This week I’ll be doing a mini-series titled “Frugal & Fabulous.” Each day I’ll pick a different topic to discuss and share some of my tips on being frugal in that area!

Today we’re discussing saving money on groceries. Please share your own tips in the form of comments, and feel free to link to posts on your blog about this topic as well!

My husband and I have a $40 a week grocery budget, and while I know that some families larger than ours spend less than that, we think we personally are being good stewards to keep our bill around that amount each week. The $40 includes paper products (paper towels, tp, tissues, etc.) as well as cleaners (laundry detergent, dish soap, etc.).

I’ll start out by saying: I don’t coupon. (I found that using a coupon on a brand-name product still didn’t make it cheaper than the store brand… I know… you have to wait ’til the stars align and the brand-name product is also on sale… but WOW that takes a while to learn!) Occasionally I’ll have a coupon for something we regularly buy, or I’ll hear of a great deal or coupon match-up. But for the most part, we’ve been sticking to $40 a week without coupons. How?

1) Angel Food Ministries
Each month, we purchase a signature box from AFM. The box costs $30 and contains (according to their website), $60 worth of food. It is designed to assist in feeding a family of four for a week, so we have found that we get quite a few meals out of each box! To see this month’s menu, click here. To find a host site near you, click here. Sometimes we also purchase their produce box as well. AFM is not for everyone, but it really works for our family. I have comparison-shopped at Wal-mart (where we typically did all of our shopping when we first got married), and I know I couldn’t buy what is in each box for $30, even when buying store brand and shopping sales. (Some of you coupon-moms out there could maybe beat it, though! I just find it hard to find coupons for eggs, produce, meat, etc.) So, check it out and see if this might help your family save a little money!

2) Shop around
It was nice when we first got married that we did all of our grocery shopping in one fell swoop at Wal-mart. We’d shop once a week and buy everything we needed! Now, we shop around in order to get better deals. In a week, we might pick up our AFM box, make a trip to Aldi, buy a few things at Wal-mart, and pick up a gallon of milk at the gas station (one of the cheapest places in town). We also are crazy-excited about buying local produce this summer from stands and farmer’s markets. Shopping around is not as convenient, but at this season of my life I have the time to do this. As our family grows, it might become harder to shop around, but right now, it’s how we’re saving some serious cash!

3) Freezer Cooking Day
I’m not sure how it worked out that way… but I really think my March Freezer Cooking Day ended up saving us a TON of money, in addition to saving me plenty of time in the kitchen on a daily basis! I didn’t do a freezer cooking day in April because we were in the midst of moving, and because I still had meals left from the March day! I am making plans to do a freezer cooking day in May, so stay tuned for details about that in the next couple of weeks.

4) Aldi
People I have talked to have mixed feelings about Aldi. Some hate it; some love it. We’re definitely on the “love it” end of the spectrum! There are a few idiosyncrasies about Aldi you should know before you go. You have to bring a quarter to get a shopping cart (you get it back when you turn in your cart), and you have to bring your own bags and bag your groceries yourself. We feel like these are small prices to pay for the savings we receive when we shop there! Aldi is a smaller store, with maybe five or six wide aisles. They carry their own brand of products, so you probably won’t find your favorite brand-name breakfast cereal or peanut butter. (Because we do have a few brand loyalties…aka JIF PB… we still make an occasional Wal-mart trip.) I personally have found that their dairy products, frozen foods, and produce are their best deals! It is really helpful going in, though, to have a price notebook or at least a mental notebook of what you typically pay for things so you don’t spend more than you would just because you can’t remember what something should cost. If I don’t KNOW that something (meat, etc.) is a good buy, I don’t purchase it. But I know that $1.19 for strawberries (they’re $2 at Wal-mart) is good!!

Here are a few Aldi deals we scored this week:
romaine hearts (bag of 3): $1.99
garden salad (bag): $.69
grapefruit (bag of 6): $2.49
broccoli (1 lb.): $1.69
gallon of milk: $2.39
colby/monterey jack cheese (block): $1.79
frozen lemonade: $.77
cinnamon raisin bagels: $1.39

Since we discovered Aldi, we have typically been spending about $30 on groceries a week, plus our $30 AFM box once a month, which averages out to around $40 a week.

So spill the beans… how does your family save on groceries? Do tell all!

Coming Wednesday… Frugal & Fabulous: Saving Money on Home Decorating