Beating the High Cost of Eating: The Essential Guide to Supermarket Survival

by Barbara Salsbury

If you shop at a grocery store, you need this book! Beating the High Cost of Eating is a course in supermarket survival. It will teach you proven strategies that will increase your buying power by 33 percent or more! In its pages you will find practical and tested ways to get the most out of your grocery dollar as you learn to— * Recognize the best price when you see it
* Redefine impulse and comparison shopping
* Throw out traditional menu planning
* Cut down on coupon clipping
* Overcome the "one-stop shopping" syndrome
* Choose the right brands
* Control your budget once inside the store
* Make your pantry a money-management tool Best-selling author Barbara Salsbury, a recognized authority on thriftiness and self-reliance, offers more than a collection of typical how-to-shop tips. She offers new knowledge and skills guaranteed to help you increase your buying power without games, gimmicks, or coupons!

209 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2005

Reviews

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is definitely a book about squeezing the last penny out of your dollar. It is far beyond the typical "clip coupons" and "buy what you can in bulk" mentality. The author actually advises against most coupon shopping (buy the store brands when you can, they are cheaper than discounted national brands in many/most cases). I can honestly say I am a pretty good bargain shopper, but I got my money's worth in reading this book. There is a lot of information in this book that is obvious after reading about it, but not as obvious before it is pointed out.

On the other hand, I thought the book went a little beyond what I would be willing to do. I'm all for stocking my kitchen so that I don't have to purchase items until they are on sale/priced to my liking, but building shelves and hiding them behind curtains in a baby's room or artifically raising the bed to fit more food under it seem extreme.

[Helena · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fantastic book for people who want to save money on groceries, but don't want to join a coupon club (or use many coupons at all for that matter). Since reading this book, I have learned what the items are that I use the most, what they cost, how often they go on sale, and where the best place to get them is. I also learned how to look at the weekly ads to enhance my food storage. The other thing that I learned was that there is no single place that is cheapest for everything (not even Costco or Wal Mart!) Imagine that :) For our family of 3, we can now buy all the food we need for only about $50 per week.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this economic slump, this book is guaranteed to save you money. From personal experience, I can tell you what a "natural high" it is to walk into a store with my shopping list, in complete control; knowing how many items I will purchase, for what price, and even stay with that planned total cost. I don't have to deal with coupons, refunds or matching prices, unless I want to. After my learning curve, I will recognize a true loss leader and be able to capitalize on the lowest price out there.

This is a great reference book that every household should have.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is good for people trying to save money on growing grocery budgets. The biggest lessons I learned were to beware of gimmicks that get customers into the stores and the pitfalls of using coupons. The author suggest using flyers to form a menu plan for the week and building stock when items are on sale. The format made the book slow reading and that is what prevented me from giving it 4 stars.

[MariLee · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're looking to squeeze the most out of your food budget, this book will give you some good ideas. It goes through how to save money planning your meals (buy what's on sale then make something, rather than make menus and buy the food,) finding the best deals, building up your pantry/food storage, understanding grocery store marketing strategies, etc.

[Tif · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am having a hard time getting through this book. In one of the first paragraphs she says, "Even assuming pessimistically that gas prices were EVER to rise to $3.00 a gallon ... " We are batting $4.50 here so ....

[Kylie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was helpful and I learned a lot from it, but I had to make myself read it as there were other things I wanted to read. But it definitely was beneficial, I should probably read it again, but probably won't anytime soon.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very informative and has great ideas about saving money on your grocery bill. I'll let you know how our Book Club meeting about it turns out.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked this book and the advice that it gave for shopping smarter. I would definately recommend reading this if you are looking to cut your grocery bill.

[Kami · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome book. Lays out how to be like Tori Ann!