1. Garden - Remember hearing about Victory Gardens? They were meant to take the demand off the public food supply during WWI and WWII by growing your own. This is an excellent idea and works especially well using the square foot gardening method and container gardening to maximize the yield for the garden space you have available. With gardening comes excess produce so you need a way of preserving this excess for later use.
   
   
2. Preserve food - Preserving excess produce from the garden is a must. By far the easiest method is freezing, but consider that once frozen you continue to pay for keeping that food frozen until you use it. You are subject to loss of power. A long power outage (like during a hurricane) will put your frozen foods at risk to the point you could lose all of it. Canning solves this problem and it works amazingly well for many foods. It is possible to can everything from dried beans to soups and stews to vegetables to sauces, jams, jellies, pickles, condiments and more. After canning is drying. This is cheap and easy to do with some simple equipment. Vacuum seal dried goods to prevent problems caused by humidity or insects. Once vacuum sealed the food should be stored in rodent proof containers.
   
   
3. Consider the cost of acquisition - The cost of acquiring food needs to be taken into consideration especially with rising fuel costs. This adds to the cost per meal. When you factor in the cost of fuel, shopping at more than one store can easily eliminate any savings on actual groceries. Do not drive several blocks if you can buy what you need one block over. Reduce trips to the grocery store to the bare minimum if you want to save on the cost of food. Combine trips, for instance stop at the grocery store on your way home from work instead of going out of your way to make a special trip.
    
4. Buy in bulk - The best savings on meats, poultry, eggs, flours, rice and so much more are realized when bought in bulk. Purchase family sized packages of meat and break them down into desirable amounts. Shop the warehouse stores. This can save you a lot of money, well more than the cost of membership. Some warehouse stores such as COSTCO and BJ's have discounted fuels (gasoline, diesel and propane tank refills) for members also -- take advantage of that.
    
5. Buy locally - Buying locally gives you the freshest produce, meats, eggs and poultry without the high transportation costs. It keeps your local farmers working too. Buying locally saves you money and it is good for the community and environment.
   
   
6. Buy in season - Fruits and vegetables are cheaper when in season. This is also the best time to buy extra for canning, freezing or dehydrating (drying). Food in season does not have to be flown or trucked in from across the country or across the border which saves fuel costs.
   
   
7. Shop the sales - This goes without saying but if you stock up during the sales you can save a lot of money. If you are allowed to use coupons for sale items, you will save even more.
   
   
   
   
8. Shop factory outlets - Many food processing plants have factory outlets. If you live in an area where there is one or more food processing plant, consider buying your foods there. Large bakeries often sell day old baked goods at reduced prices in these type of stores.
    
9. Cook from scratch - By cooking from scratch not only do you get healthier foods but you reduce packaging (which is environmentally friendly). Make your own quick meal starts and convenience foods. Good quick starts are: plain browned ground beef, seasoned ground beef, taco meat, sliced grilled chicken breasts, sloppy joe mix, home made meat balls and home canned tomato sauces. There are several websites with recipes for making your own mixes. You can have the convenience of pre-made mixes by setting aside a couple of hours a month to make some because they will cost a fraction of the price of the pre-made stuff sold in the grocery stores. Cakes, cookies and breads are all considerably cheaper to make at home.
    
10. Consider the cost of cooking - The cost of cooking is often overlooked as part of your food dollar but with rising costs in electricity and natural gas it really needs to be considered. Use a lid when possible during cooking because it helps food cook faster. When cooking always cook extra especially when using the oven. It takes as much energy to cook one roast as it does two. Better yet toss in potatoes, carrots and onions too. Some type of salad with every dinner meal is good for you and it does not cost anything to prepare besides refrigeration costs. If possible, cook outside on the grill. Heating up the oven and turning on the stove increases the temperature of your house which forces the air conditioner to work harder to cool it down. If you do not grill, microwave food if possible since cooking times are sorter and less heat is released into the living area.
     
11. Reduce meat portions - Americans love meat and in general eat larger portions than they should. A portion size should be about the size of your palm so even gradually cutting back the portion size will save money. Think soups, stews, casseroles and salads to reduce the amount of meat. Make your own stocks then use them for cooking rice and flavoring mashed potatoes. Home made stocks are considerably cheaper than store bought and can be frozen or canned in smaller portions to use as required. Substitute beans for meat. For extra savings re-hydrate and cook dried beans. Dried beans can be home canned for convenience at a cost considerably less expensive than store bought. Replace expensive lunch meats with actual meats like turkey breast, meatloaf, chicken and roast beef. Or buy a meat slicer and lunch meat in bulk rolls from the grocer warehouse stores and slice your own lunchmeat and cheese too for that matter.
     
12. Question your brand loyalty - Many folks do not know that food processing plants often put out the same product under different brand labels. In most cases there is little to no difference in brand name verses store brands other than brand names being more expensive. Store brands save on food costs. Often foods, for example, under the Target, Publix or Wal*Mart brands taste just as good and are usually cheaper than the national brands. 
    
    
    
    
13. Shop unit prices - Every larger grocery store has a cost per unit (eg. cost per ml, cost per ounce) on the shelf tag of the item. These are the prices to shop even if the item is on sale. Take a calculator with you and figure out the cost per unit for sale prices or for instances when the store does not give you the unit price. Sometimes the smaller package is cheaper per unit than the jumbo package.
     
14. Buy from the source - Buying meats, poultry, eggs and produce directly from the source can save you a lot of money especially when combined with buying in bulk. In most cases this means buying directly from the farmer or orchard. In urban areas this includes green and farmers' markets. These tend to be the places to get the best prices and you can always do a little dickering. At the same time you end up with a fresher product for your money and in many cases you can buy organic and/or free range so you are also ending up with a superior product for your dollar.
    
    
15. Trade and share with friends and neighbors - If your garden produces more than you can possibly use or preserve, spread the wealth! Forming buying or gardening cooperatives in your neighborhood helps to lower your food dollars and helps to strengthen community relations.



16. Florida Food Sharing Network - Save up to 50% on your groceries. SHARE is a non-profit organization that builds and strengthens communities through volunteer service while offering savings on high-quality food.

Sources: Heloise from A to Z Updated, Florida Market Bulletin, Mother Earth News, Florida Community Farmers' Markets