produce shelves
We recently shared 5 Ideas for Lowering Your Grocery Bill and invited readers to let us in on their own shopping strategies. As always, we were overwhelmed by the smarts, savvy and generosity of the KitchenDaily community, and we wanted to highlight some of the best of the hundreds of tips we received. Grab a cart, 'cause you're gonna want to stock up.

• Go Against the Flow: "When I started shopping against the usual flow of traffic in the store, my average bill went from $110 to $70. If you don't have a bunch of people pushing behind you also looking at cheese & milk, you can make a smart decision, rather than a quick, but more expensive one." -- Karla Carrington

• Sprint for Savings: "Race yourself in the store. See if you can get out in under a half hour, and then try to beat your time each week. The longer you stay, the more you spend!" --MGD Cindy

• Aisle Be the Judge: "I have found the best way to save money in the grocery store is to not go down all of the aisles. Most products we really need are on the outside edges of the store--produce, dairy, deli, meat, frozen, etc. The ends of the aisles are where the stores stock sale items so I check those out and then, if I need other items that are down an aisle, I simply walk down that particular aisle. That way I'm not picking up things that I don't really need and I am eating better because I'm buying mostly fresh food and not prepackaged food." --EMacKie

• Get the Lowdown: "Shopping the bottom shelves of the aisle can save time on price comparisons and save money. Most grocery stores stock the name brand-higher priced items at eye level for a medium height woman (5' 5"). Usually the things higher are novelty items, and the things lower are the generic store brands or bulk items." --AD

• Checks? Out!: "I make my list then add up what the costs will be. I take only cash into the store. I leave my check book in the car so I do not overspend. It works every time." --JYL

• Receipt Deceit: "Look over your receipt before you leave the store. I started looking at old receipts I would find and noticed that occasionally I would get charged twice or even multiple times for 1 item, or 3 or 4 times for only 2 items. I still catch it sometimes but can walk right back up to the cashier and have it corrected before it's too late or goes unnoticed." --Jay

• Gas Group: "To save on gas, I 'group-shop' with friends and neighbors. Car pooling to places where everyone shops could cut down on your expenses, especially if the nearest food store is miles away." --Blondman505

• Seal the Deal: "Some butchers charge extra for freezer wrap, so to save money I freezer wrap it myself at home. Check into buying a meal sealer, compare how much it cost to pay the butcher to freezer wrap or how much it will cost you to do it yourself." --ALONG1951

• Menu Master: "My husband does all of our grocery shopping and has a fool proof way to save our family money. He not only makes a list of what foods to buy, he predetermines what meals are going to be made by making a menu of breakfasts, lunches, dinners and several alternatives for a two week period. Then he shops specifically for the items he needs. This keeps us from buying too many impulse items and the alternatives give us the opportunity to change up our menu if we something comes up, or we simply don't want to eat what we had planned for that meal." --Leanna

• Inventory Check: "Be sure to go through your freezer and fridge before going to the grocery store again. We are amazed at how much money we save just by doing this. We make sure we eat ALL the food in our freezer before buying more. Take everything out if you have to and look at what you have. It is easy to poke your head in and say "There's nothing to eat." But once you have it all on your counter, you really see how much you really do have." --Happy Camper

• Smart Storage: "I stopped buying those bagged salads, which are almost $3.00 a bag in my area. They always seemed to contain the rib pieces from the greens, and had brown edges. Plus, they don't last long -- we threw out as much (if not more) than we ate. I got a large Rubbermaid container called a Produce Saver, and now I make my own salad mix. I can get a head of leaf lettuce and a head of romaine lettuce for less than 2.00/lb. each, wash it, tear it into pieces and store it in the bowl. I've used it for as long as 2 weeks before the greens start to wilt or turn brown. An added bonus is that it makes it easier to eat healthy, too, because the greens are already picked over and clean!" --Vonda

• Day for Discounts: "Most all supermarkets have a "sale" rack tucked away somewhere in the store featuring day old bread and pastries or fruits and vegetables that are still excellent if used in a day or so but won't keep another week. Items on these racks are slashed at least 50% and I have purchased some trays of produce for as little as 40 cents!" --Chay Martin

• Dairy Clever: "I buy 2 gallons of on-sale milk, and keep 6 clean 2-liter plastic soda-type bottles on hand at all times. I pour two cups of cold water in each plastic bottle and distribute the two gallons of milk evenly among the six 2-liter bottles, leaving a few inches of air at the top. I put one bottle in the fridge and freeze the remaining five. It dilutes the 2% milk only a little, but I always have milk, never end up with bad milk, and waste zero. Whenever I need another bottle, I take it from the freezer. It thaws in about six hours in room temperature (and much faster in hot water)." --Gunnar

• Meat and Greet: "Get to know your store personnel, especially butchers, deli personnel, and produce managers. They really do take care of loyal and courteous customers. If they can count on you to be there regularly, they'll save the very best for you and often will give you discounts or freebies (my butcher often gives me beef and fish bones so I can make my own stocks at home)." --Allison

• Lickin' Chicken: "Learning how to cut up a chicken can save huge amounts of money. If you purchase a lot of chickens when the price is really good and have a good knife and a large stock pot you end up with custom packages of chicken parts, and a huge pot of soup for pennies on the dollar." --Brenda

Please share your savings ideas in the comments section below -- we're always looking for more ways to save!