9 Simple Ways to Save Money on Your Groceries
Easy Meal Planning |
It never fails, we budget for our groceries, but the bill always ends up being more. We underestimate, run out of things faster than expected and overall, everything is becoming just too darned expensive! To make things a little bit easier, here are 9 simple ways you can start saving money on your groceries.
1. Go with a List: Yes, I know…it’s a pretty obvious suggestion, but it’s amazing how effective it can be. You can purchase only what you need and avoid all the other yummy distractions of the grocery store.
2. Meal Planning: Planning your meals in advance makes it easier to get your list together and ensure you buy only exactly what you need. You can get help with your meal planning at Dine Without Whine AND they actually put your grocery list together for you too.
3. Eat Before You Go: Another classic tip. If you’re hungry, you’ll want to buy (and instantly eat) everything! Have a meal or good snack before you go to avoid impulse purchases.
How to Get Started Meal Planning
| Easy Meal Planning
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Meal planning may sound intimidating at first, but it’s really not that hard.
The first thing you should do is to write down all of your family’s favorite dishes. This will be very handy when you just can’t think of anything for dinner 
Next, grab the grocery ads. If you don’t get these in the mail or in your weekly newspaper, just jump online and visit your favorite grocery store’s website. Most grocery stores have their weekly ads listed right on their websites now, and some are even interactive (allowing you to create a printable shopping list – very cool!). Once you have your grocery ads in hand, scan them for sale items that can be used for this week’s meals.
Before you get to deep into your menu plan, you might want to look at your calendar for the week. If you have family or work activities that will keep you from getting home at a decent hour, you will want to plan very simple meals or even leftovers for those particular nights.
Next, you should take an inventory of the items in your fridge and pantry. Do you have any food that needs to be eaten right away? This is one of the greatest benefits of meal planning. You waste much less food because you only buy what you plan on using that week.
At this point, you should have an idea of what you want to cook for the week based on the grocery store ads, what you already have on hand, and your family’s activities for the week. Go ahead and write out the meals you plan on cooking for the week, and fill in your grocery list for the items you don’t have in hand.
All you have left to do at this point is to do the grocery shopping, post your menu on the fridge for all to see, and create your meals each day. The rest of your week should go much more smoothly now that you don’t have to worry about “what’s for dinner” at the end of each day. See how easy meal planning can be?
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Grocery Tip of the Week
Shop with a list!
Make a grocery list and stick to it. Don’t be tempted by instore ads or specials if it’s not on your list. Unless it’s something you KNOW you will use – like laundry detergent, toilet paper, etc.
Also, leave the kids at home when grocery shopping. You’ll be amazed how much you save by not adding all of those little extras onto your grocery bill!
Brought to you by mygrocerydeals.com and thedollarstretcher.com
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Hello and Welcome!
Welcome to My Weekly Menu Planner! I decided to create this blog so that I would have one place to keep my menu plans, recipes and tips for cooking and saving money.
A friend introduced me to meal planning a couple of years ago, and I’ve been hooked ever since.
Meal planning helps me save money at the grocery store (which is a huge benefit in this crazy economy), and just as important, it helps save me time.
I’m looking forward to sharing how meal planning has helped me, as well as my favorite menu plans and recipes.
Please feel free to share your own meal planning tips and recipes each time you visit!