May 3, 2007

Grocery Price Book Resources

I just read a great article at Get Rich Slowly about how to reduce your grocery spending by using a grocery price book.  You can find Get Rich Slowly's great grocery price book post at the link below:

Use a Grocery Price Book to Slash Your Food Spending

I won't attempt to duplicate the article, or even review it (although I do recommend it).  Instead, I will list a bunch of resources that will help you to get started with your own grocery price book.  So, in no particular order (although my own Grocery Price Book spreadsheet is listed first), here they are:

An Uncommon Way to Wealth Grocery Price Book spreadsheet - This spreadsheet lets you easily enter the items you buy, and then sort them by category, store, or description.  It also automatically calculates the price per pound, ounce, or whatever other unit of measurement you choose.  Recommended by Get Rich Slowly.  FREE

Cheap Cooking - Another, simpler grocery price book spreadsheet.  Doesn't have the functionality of the Uncommon Way to Wealth spreadsheet (of course I would say that!), but it will do the basics.  This spreadsheet was also recommended by Get Rich Slowly.  FREE

HandyShopper (Palm version) - This is a Palm-based shopping list tool with many powerful features. However, it is more than just a shopping list application.  It can be used for almost every kind of list imaginable. What's more, HandyShopper works on Palm OS 2.0 through 5.0, and on all PalmOS-based devices.  FREE

HandyShopper (Pocket PC version) - This Pocket PC version of the shopping list tool is newer and less robust than the Palm version.  It's still in Alpha stage of development, so it's buggy and not fully functional.  However, it is FREE.

Grocery Price Book ebook - This ebook tells you how to save money on groceries.  The author, Lana Dorazio, claims that you can save $180 to $240 a month using her ebook.  It comes with a couple of bonuses: 1) A pre-filled grocery book that has four years worth of grocery prices.  2) 50 of the author's favorite simple recipes.  3) An insider interview with a grocery store manager - they talk about "insider secrets of the grocery business".  I have not purchased or used this ebook/system, so I can't personally recommend it.  However, it's not very expensive.  The ebook is $19.

Some other resources for saving money on groceries, although not necessarily price-book related, are listed below.  Note that I have not tried any of these:

My Grocery Deals - An all-in-one online source for finding good deals on food, matching coupons to low prices, and seeing how much you're saving.  Haven't tried this one.

My List Mate - This software uses databases to let you make grocery lists that include item, price, and unit of measurement, and keeps them separated by store where you purchased them.  When you're getting ready to go grocery shopping, you can make a list of what you need to buy, and includes the estimated price of everything on your list.  Sounds like a great tool for helping to budget when grocery shoping.  My List Mate is shareware and costs $22.95 to register.

I hope these resources help somebody who's "sitting on the fence" about whether to use a grocery price book to get started.  You can use the free resources and get great results.  You can use the resources that cost a few bucks, and maybe make things easier.  Either way, just get started and save a bunch of money on your groceries.

Filed under Article Reviews, Blog Reviews, Money Making/Saving Strategies, Personal Finance Tools by

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Comments on Grocery Price Book Resources »

May 3, 2007

J.D. @ 1:36 pm

Thanks for the kind remarks. But I should point out that the link to your grocery pricebook spreadsheet is now broken! :)

[...] post by An Uncommon Way to Wealth and software by Elliott Back Bookmark [...]

August 6, 2007

Maureen @ 2:02 am

Hi there! i would LOVE to see your Pricebook sheet, but the link is broken. Will it be coming back up??

Thanks!

October 6, 2007

David @ 8:05 pm

Thank you for your listing of these useful links.

November 30, 2007

Angel @ 12:13 pm

A few more that I use:
TheGroceryGame.com
GroceryGuide.com
(I have fed a family of 6 on $300 a month using these resources-but do note that is with all four children getting free lunch at school, lol.)

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