How to save... idea1

One of the fun these days for me is saving money from daily life (good for you John, imagine if it's aiming to the opposite vector). There would be tons of different techniques to save money, but here are the lists of some techniques I'm using:

1.Grocery shopping
2.Coupons
3.Energy
4.Cooking
5.Stay home

Today, I talk about Grocery shopping.

1. Grocery shopping

Do not plan menu first. If you plan menu and go to purchase the ingredients, you have to have those items even though some of them might not be the best deal. On the other hand, you just go to the store and find some great deals, like "weekly special" or almost expired items, and think what you can make out of it. Do not hesitate but buy lots of them, especially if they are freezable, like meat or seafood. If you need to cook for small amount (like 1-2 people), make sure you cut/divide them in small ziploc bags before freezing them, and write a date and item name on bag. It's hard to defrost a big chunk and you might not use the whole thing at once anyways.

Small Ziploc bags

For example, you can find whole chicken for as cheap as $3 each for sale (usually it's $5-10). Cut them up in pieces. As you know, you can have 2 chicken breasts & 2 tennderloins, 2 thighs, 2 wings, 2 winglets, 2drums, and chicken bone from just 1 chicken. You can make so many different meals from that $3. Separates each sets in plastic bags, again, write name of parts and dates before freezing. Here is the video of how to cut chicken.

Some vegetables might be freezable, search online which ones are freezable or how to, like this site. Also, try store brand items. Most of the chain stores have their own brands which are usually cheaper than worldwide famous brands.

Shopping time is the key for finding deals. "Almost expired, that's why it's cheap" meats&seafood, stores put discount stickers and move the packages to discount sections in the morning. Throughout the day, customers coming and getting them, so most of them are gone at late afternoon. Although, store people are lining up new stuff in the morning, so if you go there too early you cannot find fresh stuff. Go shopping in late morning or early afternoon.

Other ideas are coming soon. I'm open for your opinion or more ideas.