Grocery Store Hacks. I will start with Taco Shells. Lets help each other out!

[clarkfan1979]

I will start with two contributions. The first might seem like common sense to some, but the size of the effect is bigger than you think. I imagine the second one is going to be new and helpful for many people.

1) The companies are really stepping up their game on "packaging" in an effort to trick you to buying an overall cheaper item, but you pay more per ounce. I was buying Kroger taco shells for my son. The generic Kroger regular size Taco Shells were "on sale" for $1.59  for the box with a big red "sale" sign. The actual cost was .34 cent per ounce. The same product in "jumbo size" was not on sale for $2.29 box, but the actual price was .27 cents ounce. The item "on sale" was actually 25% more per ounce.

I bought the La Banderita "carb counter" street size soft taco shells for myself, my wife and her parents at a cost of .34 cents per ounce and not on sale. I think they had 4 different shapes. The regular size tacos were the most expensive at .54 cents per ounce. That's 60% more for the same product in a slightly different shape!!!!

2) In order to take advantage of these hacks and buy the product with the lowest price per ounce, you need to go to the grocery store with a clear head and have the cognitive energy to look at all the options. Companies pay for shelf space at the grocery store that is the most convenient. The easiest to grab items are going to be the most expensive per ounce. They design the store like this on purpose. Please avoid going to the grocery store after work when you are cognitively tired. It's going to take you 25% more time at the grocery store, but for me, it's well worth the savings.

You're welcome.

[SunnyDays]

The place I shop most often (Real Canadian Superstore) has a per unit price on the shelf sticker, which makes it dead easy to compare items.
Walmart, the other place I shop, does not, so I just use the calculation of price divided by quantity and compare on that basis.  That way, package size or item shape does not matter.  I would never have enough energy or time to compare based on the methods you use!

[Monocle Money Mouth]

The place I shop most often (Real Canadian Superstore) has a per unit price on the shelf sticker, which makes it dead easy to compare items.
Walmart, the other place I shop, does not, so I just use the calculation of price divided by quantity and compare on that basis.  That way, package size or item shape does not matter.  I would never have enough energy or time to compare based on the methods you use!

Interesting. The Walmarts in Ohio put unit prices on the shelf labels. You still have to pay attention. They don't always calculate the unit price correctly or with a useful unit for comparison. I still end up using my phone calculator even with the unit price listed.

[theninthwall]

Not really a hack, but we're fans of the discount/clearance section. Our supermarket has this out-of-the-way freezer between the beer and the pharmacy where they have random products that I guess they are discontinuing. We've found a lot of cheap dinners that way.

[windytrail]

My "hack" is to look for products that you can easily make yourself, which will save you lots of money and give you better health.

Instead of buying hard taco shells, buy masa harina (corn flour) and fry up your own corn tortillas (https://www.mexicanplease.com/homemade-corn-tortillas/).
- Hard taco shells from OP's example: $2.29 or .27$/oz
- Bag of masa harina: $4.40/64oz = .07$/oz, minus 40% for the water in the batter = .04$/oz, or nearly seven times less expensive.

[roomtempmayo]

2) In order to take advantage of these hacks and buy the product with the lowest price per ounce, you need to go to the grocery store with a clear head and have the cognitive energy to look at all the options. Companies pay for shelf space at the grocery store that is the most convenient. The easiest to grab items are going to be the most expensive per ounce.

I've shifted almost entirely to ordering online for lots of reasons, including avoiding the psychological games stores play.  Our local cheap supermarket still does the shopping for free if you pick it up.

One tip I've learned for online grocery ordering is that if you want the doorbuster deal, write in the notes that you absolutely do not want an alternative if it's out of stock, you want a raincheck for it.  I had routinely been getting expensive replacements instead of the deal, but insisting on a raincheck somehow always seems to make the deal materialize.  My guess is that it's easier for the shopper to ask if there's more in back than it is to find a manager to write a raincheck out.

Rainchecks seem to be maximally inconvenient by design, but online ordering allows you to put that back on the store and motivate them to find stock.

[LifestyleDeflation]

2) In order to take advantage of these hacks and buy the product with the lowest price per ounce, you need to go to the grocery store with a clear head and have the cognitive energy to look at all the options. Companies pay for shelf space at the grocery store that is the most convenient. The easiest to grab items are going to be the most expensive per ounce.

I've shifted almost entirely to ordering online for lots of reasons, including avoiding the psychological games stores play.  Our local cheap supermarket still does the shopping for free if you pick it up.

One tip I've learned for online grocery ordering is that if you want the doorbuster deal, write in the notes that you absolutely do not want an alternative if it's out of stock, you want a raincheck for it.  I had routinely been getting expensive replacements instead of the deal, but insisting on a raincheck somehow always seems to make the deal materialize.  My guess is that it's easier for the shopper to ask if there's more in back than it is to find a manager to write a raincheck out.

Rainchecks seem to be maximally inconvenient by design, but online ordering allows you to put that back on the store and motivate them to find stock.

Be super careful buying groceries online. Often the prices listed are higher than they are in store. It varies by store for sure, but an egregious example is Instacart. I once compared the costs to what I had just paid at Costco and after not just their service/delivery/gratuity fees, but also a substantial markup in list price of the items, it was over 30% more expensive compared to shopping myself! List prices alone were I think 15% or so higher.

[roomtempmayo]

2) In order to take advantage of these hacks and buy the product with the lowest price per ounce, you need to go to the grocery store with a clear head and have the cognitive energy to look at all the options. Companies pay for shelf space at the grocery store that is the most convenient. The easiest to grab items are going to be the most expensive per ounce.

I've shifted almost entirely to ordering online for lots of reasons, including avoiding the psychological games stores play.  Our local cheap supermarket still does the shopping for free if you pick it up.

One tip I've learned for online grocery ordering is that if you want the doorbuster deal, write in the notes that you absolutely do not want an alternative if it's out of stock, you want a raincheck for it.  I had routinely been getting expensive replacements instead of the deal, but insisting on a raincheck somehow always seems to make the deal materialize.  My guess is that it's easier for the shopper to ask if there's more in back than it is to find a manager to write a raincheck out.

Rainchecks seem to be maximally inconvenient by design, but online ordering allows you to put that back on the store and motivate them to find stock.

Be super careful buying groceries online. Often the prices listed are higher than they are in store. It varies by store for sure, but an egregious example is Instacart. I once compared the costs to what I had just paid at Costco and after not just their service/delivery/gratuity fees, but also a substantial markup in list price of the items, it was over 30% more expensive compared to shopping myself! List prices alone were I think 15% or so higher.

Definitely shelf prices online, it's a fully in-house deal, not third party.  They even have it set up so you can click through from the digital Sunday ad to add the sales to your cart.

[RetiredAt63]

I think in Ontario Walmart has price units listed, but I'll check next time. 

Back before it was required to show unit price, I carried a tiny calculator in my purse.  Playing with unit price has been going on for a long long time.

Making your own where possible is usually less expensive (not always).  I made clarified butter recently for the first time - nearly 2 hours from start to finish, but maybe 10 minutes of actual time.  Much less expensive. 

[sonofsven]

My hack is to buy ingredients, not meals.

Meat, fish, fruits, vegetables, oil, vinegar, eggs, oats, flour, butter, plain yogurt, honey, nuts, spices. This is mainly what I buy. Very little processed food.
Ok, I do buy bread (gf). Of course, I have a shelf in the fridge full of condiments, and I always have maple sugar for my homemade gf pancakes. But for things like salad dressing, I just make it (oil and vinegar plus whatever else you can dream up).
If I want a treat, I'll bake something from scratch.
If I want a snack, I'll make low sugar granola.
Or roast some almonds.
Stay away from highly processed food, you'll save money and be healthier.

[Ron Scott]

1. Change what you eat. Eat eggs, oatmeal, bananas, beans (soups!), pasta, PB&J, store brands, frozen fruits and veggies, cheap cuts of meat. Compare brands by price and ingredients only

2. Eliminate packaged snacks and alcohol altogether (both are bad for you anyway)

3. No “organic” LOL

[partgypsy]

My hack is to buy ingredients, not meals.

Meat, fish, fruits, vegetables, oil, vinegar, eggs, oats, flour, butter, plain yogurt, honey, nuts, spices. This is mainly what I buy. Very little processed food.
Ok, I do buy bread (gf). Of course, I have a shelf in the fridge full of condiments, and I always have maple sugar for my homemade gf pancakes. But for things like salad dressing, I just make it (oil and vinegar plus whatever else you can dream up).
If I want a treat, I'll bake something from scratch.
If I want a snack, I'll make low sugar granola.
Or roast some almonds.
Stay away from highly processed food, you'll save money and be healthier.

I completely agree with this, and how I ate in college. Made everything from scratch (granola, bread, meals etc). I have to admit that working ft and having kids I DID (and still do) buy a lot more prepackaged food. My rationale, it was still easier, healthier, and cheaper to "assemble" meals than to eat out. Now that my kids are older and hence have more time, I need to unlearn my grocery purchasing habits.

[lhamo]

2) In order to take advantage of these hacks and buy the product with the lowest price per ounce, you need to go to the grocery store with a clear head and have the cognitive energy to look at all the options. Companies pay for shelf space at the grocery store that is the most convenient. The easiest to grab items are going to be the most expensive per ounce.

I've shifted almost entirely to ordering online for lots of reasons, including avoiding the psychological games stores play.  Our local cheap supermarket still does the shopping for free if you pick it up.

One tip I've learned for online grocery ordering is that if you want the doorbuster deal, write in the notes that you absolutely do not want an alternative if it's out of stock, you want a raincheck for it.  I had routinely been getting expensive replacements instead of the deal, but insisting on a raincheck somehow always seems to make the deal materialize.  My guess is that it's easier for the shopper to ask if there's more in back than it is to find a manager to write a raincheck out.

Rainchecks seem to be maximally inconvenient by design, but online ordering allows you to put that back on the store and motivate them to find stock.

Might want to change to a different company.

I did a lot of pickup orders during the first year or so of the pandemic and pretty quickly learned that at my store (part of Kroger), if they were out of the item requested they would generally either:

1) Give you a larger size of the same item, if available or
2)  Substitute another brand but give you the same price

This generally worked out in my favor, so unless I had a very specific reason not to accept a substitute I usually let them at least try to swap something out.  The app also let you review the order for proposed substitutions before they actually filled it, and you could also reject a substitution at pickup.

[LaineyAZ]

Not quite a hack, but the clearance section of our Safeway will routinely have damaged cans or packages.  Slightly dented cans or packages that are torn and resealed but contents intact.   
I've purchased cans of soup or boxes of diapers for half price just for these minor issues. 

Also does your store have a fruit and veggie clearance rack?  I've seen slightly overripe bananas or eat-it-today fruits and veggies marked down drastically. 

[RetiredAt63]

Not quite a hack, but the clearance section of our Safeway will routinely have damaged cans or packages.  Slightly dented cans or packages that are torn and resealed but contents intact.   
I've purchased cans of soup or boxes of diapers for half price just for these minor issues. 

Also does your store have a fruit and veggie clearance rack?  I've seen slightly overripe bananas or eat-it-today fruits and veggies marked down drastically.

Also meat - if the best-before date is still 3 days out then there is tonight's dinner. Or something going into the freezer.

[RetiredAt63]

I eat a lot of ripe sweet peppers (red/orange/yellow) - of course they are always more expensive than the green ones.  This time of year, when they are inexpensive, I buy lots of them  Prep for cooking, microwave for a minute, and freeze in portion size bags, and I am set for winter.  They take up surprisingly little space once they are soft enough to pack densely.  They keep really well, I just unearthed a package from 2020 and it was fine.  The microwave blanching is key.

So if there is something you like, that freezes well and is much less expensive at a certain time of year, buy lots of it when it is cheap and freeze it.

[exterous]

3. No “organic” LOL

Sadly around here this is sometimes the only way to avoid excessively salty or sugary canned items.

[Roadrunner53]

Can those of you who shop online for food list what companies you use. I am an avid online shopper but always looking for more options.

I use:
Misfits
Vitacoast
Amazon
Walmart (too many 3rd party sellers with outrageous prices)
Target
Butcher Box (recently canceled subscription)
Wild Fork
QVC (sometimes for some meat or steaks)
Omaha Steaks (there are a few things I buy al acarte, but not much)
Costco

[snic]

My grocery store hack is to avoid grocery stores for fresh fruits and vegetables. Around here, there's a fruit and vegetable market that caters mostly to the local Hispanic population. Their produce tends to be excellent and about half the price of the supermarkets. Quite often their milk and eggs are cheaper than grocery stores, too. It has an attached carniceria with remarkably good prices on beef and chicken, although unfortunately the chicken is big and tasteless and the selection of meats is limited. I learned about beef cecina from them, though, and now I buy it once in a while for sandwiches.

Many metro areas have similar produce markets that undercut the supermarkets - I've found one pretty much everywhere I've lived around the country.

[englishteacheralex]

I eat a lot of ripe sweet peppers (red/orange/yellow) - of course they are always more expensive than the green ones.  This time of year, when they are inexpensive, I buy lots of them  Prep for cooking, microwave for a minute, and freeze in portion size bags, and I am set for winter.  They take up surprisingly little space once they are soft enough to pack densely.  They keep really well, I just unearthed a package from 2020 and it was fine.  The microwave blanching is key.

So if there is something you like, that freezes well and is much less expensive at a certain time of year, buy lots of it when it is cheap and freeze it.

Super sweet hack. Thanks!

[BlueHouse]

My grocery store hack is to avoid grocery stores for fresh fruits and vegetables. Around here, there's a fruit and vegetable market that caters mostly to the local Hispanic population. Their produce tends to be excellent and about half the price of the supermarkets. Quite often their milk and eggs are cheaper than grocery stores, too. It has an attached carniceria with remarkably good prices on beef and chicken, although unfortunately the chicken is big and tasteless and the selection of meats is limited. I learned about beef cecina from them, though, and now I buy it once in a while for sandwiches.

Many metro areas have similar produce markets that undercut the supermarkets - I've found one pretty much everywhere I've lived around the country.

The International Food Warehouse has the most beautiful produce at great prices.  Sadly, it's a bit too far to make it economical to shop there regularly. 

But for spices, if you just walk one aisle over in the supermarket, away from "baking needs" and into "International", you can get the same spices in containers 3X as large, for 1/2 the price.  Mostly things like Chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, and oregano. 

[myrrh]

Maybe not a grocery hack but a home cooking hack - ginger cubes.

Fresh ginger does not keep well either on the counter or the fridge, so I make frozen ginger cubes by buying a large chunk of ginger, peeling it, then throwing it in the blender/food processor. Any large fiber mass is squeezed by hand to try to get all the juice, and then tossed. The "grated" ginger is put into small ice cube trays, topped with water to help prevent freezer burn, and then put into a baggie in the freezer. When a recipe calls for fresh ginger, just pop a ginger cube or two out of the baggie and throw into your dinner. I used to grate it by hand but that is tiring and the juice burns your skin after awhile, so the blender is a big labor and pain saver.
 
Can do the same with garlic and tomato paste (so you don't have to waste the rest of the can when you only need a tablespoon).

[afox]

2) In order to take advantage of these hacks and buy the product with the lowest price per ounce, you need to go to the grocery store with a clear head and have the cognitive energy to look at all the options. Companies pay for shelf space at the grocery store that is the most convenient. The easiest to grab items are going to be the most expensive per ounce.

I've shifted almost entirely to ordering online for lots of reasons, including avoiding the psychological games stores play.  Our local cheap supermarket still does the shopping for free if you pick it up.

One tip I've learned for online grocery ordering is that if you want the doorbuster deal, write in the notes that you absolutely do not want an alternative if it's out of stock, you want a raincheck for it.  I had routinely been getting expensive replacements instead of the deal, but insisting on a raincheck somehow always seems to make the deal materialize.  My guess is that it's easier for the shopper to ask if there's more in back than it is to find a manager to write a raincheck out.

Rainchecks seem to be maximally inconvenient by design, but online ordering allows you to put that back on the store and motivate them to find stock.

Be super careful buying groceries online. Often the prices listed are higher than they are in store. It varies by store for sure, but an egregious example is Instacart. I once compared the costs to what I had just paid at Costco and after not just their service/delivery/gratuity fees, but also a substantial markup in list price of the items, it was over 30% more expensive compared to shopping myself! List prices alone were I think 15% or so higher.

Oh yeah that's totally to be expected if your buying Kirkland from instacart, Ikea from Amazon, etc.

You scared me that the online shopping at Walmart/King Soopers, etc with curbside pickup (basically they pick your groceries) might have different prices for the same items as in store. That would suck and would not be easy to find out so if anyone knows if that happening let us know please!

[jeninco]

Maybe not a grocery hack but a home cooking hack - ginger cubes.

Fresh ginger does not keep well either on the counter or the fridge, so I make frozen ginger cubes by buying a large chunk of ginger, peeling it, then throwing it in the blender/food processor. Any large fiber mass is squeezed by hand to try to get all the juice, and then tossed. The "grated" ginger is put into small ice cube trays, topped with water to help prevent freezer burn, and then put into a baggie in the freezer. When a recipe calls for fresh ginger, just pop a ginger cube or two out of the baggie and throw into your dinner. I used to grate it by hand but that is tiring and the juice burns your skin after awhile, so the blender is a big labor and pain saver.
 
Can do the same with garlic and tomato paste (so you don't have to waste the rest of the can when you only need a tablespoon).

Alternatively (and I'm pretty sure it's less work) you can peel the ginger, cut it into chunks of about the size you'll be using, and put it into a jar and cover it with sherry (not terrible, but doesn't have to be nice). It'll keep in the fridge indefinitely, and really doesn't take on much flavor from the sherry. (Not sure why it's sherry, except that the person I learned this from mostly used ginger in chinese-style cooking.) When you want to use some, fish out the correct number of hunks, and proceed as if you had fresh ginger.

[Must_ache]

My "hack" is to look for products that you can easily make yourself, which will save you lots of money and give you better health.

Instead of buying hard taco shells, buy masa harina (corn flour) and fry up your own corn tortillas (https://www.mexicanplease.com/homemade-corn-tortillas/).
- Hard taco shells from OP's example: $2.29 or .27$/oz
- Bag of masa harina: $4.40/64oz = .07$/oz, minus 40% for the water in the batter = .04$/oz, or nearly seven times less expensive.

You forgot to add in the time it takes to cook this and clean up.  Definitely not worth the hassle.  You also need to decide what your time is worth, and even if this takes a half hour that would only value my time at $4/hr.

[kite]

Best hack is a pricebook. The thing about a pricebook is, it has to be your own.

It's an idea from as far back as the Amy Daczyzyn Tightwad days IYKYK. Great thing about today, with detailed receipts and online ordering is that it's straightforward to aggregate prices for your individual market-basket of goods. It's not a hypothetical assortment that some "average" family purchases. Your receipt from a typical retailer has the price you paid for X at Aldi and you can look up what ShopRite is right now charging for the same thing, all without gassing up the suburban and driving from store to store. Again, IYKYK.

Mine was a small notebook, both sides of a page for each item we normally use, built from a stack of receipts from about a month shopping in various stores that we've used.  Patterns emerge that point to seasonal, weekly & inter-store variability.  I know best spot for TP is lousy for bananas and vice versa.  Farmers markets are our best bet for most produce, but sometimes the big chain retailers have outliers.   

My next, good hack comes from Tamar Adler's Everlasting Meal.  And it's in learning to sub in one protein for another, one green for another and one filling carb for another.  Eating frugally, seasonally & adventuresomely is sublime when this is mastered along with meal prep. The short version: buy it & clean/prep/portion it all at the same time turning your fridge into a salad bar of sorts instead of leaving good intentions in the crisper to become the opposite of crisp. 

[billy]

I use Our Groceries app and others can use it on there phone, everything gets synced, sometimes I'll add the price in the app to track and compare other stores....during rona I member seeing prices go up up and away.

My Winco changed to the very thin produce bags a while ago that tend to rip, so I just put it in my cart W/O a bag and when I get to the bulk grain area, I'll use the better thicker bags, and there perfect to reuse for a kitchen trash bag liner that fits my mini waste paper bin.

[Dicey]

Grocery Outlet had Old El Paso 10-packs of "Stand & Stuff" taco shells priced at 2/$1 last weekend. I bought 12 boxes. That's 5 cents per taco shell. I plan to share them with some friends.

[rosarugosa]

Kite:  I just love this! "leaving good intentions in the crisper to become the opposite of crisp."  Well, actually I hate it because we do this all the time at my house, but well said!

[jnw]

Keep a price book. I do this in a spreadsheet which I also use as checklist.

[Dicey]

I use Our Groceries app and others can use it on there phone, everything gets synced, sometimes I'll add the price in the app to track and compare other stores....during rona I member seeing prices go up up and away.

My Winco changed to the very thin produce bags a while ago that tend to rip, so I just put it in my cart W/O a bag and when I get to the bulk grain area, I'll use the better thicker bags, and there perfect to reuse for a kitchen trash bag liner that fits my mini waste paper bin.

Related Winco bag story: My extremely cheap friend puts her bulk items in double bags, but only puts the twist tie on the inner bag. At checkout, she removes the outer bag, weights it, then puts it back into the outer bag. That's ridiculously cheap, IMO.

[billy]

Boy, she is doing too much.

[Monocle Money Mouth]

Especially if it's the super thin plastic bags.  The store scales probably aren't sensitive enough to even pick up the change in weight.

[jnw]

Curious why she double bags them; I'm over 50 and have never had a vegetable bag break on me.

[Frankies Girl]

Any time I either can't get to or find stellar pricing, I stock up and freeze butter, (diced) onions, celery, and shredded cheese. I never realized until the last decade that so many things can be frozen. As long as you're using the diced veg in casseroles or soups (don't require crunch) they cook up beautifully. So many things you don't realize can be frozen!

I always look for clearance sections in every single store. I saw in a recent Aldi thread on another site that someone was scoffing about people buying "old meat." WTH dude. I'll buy half off meat that is still perfectly good til the cows come home (and buy the cows then too if they mark them down enough).

Just picked up two bags of super fancy ground vanilla coffee (can't remember off hand the brand, but was $3/ each marked down from $10 and yes you can freeze ground coffee!), two dented cans of organic fancy coconut milk for more than half off, ground Purdue chicken at $2/lb, super fancy crushed tomatoes with italian seasoning in slightly dented cans for $1/each (it was sprouts so a bit more $ than Aldi but they're cool).

I hate Kroger now. It's so overpriced, I am constantly shocked at how expensive they are when I venture in to see if they have anything decent on clearance or to get the ONE item they have that is cheaper than any other store (sugar free pickle relish). But I have scored on their clearance stuff over the years because I am not at all concerned about "old" or dented.

[Roadrunner53]

This is probably old advice to make croutons but don't throw out your odds and ends pieces of bread, bagels, english muffins. If you have room in your freezer hoard up on a pile of bread items. When you have enough to fill a sheet pan take them out to defrost. Cut them up into chunks to your desired size. Put all the cut up chunks in a large bowl or plastic bag. Drizzle olive oil over them generously. Sprinkle with spices of your choice. Italian and garlic powder, is what I usually use. Maybe a tad of salt and pepper. Toss them around so the oil and spices get the chunks lightly covered. Place in the oven at around 250 degrees. Let them cook for a while to dry out. You will have to determine time. Use a timer and check every so often and taste test for crunch. Make sure they are crunchy or they could mold. Once they are dry and crunchy, let them cool on stovetop. Then bag them up for salads and soup. If you look at the price of croutons and the cost of making them at home, it is super cheap and you can feel good you didn't toss out oddball bread pieces! You can spice them up anyway you like!

[Dicey]

Curious why she double bags them; I'm over 50 and have never had a vegetable bag break on me.

The Winco bulk bags are not very sturdy, especially for things you're buying a lot of. Interestingly, their small bags are very sturdy.

[Dicey]

This is probably old advice to make croutons but don't throw out your odds and ends pieces of bread, bagels, english muffins. If you have room in your freezer hoard up on a pile of bread items. When you have enough to fill a sheet pan take them out to defrost. Cut them up into chunks to your desired size. Put all the cut up chunks in a large bowl or plastic bag. Drizzle olive oil over them generously. Sprinkle with spices of your choice. Italian and garlic powder, is what I usually use. Maybe a tad of salt and pepper. Toss them around so the oil and spices get the chunks lightly covered. Place in the oven at around 250 degrees. Let them cook for a while to dry out. You will have to determine time. Use a timer and check every so often and taste test for crunch. Make sure they are crunchy or they could mold. Once they are dry and crunchy, let them cool on stovetop. Then bag them up for salads and soup. If you look at the price of croutons and the cost of making them at home, it is super cheap and you can feel good you didn't toss out oddball bread pieces! You can spice them up anyway you like!

I use mine for bread pudding. For me, I get way more enjoyment out of the occasional bread pudding than croutons. Both are great ways to use up every last scrap.

[sonofsven]

This is probably old advice to make croutons but don't throw out your odds and ends pieces of bread, bagels, english muffins. If you have room in your freezer hoard up on a pile of bread items. When you have enough to fill a sheet pan take them out to defrost. Cut them up into chunks to your desired size. Put all the cut up chunks in a large bowl or plastic bag. Drizzle olive oil over them generously. Sprinkle with spices of your choice. Italian and garlic powder, is what I usually use. Maybe a tad of salt and pepper. Toss them around so the oil and spices get the chunks lightly covered. Place in the oven at around 250 degrees. Let them cook for a while to dry out. You will have to determine time. Use a timer and check every so often and taste test for crunch. Make sure they are crunchy or they could mold. Once they are dry and crunchy, let them cool on stovetop. Then bag them up for salads and soup. If you look at the price of croutons and the cost of making them at home, it is super cheap and you can feel good you didn't toss out oddball bread pieces! You can spice them up anyway you like!

It's great, I guess, if you have loads of extra bread after a party or guests, but I don't ever have leftover bread because I don't buy more bread than I can eat in the first place.
I buy 3-4 loaves at a time at the discount bread store and freeze all but one.

[Morning Glory]

This is probably old advice to make croutons but don't throw out your odds and ends pieces of bread, bagels, english muffins. If you have room in your freezer hoard up on a pile of bread items. When you have enough to fill a sheet pan take them out to defrost. Cut them up into chunks to your desired size. Put all the cut up chunks in a large bowl or plastic bag. Drizzle olive oil over them generously. Sprinkle with spices of your choice. Italian and garlic powder, is what I usually use. Maybe a tad of salt and pepper. Toss them around so the oil and spices get the chunks lightly covered. Place in the oven at around 250 degrees. Let them cook for a while to dry out. You will have to determine time. Use a timer and check every so often and taste test for crunch. Make sure they are crunchy or they could mold. Once they are dry and crunchy, let them cool on stovetop. Then bag them up for salads and soup. If you look at the price of croutons and the cost of making them at home, it is super cheap and you can feel good you didn't toss out oddball bread pieces! You can spice them up anyway you like!

It's great, I guess, if you have loads of extra bread after a party or guests, but I don't ever have leftover bread because I don't buy more bread than I can eat in the first place.
I buy 3-4 loaves at a time at the discount bread store and freeze all but one.

We called it "the used bread store" growing up. We have one in town but it isn't convenient to where I live.

Great idea on the croutons @Roadrunner53 although I also rarely have leftover bread. It sounds like a good excuse to buy the twin pack when I go to Costco though because it's often the same price as one loaf at the other stores.

I made Greek yogurt in the instant pot yesterday and it turned out very nice. A gallon of milk is 2.50 and yields 64oz of yogurt which would cost about $8 at Aldi. The big thing for me is that none of us drink milk but I use it in things like pancakes and the gallon is often only pennies more than the smaller sizes, so now I can buy a whole gallon without having to worry about how I'll use up (or freeze) the rest of it.

[Roadrunner53]

Most stores have a bin with all kinds of bread items that are expiring within a day or so. You could also pick up a loaf or two to make croutons. Target has Olive garden croutons, a 5 oz package for $2.19. A loaf of day old bread would give you a mountain of croutons for the same price or less.

[nancy33]

Lately I have noticed it has been cheaper to buy some things already made than the ingredients. The opposite of how it had always been before. For instance it is now cheaper to buy the FOCA powdered laundry detergent than the washing soda, borax and bar of zote soap to make your own.  Today I am making tamales because the price of tamales has skyrocketed here. However…the package of Hojas was over $7!! Also I don’t even bother to try to get the good sale deals at Albertson’s. For instance they have 99cents/ lb ground turkey this week but a disclaimer “while supplies last”. 9 times out of 10 all the good deals are now out of stock and everything else there is high prices so waste of time and gas. I am doing all of my shopping at Food 4 Less and Dollar Tree now. I am in CA. Also recently  there was a really good sale at Albertsons (I bought the max it was very cheap hamburger so I got 10 lbs) i got home and looked at my receipt and they charged me full price! I had to go back
and  get my ~$30 back!  So I am needing new grocery savings techniques. Thanks for this post!

[Turtle]

Not quite a hack, but the clearance section of our Safeway will routinely have damaged cans or packages.  Slightly dented cans or packages that are torn and resealed but contents intact.   
I've purchased cans of soup or boxes of diapers for half price just for these minor issues. 

Also does your store have a fruit and veggie clearance rack?  I've seen slightly overripe bananas or eat-it-today fruits and veggies marked down drastically.

I always check the clearance section first and adjust my list accordingly if there is a good deal on something I would eat anyway.

[K_in_the_kitchen]

I bake our bread, and it all gets eaten.  Any of us will eat the end pieces, I just cut them the same thickness as a slice of bread.  I also time our weekly soup meal to bread baking day, and now instead of making a batch of rolls (because there would be leftovers), I slice off each end of bread about 2” thick, then cut those pieces into fourths.  I slice the remainder of the loaf after it cools.

I used to make croutons, bread pudding, bread crumbs, etc. with leftover bread.  Now I just try to keep things simpler, but I still think they’re great ways to use up old/stale bread and avoid paying high prices for convenience added foods at the supermarket.

For taco shells (or tostadas), I fry tortillas.  It’s simpler than making my own corn tortillas, but cheaper than buying them premade, and I can control what oil I use.  Most of the time, however, we just steam corn tortillas or fry them briefly and have them soft (which is how I grew up eating tacos at home).  A couple of times a year we go all out and make fried tacos, but traditionally those are fried with the filling inside, not made with purchased taco shells.  If we really want that crunchy texture without frying at home, we’ll make taco bowls with fresh chips from the market.

I pretty much try to make as much as I can from scratch, which is my biggest grocery store hack.  Buy ingredients, not prepared foods.  Doing so keeps the grocery bill low and leaves room for some luxuries, like kalamata olives and the TJs oat milk creamer a couple of the young adults love (even this could be made at home but I don’t drink coffee and don’t want to fuss with it).

[sonofsven]

There are two foods I eat a lot that I have (so far) been too lazy to make myself: sauerkraut, and kombucha (GT Trilogy, I love you so!).

[Frankies Girl]

There are two foods I eat a lot that I have (so far) been too lazy to make myself: sauerkraut, and kombucha (GT Trilogy, I love you so!).

I've made my own sauerkraut. It's kind of easy. If I come across any bagged coleslaw on clearance that even halves the time/work involved. I don't think I'd want to try making kombucha as I've heard it will leave a very pungent smell in the area and I have a small house.

But I do currently have several canned sauerkraut that I grew up on in my pantry - also picked up for pennies in a clearance run due to very slight dents. I know the canned versions don't have as good if any good bacteria since it's pasteurized (I think?), but still like the taste in any case.

[cooking]

Re taco shells:  If you like hard taco shells, maybe you'll like this suggestion.  I use tostadas to make hard shell tacos.  I just put all the filling ingredients on top instead of in a taco-shaped shell.  In Aldi the tostadas are regularly about .15 oz.  Slightly messy to eat, but then again so is a normal shaped taco, which usually falls apart while you bite into it anyway.

[Cranky]

This is probably old advice to make croutons but don't throw out your odds and ends pieces of bread, bagels, english muffins. If you have room in your freezer hoard up on a pile of bread items. When you have enough to fill a sheet pan take them out to defrost. Cut them up into chunks to your desired size. Put all the cut up chunks in a large bowl or plastic bag. Drizzle olive oil over them generously. Sprinkle with spices of your choice. Italian and garlic powder, is what I usually use. Maybe a tad of salt and pepper. Toss them around so the oil and spices get the chunks lightly covered. Place in the oven at around 250 degrees. Let them cook for a while to dry out. You will have to determine time. Use a timer and check every so often and taste test for crunch. Make sure they are crunchy or they could mold. Once they are dry and crunchy, let them cool on stovetop. Then bag them up for salads and soup. If you look at the price of croutons and the cost of making them at home, it is super cheap and you can feel good you didn't toss out oddball bread pieces! You can spice them up anyway you like!

It's great, I guess, if you have loads of extra bread after a party or guests, but I don't ever have leftover bread because I don't buy more bread than I can eat in the first place.
I buy 3-4 loaves at a time at the discount bread store and freeze all but one.

I make croutons out of the leftover ends of homemade bread, and they’re so good that we don’t even bother to add salad. ;-)