Cut The Fat From Your Grocery Bill - KTUL.com - Tulsa, Oklahoma - News, Weather & Sports

Cut The Fat From Your Grocery Bill

Eating isn't cheap.   Trips to the grocery store can set you back hundreds of dollars a month.

So it's always nice to cut some fat from your grocery store bill.   U.S. News and World Report has 5 ways to save money:

• Make a grocery list and check it twice.  We've heard it before, but how many of us do it?  A little planning can fatten your wallet by preventing expensive impulse buys. 
• Watch the price scanner.  I do this quite a bit, and it often pays off.  Mistakes on price scans are common at the grocery store.  If you don't catch them, you'll have to eat the added costs, and that doesn't taste very good.
• Buy generic over big brand names.  The items are side by side on the shelves and the difference in prices are sometimes drastic.  Fill your shopping cart with generic, your grocery bill will drop, and your wallet will thank you.

 U.S. News added a couple more tips that are not as common as those above:

• Stop clipping crappy coupons.  Many coupons offer deals on highly packaged foods low in nutrition and high in unpronounceable ingredients.  Skipping the crappy coupons and opting to pay a little more for whole foods may be a better deal for your health in the long run.
• Skip the cans, buy dried beans in bulk.  Buying dried beans in bulk and soaking them overnight is a frugal way to add protein to your diet without paying for the high cost of meat.

Let's face it, the grocery cycle will never end.  We shop, buy, eat, and then do it all over again.  We might as well be smart and save some money while we're feeding our habit.