Buying on sale, setting a budget and planning should be part of any savvy shopper's plan.
The coupon can be a deal breaker for would-be supermarket savers. Clipping and handing over those little slips of paper makes some people feel like they have turned into a comic strip granny, with crazy-cat-lady status just around the corner. Recent TV depictions of couponers who spend 40 hours a week clipping have done nothing for the couponer's image.
The Frugalista, of course, sees coupons differently: They are more like playing cards that, used strategically, lead to epic grocery wins. But for those who cringe at the sight of a dotted clipping line, or just don't have time, I have good news: You can save a lot at the grocery store without coupons.
"Only about 50 percent of my savings comes from coupons," said Denise Hoyle, a Loxley, Ala., mother of 5-year-old quadruplets and a 6-year-old son.
Hoyle recently listed her tips for saving without coupons on her blog, ShopperStrategy.com. Because she uses a spreadsheet to track the source of every penny she saves, she knows that "you can save 30 to 40 percent easily without clipping a single coupon."
Overall, Hoyle said, she saves 83 percent off regular prices. The half of her savings that doesn't come from coupons is the result of sale prices and rebates such as Walgreens Register Rewards.
Tim Seelbach, of St. Marys, Kan., is a totally clip-free saver.
"I love to cook, and basically cook just about everything from scratch. You don't see coupons on those raw ingredients," said Seelbach, a father of three and emergency-room tech who maintains the website Grocery-Savings.com.
Tips for coupon-free grocery savings:
Buy on sale
At traditional grocery stores, the difference between the regular price and the lowest sale price is usually 50 percent and up to 70 percent for a few "loss leaders," or items that the grocery store sells at a loss to entice people to get into the store, said Teri Gault, founder and CEO of TheGroceryGame.com. Most items will hit their cyclical low price or be offered "buy one, get one free," at least every 12 weeks, and that's the time to stock up. This means that buying on sale is probably the highest-impact thing you can do to lower your grocery bill. It should save you more than using coupons would.
Shop a cheaper store
If you want to stock up on the same items each week without waiting for them to go on sale, you should not be shopping at a traditional grocery chain at all. These stores operate on a "hi-lo" model, meaning high regular prices, low sale prices. You could save 9 to 26 percent, depending on where you live, by shifting to a store with lower regular prices such as Walmart or buying some of your groceries at a warehouse club, according to Consumers' Checkbook magazine. If you typically spend $150 a week, that's a savings of up to $2,000 a year.
Plan your meals
Hoyle swears by her weekly planning session in which she surveys her freezer and pantry, then sits down and writes a weekly menu. "I didn't think we could save any more," Hoyle said, yet meal planning shaved another 15 percent off her grocery bill. The source of the savings: less waste.
Seelbach bases his menu on the meats on sale that week. That's good strategy because, Gault said, the top meat discount each week can be as steep as 67 percent.
Buy opportunistically
"Stick to the list" is a mantra for many budget shoppers. But The Frugalista recommends leaving yourself a little wiggle room to grab unexpected opportunities. Some of my greatest grocery bargains have been clearance items: I even buy meat and dairy that is about to expire, netting an extra 30 percent to 50 percent off sale prices. I just make sure to use it quickly or get it right into the freezer.
Set a budget
It may sound boring, but this one move drives all grocery savings. If you have no ceiling on how much you can spend on groceries each week, you probably won't be motivated to use the other tips listed here. Have trouble sticking to your grocery budget? Use cash, and only bring the amount you plan to spend.
Carrie Kirby is a mom and the self-proclaimed Frugalista. Write to her at ckirby@tribune.com.
