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Food – we can't live without it, but with rising prices, we're finding it harder and hard to go to the grocery store without cringing.  Surely there must be a way to save money at the grocery store and still get the things we need.  Even a growing family can support themselves on around $100 a week, depending on where you live.  Don't think it's possible?  Read on to find out what you can do to save money at the checkout counter.

Clip Those Coupons…But Only for Things You Use

A lot of people fell off the coupon bandwagon because it seems to be too time consuming, considering what you didn't get in return.  You generally ended up with all of the coupons in a pouch or an envelope, but most of them never saw the light of day.  Why?  Because most of the coupons were for things you'd never buy on sale or at regular price anyway.  What you need to do when you're looking through the weekly coupon section is to already have your grocery list sitting beside you.  This way, you can look for coupons for items you do need and then use them for that specific purpose when you get to the store.It will also help if you have your store's weekly ad beside you as you clip coupons in order to use coupons on things that are also on sale.  And if your store does double coupons and triple coupons, that's when you need to do your shopping.

Get Out a Calculator

The marketing people at food companies are smart.  They know that if they put some items into bigger containers that you will think it's a better value and purchase it over the lesser priced smaller size.  Instead of getting tricked, make sure you bring a calculator with you to the grocery store to see how much each ounce costs.  This way, you can see when someone is a goo deal and when it is not.  Simply take the price, let's say $10.00 for 5 ounces versus $8.00 for 3 ounces.  Divide the price by the ounces and you get 2 cents per ounce for the first item and 2.67 cents per ounce for the second item.  In this case, the bigger item is the better deal – but you might not have known that without a calculator.A calculator will also help you to see how much money you've spend so far in your grocery cart, which can help you keep on track with your budget.

Never Buy More Than You Need

Planning is essential when you want to save money at the grocery store.  What you need to do is to make sure you are buying only what you need and nothing more.  This way, you're not throwing out a lot of produce you won't use or storing canned goods in your pantry forever.  Be honest with yourself – am I going to use this up this week?  If not, leave it on the shelf.  In fact, unless you have a larger family, economy sizes are simply unnecessary.  After all, you're not going to use it all in one week, so why pay for it all this week?The grocery store doesn't have to be a pain in the neck when you plan, you calculate and you take the time to think about what your family really needs and uses.  Keep a running tally as the weeks go by to see just how much money you can save.  You may just surprise yourself.