Thursday, June 13, 2013

Meal Planning/Grocery Shopping Series Part 1- intro

I am asked almost weekly from family, friends, friends of friends, people at my church and so on how I meal plan. How I save money at the grocery store and how to use coupons. 
Well, it's not an easy job. It takes detailed planning, research and organization but soon it will become routine. What once took a couple days, for a couple hours a day, I now can plan out my month of meals, clip coupons and organize my list by store in around an hours time. 

Here is how it's done.

I grocery shop once a month. I plan out my meals and shop for an entire months worth in only one trip. 

I make 3 stops, Sam's, Super Walmart and a Bakery outlet. 

It takes me about an hour- hour in a half to shop (depending on what else besides groceries I need to get) in Walmart, 30 minutes in Sam's and about 10 minutes in the Bakery. Having such a detailed list helps me get in and out quickly.

I buy some in bulk.

I make as much homemade as possible.

I set a budget and DO NOT go over it. -If you want to save money you have to discipline yourself to stick to a certain amount. 

I use a calculator. It helps to make sure I am sticking to my budget and it is much easier than adding it all up in your head. (Being good at Math is not a gift I possess) 

Get yourself a binder, to hold your calculator, shopping list, and coupons. (I will go into more detail with this later) My binder sits next to my pocketbook in the front of the cart for easy access. 

Don't forget to look online for coupons! I rarely will spend the extra money to buy a newspaper to clip coupons from and instead with print them off from online. hip2save.com will lead you to where all the great deals are at.


So that's how I do it! Stay tuned for more tips, tricks and a video or two.

Part 2- How to shop stress free
Part 3- Planning out your meals
Part 4- How to use coupons and where to find them
Part 5- Organizing your grocery list
Part 6- Creating a shopping binder
Part 7- Making homemade to save money

See you later for part two!!






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