-- Baby Boomers -- Family -
-- Green -- Home and Auto --
-- In Critical Condition -- Lifestyle --
-- Just Starting Out -- Money --
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Local Grocery Gouging |
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-- Baby Boomers -- Family - -- Green -- Home and Auto -- -- In Critical Condition -- Lifestyle -- -- Just Starting Out -- Money -- |
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Local Grocery Gouging I'm looking for a cheaper way to shop for groceries. My husband and I have 5 daughters, and recently moved from Indianapolis, IN to South Orange County California. Although it's been a great move for us, we're still in sticker shock over the increased cost of living. I had a great system for shopping cheap before, but it doesn't seem to work here nearly as well. I buy in bulk, and would frequently order from a food cooperative. The bulk of my groceries came from a warehouse club. I can do the same here, but now I'm working part-time and am finding I have less and less time to run errands and shop. Does anyone know of an online source for bulk groceries? Helpful Hints for the Area As a longtime resident of Orange County, I can give a few hints that are specific to this area: Buy a membership to Sam's or Costco for bulk purchases. Sam's has a good rebate program. Shop the Sunday ads for double coupon store specials at Ralph's and Vons. Buy only things that net out at about $1 or come down to half price. Check out Stater Brothers for everyday low prices. Look around in your area for ethnic grocers. You can get a vast variety of foods sometimes at low prices. Find the local Trader Joe's for cheap gourmet. Another Web Site to Discover I have just recently discovered www.americanspice.com and have been very pleased. They do not have all the groceries you need but they do have a wonderful selection of spices, dried produce, salad dressings, soup bases, and many other products all at very good prices. You can also get free shipping on orders over $50. Hope this helps! Another Option to Save I still shop at warehouse clubs and my local grocery store that doubles coupons. But the best money saving tip I have found so far is "cooking for a month". I've done it only for two months now, but last month I saved $200 in groceries! That's a lot of $$ to me. I feed a family of 5, and additional 6 children that I provide care for during the daytime. Cooking once a month takes a whole weekend to accomplish between shopping, chopping and cooking. But we no longer run out for things mid week for a recipe and at day's end I know what's for dinner because I pulled it out of the freezer the day before! A New Concept at Sam's Saves Time Check out Sam's Club online. They are about to start a program where you order your items online and they pull together your order for you at the store. All you have to do then is swing by and pick them up. Shopping Recommendation in California I'm from Southern California also. There is a grocery store that is a California-based store whose prices are lower than any other store in Calif. according to two grocery store managers I was talking to. They will soon be offering Orange County online shopping. The article was in the paper recently. The name of the store is Stater Bros. Markets and I believe their website is just StaterBros.com if you need further information. Take the Next Step Share your thoughts about this article with the editor: Click Here Do you have a time or money saving idea that wasn't included in this article? Please send it to tips @stretcher.com. We get the best ideas from our readers!
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