Posted by Julie Parrish, a Shopping Strategist and co-owner of Hotcouponworld.com

While they are at seasonal low prices, make sure these five must-stock grocery items are in your shopping cart.

Flour: If you bake or cook, there’s no getting around keeping flour in your cupboard. World wheat shortages we experienced this year are not going to let up in 2009.  In a sealed bag, flour can last upward of 18 months.  Now is a good time to buy what you need for the year, provided you can store it.  Also, watch out for additional deals like Safeway’s baking promotion where you can get a “money off on your next order” coupon for spending $30.

Sugar: Another commodity that’s increasing in price.  White, brown and powered sugars are currently at the lowest annual retail prices, so stock up on sugar for the same seasonal reasons as flour.

Beef, pork and poultry: The USDA is still predicting that there will be a huge increase in the price of livestock due to the swelling cost of grain feed.  Thus, ‘tis the season to stock up on meat for next year. With the holidays approaching, deals on turkey and beef, in particular, will be decent. Have the butcher slice your choice cut of beef into steak-size portions and you will save over half the price when you buy whole versus pre-cut.  The same is true of whole pork loin roasts, which we’ll see sporadically for $1.99 per pound.  Buy the whole thing and save, because prices will shift high next year.

Paper products: Paper products are a fact of life.  True, paper itself isn’t a grocery item, but many of us do use it to print coupons!  A little tip-off from a friend of mine who is a buyer for one of the national retail chains many of us love: Next year the price of paper will double. So if you see deals on paper products, grab them while you can! I don’t have a “why” behind the price increase, but I trust my buyer-friend’s judgment on this one.

Pastas/grain sides: It’s my prediction that in order to hold current prices on pastas and grain-based side dishes (think Rice-A-Roni and Hamburger Helper) manufacturers will make package size cuts, particularly in the pasta aisle.  Packages that are currently 16 ounces will likely be 12 ounces by the end of 2009.  The cause? The rising price of wheat.  Pasta has a wonderfully long shelf life of two to three years if stored properly.  And toward Christmas, we’ll see some good sales for pasta.  So keep your eyes open and be ready to stock up when the sales hit.

SEE ALSO:
ALL YOU Sweepstakes
Coupons galore in December’s ALL YOU
Del Monte coupons and freebies
Make brown rice in 60 seconds

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