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Basics Of Grocery Shopping For Your Diet – Part 2 – Meat and Seafood Departments

You should visit the meat and seafood sections of your supermarket regularly.

We all like to eat out, but the best foods are normally those you buy at the market and prepare yourself. That way you can control the ingredients, make sure there’s not a bunch of sugar or starch added, and you can save money as a bonus.

The most important thing in shopping for meat and seafood is to get them as fresh and non-processed as possible. Here are some tips for buying meat and seafood that is grain-free and sugar-free:

It’s better to buy fresh unprocessed poultry and meat than those that have been basted, marinated, cured, smoked or made into sausage, hot dogs, etc.

Now, full disclosure, I do eat my share of cured and sausage-type meats, and in my experience, they are just as effective in weight loss as the unprocessed meats. Still, I do balance that with a lot of fresh meat.

And here’s where moderation is important. Those processed meats contain chemicals and other additives that are not the best for your overall health.

Avoid chicken, turkey or fish that has been breaded, floured, or battered. Those typically contain wheat or corn meal which, as you know, should not be consumed on the No Count Diet.

Buy your fish and seafood fresh, instead of fish sticks, fish cakes, crab cakes, and fish that has been smoked. Get fish that looks good, smells good, and was freshly delivered, or quick-frozen in a fresh state.

There is an ongoing controversy over lean beef vs. fat beef. You can study that subject further, but my opinion is that it doesn’t affect weight loss. And Gary Taubes has demonstrated that the danger of high fat has been shown to be a myth.

The best beef is grass-fed, and if that’s available and in your budget, I would recommend it.

Make a significant portion of your No Count Diet meats and seafood, and you will be glad you did.…

Want to Stretch a Dollar? 5 Ways to Save on Your Grocery Bill

Grocery shopping is one thing that every American does, and it can really cost a lot of money if you have a big family. Finding ways to save can be a blessing to every family and it only takes a couple of easy steps.

5. Start clipping coupons. I know, most people hate coupon clipping, but coupons can save you around 25% of your grocery bill every time you shop! And you don’t even have to clip them out of the newspaper! Many grocery stores accept coupons that are found online. You can get coupons loaded onto your mobile phone, or even downloaded to your grocery store’s club card.

4. Get a club card with whatever store you shop at, if they offer one. Getting these cards are free, and they give you significant savings on everything in the store. For example, an 8 ounce steak could be $10 without the card and $5.00 with the card. I’ve seen this happen at my local store! All you have to do is fill out the card and turn it in!

3. Buy in bulk. Buying in bulk allows you to get more bang for your buck. Just try getting your staple pantry items in bulk, nothing else. Anything you know that you use every single week you can get in bulk and save money on in the long run.

2. Make the most out of what you have. A good way to do this is to create more out of what you have. For example, let’s say you buy a pack of 4 boneless, skinless, chicken breasts. These are usually pretty pricey, so it comes in handy to make more of what you have. If you take on chicken breast and cut it in half long ways, you now have two breasts. Then, place the chicken breasts in a plastic bag and place a heavy pan on top of it to thin it out. That creates chicken cutlets. If you do this for the entire pack of 4, you now have 8 chicken cutlets that are just as filling as before you cut them in half.

1. Don’t go the store hungry. This is really important. When you’re hungry, you’re more prone to impulse shopping and buying things that you really don’t need, and causing your bill to be a lot higher than expected.

Overall, just pay attention to what you are buying. Try making a list of what you need and don’t deviate from that. These simple tips should help you save at least a little bit of money when you shop.…

Which Grocery Stores Offer the Best Deals?

If you have watched the news at all lately, you have probably seen reports on the rising grocery prices and ways to help save. First of all let me just say, “Don’t panic!” And second, “Don’t listen to everything you hear from the media.”

My local news station did a report where they price matched 4 different stores. (Target, Kroger, Tom Thumb, and WalMart) They bought identical items at each store and found that Target and WalMart beat out Kroger and Tom Thumb, with Target slightly cheaper than WalMart.

If they had bought different products or even the same products at a different time, their findings would have been been different as well. For the most part however, this is probably fairly accurate if you head into your grocery shopping without a game plan.

However, the smart shopper who wants to maximize their savings will take some time to organize and head to the store with information and strategy. Usually, it’s actually the more “expensive” stores that give you the greatest value when you buy at their sale price and also use a coupon. A lot of these stores will also double or triple your coupons which give you even more savings.

People often ask me about finding the best coupons. Some people say the coupons in the local newspaper are for items they would not consider purchasing. Are there other places to search for coupons?

First let me say that I used to say the same thing. But when I became an avid coupon shopper, I came to realize all that I had been missing. I now use so many of the coupons that I never thought I would ever use.

Sometimes I will try a product I’ve never used just because it’s free or a “too good to pass up deal.” I either find a great product that I’ll continue to purchase, or an item my family really doesn’t like. Any extras of that item usually get taken to our local charity. I also found there are so many more products we do use on a regular basis. For example: vegetables, cheese, lunch meat, frozen foods, toilet paper, toothpaste, soap, laundry detergent, the list goes on and on.

Every week there are different coupons and I continue to find great products and even greater deals.

As far as other places to find coupons, you can always go online and print coupons as well. There are a number of online sources where you simply select the coupons you want and print them out before heading to the store.

One word of caution, check with your local grocer first to make sure they accept online coupons, but for the most part, you should not have any problems. Anyone can save and use coupons and still purchase the items they prefer. There is a wealth of savings to be had if you just take the time and be diligent.…