Not Just Farmers Market



Roadside



I'm so happy I get to take over the grocery shopping once again. My husband had been doing it since I was working. The truth of the matter is I'd rather go grocery shopping than the mall. Weird huh, I used to have a mall within walking distance and  hardly ever went. Oh yeah, sometimes to walk when it was so cold in Lexington. My husband has gotten better throughout the years, but I have a better eye for the deals. I also do a better job at combining errands, thus saving gas.



Flea Market



For those of you that don't have time to go check out Flea Markets, Farmers Markets, Roadside Stands and the like, you too can save money at the grocery store if you pay attention to detail and shop around. The majority of the grocery stores have their weekly sale ads online, check the sites for the sales in your area. In my area I have Winn Dixie, Sweetbay, Publix and Walmart. Designate a day to do some grocery planing and compare where you want to buy what.

Some weeks you may not have to go to all stores because the sale is not worth you driving X number of miles for one or two items. In my case Walmart is the farthest for me, so I would have to combine that errand when going to the Bakery where we get our 100% Whole Wheat bread at .79 cents! Just remember if you are going to go to several grocery stores on the same day, you must take all the ice packs and cold storage bags you own, especially in the summer. You don't want to find a bargain and then have a family with food poisoning.

Grocery Store

When you are in the grocery store stick to your list and sale items you want to buy, but also keep your eyes wide open for unadvertised sales. Just the other day I went to Publix and while looking for POM juice I found bags of stir fry, broccoli florets and broccolli slaw on sale for $1.00 when the regular price was $2.50. Had I not gone to that section I would have missed out on some wonderful side dishes of broccoli. Generally I wouldn't purchase these unless they were on sale.

Another tip is when you go grocery shopping try to leave the kids at home with the hubby, or the other way around. When you have other distractions you will not be able to concentrate on the task at hand. When my kids were little I would put the boys to bed, (hubby too, ha,ha) and I would then hit the grocery stores. The store was so quiet and I loved it, but this was sometimes 10:00 PM!

In concluding remember you don't necessarily have to go to the Farmers Markets to find deals. If you stick to the produce that is in season and on sale, the sale ads and the unadvertised sales, you will save a bundle. Oh, by the way, if you want to hire me to do your grocery shopping, I'm open, just don't ask me to cook it too.