Besides using coupons and scanning your community advertisements for the grocery and sundry products that are on sale, here are several other tips and tricks for saving on your groceries and staying healthy at the same time.

1. Buy More Than Just One

When your favorite imperishable food and sundry products come on sale, dont just buy one or two, buy ten, fifteen or twenty. For an example in our family of five, we only use extra virgin olive oil and that tends to get expensive. Occasionally it comes on sale and when it does, depending on how many gallons we buy, we usually save two dollars per gallon. This amounts to anywhere between $20 and $40 dollar saving just on olive oil! Olive oil lasts indefinitely in a tinted jar or can away from light.

2. Limit Buying Processed, Boxed, and Frozen Foods

If you can limit the buying of boxed and processed foods you can save a tremendous amount of money each month and eat better too. For instance take a box of instant potatoes vs. a ten pound bag of potatoes. Which do you think is more food in the long run? Fresh potatoes are also healthier for you than the dried version.

3. Limit Buying Boxed Cereals

Boxed sugary cereals are good, no doubt about it, but they also dont last long when you have three children. Cereal tends to get expensive when the average box of cereal cost $3.50 and only last for two days. For one month buying boxed cereal for just two children will cost around $52.50 just for breakfast! Boxed cereals are a waste of money and they arent good for you.

4. Buy Oatmeal Instead of Boxed Cereals

Wondering what youre going to eat for breakfast if you dont have boxes of cereal in your cupboard? Make homemade granola, add milk and enjoy. Your kids will love it. Granola tastes good and is healthier than the other boxed sugary cereals. You can add nuts, seeds, raisins, figs, sesame seeds, blueberries, pumpkin seeds, coconut flakes to your granola to prepare it the way you like, and its healthier. The possibilities are endless.

Oatmeal too, is a tasty hot cereal. Prepare the oatmeal as directed and add apple, raisins, cinnamon, and a little real butter, yummy. Hot foods keep your children satisfied longer than those sugary cold cereals. You can also make oatmeal cookies using half the amount of sugar it calls for and you would be getting less sugar than the boxed cereals. Crumble the cookie up, add milk and enjoy! Make oatmeal honey bars. Freeze them and take out what you need the night before.

5. Cook With Your Crockpot

I know that schedules and time constraints has a lot to do with how we eat and what we eat. But did you know that healthy eating makes us more productive and happier in the long run. No one wants to feel run down and bloated because of not eating right. Get that crockpot out from under your cupboard, get a crockpot cook book, throw the ingredients in and let the pot do the cooking.

Ironically, by cooking your own beef, chicken, lamb, pork, etc in your crockpot you will be saving money. Why? Because fresh food makes way more food than those frozen dinners ever could. By putting a roast and some potatoes in your crock pot before you leave for work, you will not only be saving money but you will also be eating healthier. Your family may eat two or three times on your crockpot pot-roast.

Crockpots make better stews and soups because it cooks the food very slow and gives the food a chance to come out with all its flavors. Crockpots are very safe and can be left on while you are at work. Go ahead, let the pot do the cooking.