Save money and time buying groceries

If you don't meal plan, chances are you go to the grocery store more than once a week. Maybe you didn't notice you were about to run out of your kids' favorite breakfast item. Or your spouse didn't ask you to pick up their preferred drink while you were at the store. If you don't shop with the sales, these frequent runs to the store can end up costing you money as well as time.

If you are willing to invest a little time up front to determine which items you buy on a regular basis and how much they are at the stores around you, you could save a lot of money and time in the long run.

Disclaimer: I am not the first person to come up with this general idea! Many bloggers before me have touted the use of a "price list", with which you track the price of frequently-purchased items over the course of a few weeks at various stores. This helps you determine what is a "good" price for the bulk of your grocery purchases.

My biggest tip for an easy and cheap grocery buying routine? Pick two stores. (Max three, if you want to also shop at a discount store like Sam's Club or Costco.)

• One store is your weekly shopping hangout. For me, ideally this would be Aldi, due to prices. I'm not attached to brand name foods, with just a few exceptions based on my personal taste preferences. The Aldi in Athens tends to have good produce, which I really value. However, I don't buy meat at Aldi, which is where the second store comes in (for me). 
• The other store is where you shop based on sale prices. For me, this is my Kroger. It is walking distance from my house (which I love), and it has great produce. I prefer Kroger because food tends to be cheaper there than at Trader Joe's and Publix, and my family doesn't place high priority on organic foods. I buy almost all my meat (in bulk when possible) at Kroger when it is on sale. Most stores have a weekly ad that you can peruse to plan your trip.
• Discount stores are places I recommend going only once a month or so. I personally shop at Sam's Club. My husband is military, so we get a discounted membership. I buy gas at Sam's Club, too, which makes it worth the membership fee. I know based on unit pricing which foods I can get cheapest at Sam's Club (pork chops, nuts, and Instant Breakfast, to name a few), and I only buy items that I can freeze or have a long shelf life. 

If your family is like mine, where 90% of your grocery list stays the same every week, I highly recommend this method. It sounds like way more work than it is, I promise. Within a few weeks, your new method will become routine.

The other way I save a lot of money and time on buying groceries is utilizing my freezer. When whole chickens are on sale for $0.59/lb, I buy 2-4 at a time and put them in the freezer. That way I know I have chicken, and I don't have to buy the whole chicken at $0.95/lb (Aldi price) when I want to make a rotisserie chicken. When pork loin is on sale at Sam's Club for $1.69/lb, I buy two or three. I have Sam's Club cut (which they will do for free-- you just have to ask!) some of loins for me into chops approx 1 inch thick and some into half or quarters. Then I freeze them in appropriate serving sizes. Now I have pork roasts and pork chops to last me until the loins go on sale again.

What are some ways you save money and time on groceries?