despite Current Gas Prices

If the rising gas prices are eating into your food budget for the week, do not panic. Yes, gas prices in my area are at $3.59 per gallon. Other parts of the east coast are paying $4.00 or more for unleaded per gallon. Of course the rising fuel costs affect the cost of all foods shipped into grocery stores. There are a few ways to quickly find out where the true sales are in your area.

Sales circulars.

The first step into finding out what truly is on sale; is to get a hold of all of the sales circulars. Spend a few minutes and cut out the coupons of foods that your family will actually eat. If you have a friend of neighbor who subscribes to the Sunday paper, but does not use the coupons be sure to ask them to set them aside for you.

Search for all of the grocery stores in your area on the internet. Quickly bookmark all of the grocery stores on your computer favorites and place into a single folder. Create a new email account that will be used only to receive sales alerts for grocery savings. If there is not a subscribe to link on the website, contact the 1-800 numbers at the bottom of all sales circulars and on your favorite products to be added to their email list.

Buy one get one free

Always be on the look out for the buy one, get one free specials. Contact the store, to clarify their sale policy. Ask them if you purchase only one of the items, does it ring up at half price. Many grocery stores like www.foodlion.com , have this policy. Look for items that have a coupon to use in combination with the buy one get one free offer.

$1 Items

Stock up on items that are 5 items for $5, or 10 items for $10. Many times staples go one sale, such as orange juice, milk, eggs, and cheese. Only purchase these items if the cost per unit is cheaper than buyer a larger size. For example if purchasing two half gallons of milk is cheaper than purchasing a gallon then it is a great deal. Do not purchase the gallon of orange juice for $2.99 if you can buy two half gallons for a total of $2.

Rebate System

Learn the rebate system for your favorite drug and grocery stores. If there is a special sign up card needed to take advantage of special sales, sign up for the card. Walgreens for example has a register rewards programs that will give you money for future purchases, when you buy a certain product that is on sale. A great community to learn how to coupon is www.grocerygame.com .

Keeping your food budget in tact is very important. Using the internet and coupons to find the best food savings for your family is time well spent. A little bit of time planning to save money on meals and non food household items throughout the week, can help you offset the rising gas prices.