Saving Money on Food
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By :
Darius H Clements
Submitted
2012-05-13 00:31:18 |
Saving Money on Food Includes Weekly Menu Planning
Hard economic times have forced many families into saving money on food and gasoline.
Working women are looking for ways to cook at home more often because of the high price of take-out food even though cooking places an added burden to her hectic schedule.
There is a way to save money on food and make grocery shopping and cooking easier.
Weekly menu planning takes the hassle out of both of these chores.
Save Money On Food - Plan Menus
Most shoppers are aware of how important it is to have a grocery list to remember what to buy. However, a grocery list can also help in saving money on food when the list is made correctly. The grocery list is made after weekly menu planning.
Sounds like a lot of work? After practicing weekly menu planning for a few weeks it will take no more than 10 minutes for the menu and another 10 minutes for the grocery list. Here’s the plan in 5 easy steps.
Step 1.
Whether you have one favorite store or several make sure you have each store’s weekly sales flier before you begin.
Most of the major stores will include a flier in the Sunday paper.
Don’t forget to cut out the grocery store coupons you need that are also included in the Sunday paper.
Step 2.
Go through your cabinets, refrigerator and freezer and make a grocery list of the staples you need such as bread, milk, eggs and so on.
Organizing your cabinets and freezer makes this step a lot easier.
Step 3.
Plan your menu for the next week around the items you have available and the sales items in the flier.
Ad the sales items to your grocery list with the quantity needed and an estimated price. Include any grocery store coupons you may have.
Step 4.
This is a good time to include a new recipe you have wanted to try.
If it requires ingredients you do not have on hand include them on your grocery shopping list.
Step 5.
Go to the grocery store once per week to avoid buying things you do not need.
If you run out of an item add it to the next week’s grocery list and prepare something else to avoid making an unplanned trip to the grocery store.
Save Time And Money
Weekly menu planning not only helps in saving money on food but it saves time, gas and stress. It saves time and gas because you are not making daily trips to the grocery store or the fast food restaurant.
It saves stress because you know what you are going to eat each day for every meal.
You can look at the menu a day ahead and take out frozen food that needs to thaw.
If a majority of your meals are casseroles or one-dish meals you can prepare those meals ahead of time to be ready the next day.
You avoid “impulse buying” when you have a menu plan and grocery list. Just $10 of impulse buying per week adds $40 per month or $480 per year to your grocery expense.
In Conclusion
You can use this weekly menu plan again so save it and the grocery list together in a file. After you have several weekly menu plans you can mix and match menu plans for several more weeks.
You will then be ready for monthly menu planning.
Saving Money On Food By Darius Clements
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