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With food prices rising at an alarming rate, many people are concerned about their food budget purchasing less and less each month.  In the last year, the price of groceries has risen by 30% and there seems to be no end in sight, causing many people to reevaluate the ways that they are spending their money in the grocery store.  There are some easy ways to cut your costs at the grocery store and following these tips can save you hundreds of dollars on your grocery bills each year.

Look For Sales
One of the easiest ways to save money at the grocery store is to purchase the items that you need while they are on sale.  Every week, most of the grocery stores across the country print or send out a sales flyer that details their sales for the week and by a little careful planning, a person can get many of the groceries that they typically purchase at a discounted rate.  The sales flyers can generally be found in the local paper or even in the entryway of the grocery store and will list numerous items in many different categories that are on sale for that week.

Use Coupons
Many manufacturers place coupons for their products in the local newspapers or online to entice more people to try their products in the hopes of obtaining a regular consumer.  The coupons serve another purpose as well; saving average consumers a good amount of money on the products that they purchase regularly.  Grocery store coupons can be found for every category, from cleaning supplies to dog food to meats, so chances are pretty good that you will be able to find coupons for many of the things that you purchase regularly from the grocery store, which could save you as much as 25% off of the price of the item.  The savings are even more dramatic when the coupons are applied to items that are already on sale.

Buy In Season
Certain types of foods are more abundant at different times of the year, such as apples in the fall and strawberries in the summer.  Because these items are more abundant at these times of year, they are generally priced lower so that more of them can be sold during the harvest season and may even be marked as a sale item during the season to attract the attention of more shoppers.  By purchasing the items when they are in season, you will be purchasing them at their lower price and may even be adding some variety to your diet by eating different types of fruits and vegetables at different times of the year.

Stock Up On Staples
There are a number of items that people use on a regular basis that can last for months inside their packaging and purchasing these items in bulk when they are on sale can save you a great deal of money over the course of the year.  For example, if your family goes through a bag of rice that costs $5 every month, then the price that you will be paying for the rice over five months would be $25.  Now, imagine if you bought those same five bags of rice in the week that they were on sale for $3 per bag.  You would be able to purchase all five bags for $15, resulting in a net savings of 40% off of the regular price.