Groceries are a major expense for many families and individuals.  While this expense is necessary and will never be eliminated, there are many different strategies that can be used to save money at the grocery store.  By using a few of these simple techniques, you will find that you can save money on groceries while still getting the things that you need.

It is a simple fact that every time you go to the grocery store you will spend money.  Unless great self discipline is exercised, every trip will result in one or two unexpected purchases.  To cut down impulse spending at the grocery store, limit your trips to the store.  This solution sounds very simple and it is.  However, to be effective at cutting back on trips to the store, it is important to plan trips carefully.  Make a list and be sure to include all needed items on the list.  This will help to ensure that nothing is forgotten and that additional trips will not be needed to pick up items that were not purchased.

The second strategy to saving money at the grocery store is to make a list.  Having a list makes it easier to say no to unexpected purchases.  A list will focus the shopping trip and will result in fewer impulse buys.  Impulse purchases add up and the simple elimination of these items can save hundreds of dollars each year.

Grocery store ads can be a great money saving tool.  Consult your weekly ads before shopping trips.  Plan your weekly meals around items that are on sale.  If an item is on sale that you know you will need in the next several weeks, stock up while it is on sale.  By shopping sales and using these sales to plan meals and purchases, you can save valuable money without clipping coupons or sacrificing the items that you love.

Never go to the grocery store when you are hungry or rushed.   Go to the store when you will have time to evaluate purchases and needs.  Hunger will always result in many items purchased that are not needed.  When you are in a rush you will not have the time to evaluate prices and find the best deal.

Consider using store brands when possible.  Sometimes name brand products are a higher quality.  Other times you are only paying for the label.  Try a few store brand products and see if any will work for you.  These products can save you quite a bit of money without compromising quality.

There are many different methods that smart shoppers can use to save money at the grocery store.  Apply a few of these strategies into your shopping routine and start saving today.

This post provide courtesy of: My Weekly Menu Planner where you can find meal planning tips, recipes and more.

Easy Ways to Save Money at the Grocery Store

• ISBN13: 9781580402514
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Product Description
Help manage your diabetes with simple meal planning The bestselling Diabetes Meal Planning Made Easy is a comprehensive but easy-to-understand guide to all aspects of meal planning for you. Meal planning is one of the most crucial—and sometimes most difficult—aspects of managing diabetes, but this book makes meal planning simple. This newest edition incorporates the most recent nutritional recommendations of the American Diabetes Asso… More >>

Diabetes Meal Planning Made Easy, 3rd Edition

This post provide courtesy of: My Weekly Menu Planner where you can find meal planning tips, recipes and more.

Diabetes Meal Planning Made Easy, 3rd Edition

• ISBN13: 9781580403191
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Product Description
Planning a meal around diabetes doesn’t have to be difficult Meal planning is one of the hardest parts of managing diabetes. The new edition of Hope Warshaw’s best-selling book gives you all the tools you need to plan and eat healthier meals. Updated to include the latest nutrition recommendations for the American Diabetes Association and the federal government’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans, Diabetes Meal Planning Made Easy is a resource no pe… More >>

Diabetes Meal Planning Made Easy, 4th Edition

This post provide courtesy of: My Weekly Menu Planner where you can find meal planning tips, recipes and more.

Diabetes Meal Planning Made Easy, 4th Edition

This post provide courtesy of: My Weekly Menu Planner where you can find meal planning tips, recipes and more.

Family Meal Planning Made Easy

These sites promote the manufacturer’s products, of course, and specialize in easy, fast cooking. Web site offerings serve up massive, free recipe databases. Easily searchable and updated regularly, harried cooks are presented with a treasure trove of resources.

www.kraftfoods.com
Freebies include:
Sign up for a free, full-color glossy magazine sent to your home
Recipe Box to store your own recipes
Make your own Meal and Fitness Plan
Logs and journals for tracking exercise and weight loss
Food calculators for carbohydrates, calcium, body mass index

The parent company for many other brands, including Oscar Mayer, Minute Rice, and Jell-O, Kraft lists those brands at www.kraftfoods.com. Each brand links to its own web site with recipes and cooking tips.

www.campbellsoup.com
From here you can go to many of Campbell’s other web sites, including Pepperidge Farms and Pace. Sign up for a daily recipe email, get an on-line recipe box, lots of recipes with ratings by consumers (good AND bad). Categories include Homemade in 20 minutes and Favorite Family Meals.

Try out their own diet plan, Soup for Life, a 1,200 calorie per day plan with 30 days of breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks, provided in a downloadable PDF file.

www.hersheys.com
Click on the Hersheys Kitchen link. Find baking tips, recipes and recipe box, a grocery list builder, monthly recipe newsletter, games, crafts, sweepstakes. Need a quick, no-calorie chocolate fix? Check out the opening screen at their site.

www.generalmills.com
Click on recipes. General Mills includes Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, and Bisquick. Find all their brands at www.generalmills.com. From there you can click to each specific brand’s web site.

www.mccormick.com
The seasoning company. Click on recipes, message boards, a comprehensive spice encyclopedia, and A Taste for Health, which includes low-sodium recipes.

www.starkist.com
The tunafish people. Lots of recipes and ways to eat tuna so you don’t end up with the same old tuna sandwich. Try appetizers, wraps, salads, and pasta dishes. You can even download a Charlie the Tuna screensaver.

www.greengiant.com
Lots of recipes in categories like Rush Hour Recipes. Download Jolly Green Giant wallpaper.

www.kelloggs.com
You know them as the breakfast cereal company, but their web site boasts a wealth of recipes, such as Busy Day Meatloaf using Kellogg’s Stuffing Mix, and Cheese and Spinach Pie made with Special K cereal.

Features include a recipe box and a recipe club, and you can print 3×5 or 4×6 recipe cards.

www.hormel.com
Hormel makes a number of food brands, listed on their web site. Sign up for the weekly newsletter, Your Personal Chef, packed with fresh snack and meal solutions, tips and ideas and special offers.

Neat feautures:
Extensive recipe database
Articles on wine and making flavored butters
Printable Family Dinner Magic Weekly Meal and Activity Planner with icons you glue onto magnets

www.tyson.com
Get lots of information on Tyson chicken, beef, and pork products. Along with the usual recipe database, visit the Foodwise Learning Center for tips on food handling safety, buying meat, and meat cooking.

Tyson’s provides Five Days of Dinner, a weekly list of menus, each one with full-color photos, nutrition information, cooking instructions, and serving suggestions. Get it e-mailed to you or print in receipe card fashion.

With all of these great web sites, you may never need to buy another cook book again.

This post provide courtesy of: My Weekly Menu Planner where you can find meal planning tips, recipes and more.

Easy and Delicious Menu Planning – Top 10 Free Web Sites

Product Description
“Anyone watching his or her weight can profit by using these 150 recipes and 30 menus…. Foodstuffs blend old and new tastes,… each recipe includes nutritional and exchange information.” –Booklist… More >>

Quick & Easy Diabetic Menus

This post provide courtesy of: My Weekly Menu Planner where you can find meal planning tips, recipes and more.

Quick & Easy Diabetic Menus

One of the problems I always have when deciding what to prepare for a meal is the fact that after a while, the family gets tired of having the same dishes over and over again. Although there will always be perennial favorites, having new recipes would definitely perk up their appetites.

What I like about Lutongbahay.com is that it has all the classic Filipino dishes while also having recipes for new variations on traditional recipes as well as totally new dishes from familiar Filipino ingredients. This makes Filipino homecooking really exciting. This isn’t surprising at all since Lutongbahay is the Filipino word for homecooking.

Lutongbahay has recipes for more than just Filipino food, though. There are international dishes, as well. Some may have long been integrated into the Filipino palate but others are new – to me, at least. I may have heard of some but have never tried them before. Others are totally new to me but they seem to be worth trying. This is also a boon for meal planning. I can alternate Filipino dishes with other international dishes to create real variety.

With the sheer volume of recipes available at Lutongbahay.com, covering every meal and even snacks and desserts, I have so much to choose from for my meal planner. I may never have to repeat a dish for months.

The fact that recipes are categorized according to their main ingredient is also convenient. In planning a weekly menu, I like to alternate main dishes of beef, fish, chicken, pork and other seafood. Of course, there will always be vegetables for every meal. I can just assign a main ingredient for each day of the week and then browse through that category to pick a dish I fancy. I then pick a suitable vegetable side dish for it if it does not already include vegetables.

Having a meal planner prevents me from going into a panic when I run out of time in a day. Without a meal plan, I would just tend to grab whatever is available and these are usually canned food or instant meals. Sometimes the family would have to resort to ordering fastfood for home delivery. That is not a healthy habit.

With a meal planner, I can buy all my ingredients for the week and even do preliminary preparations during the weekend in order to cut down on my cooking time each day. It is more systematic and organized, while ensuring that I prepare healthy balanced meals for all of us.

I like the fact that I can easily print out my meal planners for each week. I can then compile them in a folder that I keep in the kitchen. I could also easily take out the pages to take with me when I go to the supermarket to buy ingredients for the week.

To avail of the meal planner feature of Lutongbahay.com, you have to register as a member. Premium membership costs only $9.99 a year and it comes with many other privileges and benefits. You can pay your membership through PayPal, credit card, Western Union or check and cash deposits from anywhere around the world. Residents of the Philippines can pay with their automated teller (ATM) card online through PayPlus+. Once your membership is confirmed by email, you can immediately avail of all your privileges and benefits and start creating your own meal planner.

This post provide courtesy of: My Weekly Menu Planner where you can find meal planning tips, recipes and more.

Create Your Own Easy Meal Planner at Lutongbahay.com

If you have diabetes, it’s important to watch what you eat to maintain your health. Meal planning can help manage your diabetes, as well as save you time and money.

The bestselling Diabetes Meal Planning Made Easy is a comprehensive but easy-to-understand guide to all aspects of meal planning for you.

Meal planning is one of the most crucial—and sometimes most difficult—aspects of managing diabetes, but this book makes meal planning simple.

This newest edition incorporates the most recent nutritional recommendations of the American Diabetes Association (more…)

This post provide courtesy of: My Weekly Menu Planner where you can find meal planning tips, recipes and more.

Diabetes Meal Planning Made Easy