Shopping Alternative Markets in Denver Nets 26% Food Savings - Stretches Food Budget Dollars
I tend to have a pretty good instinct for what things cost and so I am fairly quick at spotting a deal. However, sometimes I’m wrong and I’m duped into believing I’m “saving” because either something is On Sale or I use a Coupon.
Scenario: $30 Food Budget for this week - needs to feed 2 people.
Now, I’m pretty resourceful, so I immediately set up a strategy for how we were going to accomplish this.
The first thing we did was take total inventory of the food we had in the house. I won’t bore you now but if you’re really interested you can see our inventory here. Basically, Ryan read off what was what, and I entered the information in the notebook.
Now, why is this important? It’s important because when you’re on a food budget it’s important to know exactly what you have to work with. I myself was surprised at how much we actually had in the cupboard, including leftovers.
Restaurants and businesses take inventory every week because:
1.) It helps minimize waste (first in first out)
2.) It helps them know what items to order
3.) It helps them track trends
NOW all this boils down to is COST CONTROL for a restaurant - and this is because when you are careful about controlling costs, you can have better control over the profit margin.
Professional food-buyers also keep a price book.
Over time, a price book allows you to track pricing trends so that you can buy when the price is RIGHT. Using your price book data, you will know, over time, when a deal really is a deal, and act accordingly. Over time, using this strategy alone (Price Book + Weekly Inventory Control) you can shave several hundred dollars a year off of your food budget.
You can shave even more off your food budget by shopping certain stores for certain products. It’s the same concept as only shopping for the loss leaders at your major chain - you’ll save an average of 20%-35% by shopping this way - WITHOUT USING COUPONS!
After taking your inventory you will know what you NEED to buy at the store in order to make complete meals out of everything by purchasing some key ingredients.
Next, food shopping list in hand, scan the sale ads for your favorite stores and try to match up with coupons.
Don’t be afraid to NOT use coupons, because often times when you’re really strapped for cash it’s a better deal to buy a smaller portion, the store brand, or even shop elsewhere. In our case, I acted on instinct and decided to check the ethnic shops before stepping foot in my major chain every day grocer (King Soopers and Safeway, here in Denver).
BOTTOM LINE:
We saved 26% by buying several of our key items at the ethnic shops, due to their every day prices being cheaper! Now, I knew that my Asian Market was a lot cheaper than King Soopers on things like rice, noodles, condiments. I decided to check them out more thoroughly, and after shopping there then shopping at my Mexican Market, I discovered that their prices are a lot cheaper on staple items, and we were able to meet our budget.
I believe the concepts here can work for any major metropolitan area. Look to your off-the-beaten-path ethnic shops in alternative neighborhoods for lower prices.
Want to know, on-the-fly, about the best deals in Denver? Follow me on TWITTER, (http://twitter.com) Follow: boogawooga
I’ll be posting price checks and deals! Click Here to learn about / join TWITTER (it’s Free). You can stay updated via text messages from Twitter, or follow the chatter on this web site. You can also join in, and post your own deals.
BOTTOM LINE:
For Details on what Denver stores netted us the 26% savings as well as a Price breakdown by item, click HERE.
Happy Bargain Hunting / Food Budget Stretching!~
