My husband and I are on a mission to buy our first home within this next year. We are saving for a big down payment!! So we are saving money every chance we get. One of our biggest expenses is food-these tips were from LIVECHEAP.COM..they make sense!!

Paying more for water
Packaged chicken will often have a small note on the label saying it contains a solution, water or broth. Does that make the chicken taste better, as the store might explain, or get you to pay the price of chicken for water?

Not so good meat and veggies
When you get big packages of meat or vegetables, there's a good chance you'll find the food in the middle of the package is not nearly as good as what you see on the outside. That's how they get rid of meat and produce that wouldn't sell if it was just out there by itself.

A mind game
Supermarkets are designed to get you to spend as much as they can get you to spend. It makes sense. That's why they spread staples throughout the store. The bread aisle, milk case, meat case and produce usually are placed as far away as possible from each in order to drag you by specially-priced items they want you to buy on impulse.

The package is shrinking
Not only are package sizes shrinking while you pay the same or more -- the 48-ounce half-gallon of ice cream for example -- but unit measurements that are supposed to help us shop better are getting all mixed up. Some are measured by pints, others quarts and others ounces. How can you comparison shop if you can't compare? Exactly.

There are a few things to keep in mind to get the most out of a trip to the market.

These are tips I was given from my favorite grocery store: 

Shopping the rim of the store first for produce, milk and other essential items. Then hit the middle of the store for the heavily marketed, processed foods. Always compare unit prices, and remember a bigger bag doesn't always mean a better price

~Charli