Cheap-N-Frugal

Quick & Easy Money Savers

Food Shopping

 

Frugal Meal Planning

 

     When it comes to food shopping the biggest thing anyone can do to save money is to plan ahead   Planning, planning, planning.  I can’t say it enough.  If you plan your meals ahead of time you will save money. 

 

     The biggest reason for blowing the household budget is unplanned eating out.  When hungry, in a hurry and a family waiting at home it’s hard to think of what’s in the house to eat.  But if you know what you’re having ahead of time then you won’t get that panicky feeling of there’s nothing in the house and be tempted to stop and pick something up. 

 

 

 

8 Foolproof Ways To Lower Your Food Shopping Budget.

 

1.  Plan your meals according the sales flyers that come in the mail weekly.  Make use of the food that you have in house.

 

2.  Stick to your shopping list and only buy what’s on your list.  Don’t pick up items not on list.  A good way to do this is to leave the Debit card at home and take cash.  You can’t spend what you don’t have.

 

3.  Use coupons for sale items and only for the items that you would   normally use.  Don’t just buy something because you have a coupon for it.  And don’t forget you can use a manufacturer coupon with a store coupon.  So if an item is on sale and the store has their own coupons use them and then look for a manufacturer coupon to go with it and you’ll double your savings.  Don’t forget to check for coupons on line.  Often you can go to the manufacturer’s website and they have coupons to print out.  There are also free coupon websites that have numerous coupons to print.

 

4.  Make extra when cooking and freeze the leftovers.  This is especially good for those times when there’s just not the time to prepare a meal because something unexpected came up.

 

5. Stay away from pre packaged foods when possible and make things from scratch which is almost always cheaper & healthier.

 

6.  Go green.  Use reusable containers whenever possible to avoid the expense of throw away items such as plastic wrap, plastic bags, aluminum foil, etc .

 

7. Use leftovers.  Take for lunch the next day or reuse into another meal. 

 

 

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Cheryl is a freelance writer and webmaster of cheapnfrugal.com Reprint permission granted with this footer included. Copyright © 2009.

8.  Keep it simple.  The easier the meal is to make the more likely you will be to make it.  Make meal plans from items you normally use and have in the house.