Today we are focusing on meal planning tips and trick as well as strategic shopping tips while shopping!
Meal Planning:
- Meal in a Box: Create a box in your pantry with popular pantry staple foods like pasta, tomato sauce, or diced tomatoes so you always have a quick meal in a box ready when your fresh out of ideas!
- Fast 5 Meals: Tape a list of your “fast five meals” inside your pantry or directly on your refrigerator so you will have always ideas for a quick dinner idea! These meals are tells you can fix quicker than it takes to order take-out. Since you know these meals will be pantry staples, don’t forget to download and check out the Favado App, which can pinpoint local deals on these items while you are out and about. Visit Favado to download.
- Plan a Menu: Sit down with your family and create a list of your family’s top 30 meals and use the list to start planning for the week or even the month! This will save you time and money you would spend on excess items you don’t need at the grocery store.
- Make Dinner before Breakfast: Make dinner before or right after you eat breakfast. Use your slow cooker and cook your favorite roast or chicken dish before you even start your day. This way when 5 pm rolls around you don’t have to even think about the dreaded, “what am I going to cook for dinner?”
Check out BargainBriana.com and Savings.com for more great savings tips and deals!
Strategic Shopping:
Use your smart phone: If coupon clipping sounds overwhelming, start by downloading a mobile savings app like the Favado App from Savings.com, which is available for Android phones in the local market. Money saving experts like myself have hand selected some of the best local deals and coupon match-ups each week to help you save as much money as possible. You can also find these same deals here at BargainBriana.com/stores and can pull it up on your mobile device’s web browser!
Outsmart the Marketers: Don’t let savvy marketers outsmart you with flashy packaging, seasonal displays, or promotional gimmicks like buying multiple items in order to get a sale price! These are meant to grab your attention and doesn’t necessarily mean it’s discounted, so pay attention!
You don’t have to buy 10 to get the items for $1/each! Don’t overbuy if you don’t need the items! Unless the ad or display specifically states that you need to purchase X number of items you can safely assume that it isn’t required.
Don’t be tricked by strategically placed displays! Have ya’ll seen the Pinterest photo of this chocolate display in the feminine products aisle?
Know per ounce or per unit pricing. Most of the time you think that buyer the bigger item will be cheaper per ounce or unit. In this particular case it is NOT true! Be sure to check those per unit/ounce labels or calculate it on your own.
Use your stockpile! I’ve been sharing the recipes that I have been creating with items found in our pantry!
Embrace Shopper Loyalty Programs: Sign up for grocery or drug store’s loyalty cards for discounts. You will get the sale price on items plus many stores print out specialized coupons just for you based on your buying habits! If you register your loyalty cards online, you will also get specialized digital coupons emailed to you from many stores!
Buy in Bulk: Stock up and buy things your family eats often in bulk, when they are on sale!
Generics and Store Brands: When possible, buy generics and store brand items. Often times you are paying more just for the name brand! Shopping at ALDI has saved me time and money even though they don’t offer any coupons or additional savings. Just everyday low prices on their private label products.