I normally sit down and plan my meals for a week or two at a time, make out my grocery list, and then go shopping. But these are not \”normal\” times. Our family budget has hit the skids. Cutting back on spending has become topic number one in our household, and the grocery store seems to be the best place to start. Now instead of starting with a list of our favorite meals for the week\’s menu, I start with the grocery store sales flyers.

When you walk into the grocery store, you\’ll notice a remarkable thing. You can\’t turn down any aisle without walking into a \”Buy-One-Get-One-Free\” sign, a \”Price Cut\” sign, or a \”Reduced Items\” sign. I started to think, what if I only chose items on sale? Could I make dinner with just those ingredients?

This creative cooking may take some getting used to, especially if you are a person who normally sticks to recipes. But, you know what sorts of foods your family will eat, and what they won\’t, so you already have a guideline. When you decide to give this a try, be sure to plan on shopping at the grocery store on a weekend. It may be busier, but there\’s a reason for that. The biggest sales occur on the weekends. You\’ll find that the same item you looked at on Wednesday or Thursday may be half the price on Saturday.

Once you get into the grocery store, you need a plan. Get your main ingredients out of the way first. You may want to begin in the meat, fish, and poultry section, choosing only those items that are on special. Now you can run around to the vegetables and see what\’s on sale. You\’ll already be developing sort of a plan in your mind. Don\’t forget cheese and other dairy items that may be on special. These main ingredient items are typically on the outside aisles of most grocery stores, so walk your cart all along the outside aisles first.

It\’s time to quickly push your cart through the inside aisles. You\’ll want to grab only items that are on sale and that your family will eat. It\’s amazing how quickly you begin to get ideas for dinner. But don\’t think too hard or take too much time struggling with ideas. When you get everything home, you\’ll find items in your pantry that you can use as well.

One word about coupons here. Coupon clipping is certainly a money saver, but only if you clip coupons for items that you use. Don\’t buy an item that you INTEND to use someday. You won\’t save any money by having a jar of marmalade sitting in your pantry for a year. Do clip coupons for those paper products that never seem to go on sale. If you are not absolutely committed to a certain paper, beauty, or cleaning product, purchase the product offered by the coupon to save a few cents if the price turns out to be less than your usual product.

Once you return home with your sale items, the assortment will be a little baffling because you don\’t have a menu to follow exactly. Now your creativity will come into play. Pile your veggies in one spot, your meat, fish, and poultry in another place, your cheese or other dairy products in a pile, and your inside aisle items in another pile. Look in your pantry for any rice, noodles, or potatoes. Can you see where this is going? Pick an item off each pile, review your choices for feasibility, and there you are. Your dinner choice has been made. Now don\’t you feel smart?

If you do this sale-items-only shopping a couple times a month, the savings will start to add up. And, you may just find out that you can do more than just follow a recipe you can cook! Is it time for you to take a hard look at your budget and make some changes in your old routines?

If you\’re ready to get started, here are some great tips on saving on food and some grocery budget guidelines for your family. By implementing a few of these tips, you can start saving money this week.

Tags: Budgeting, cooking, family, food, Food & Beverage, frugal meal plan, frugal menu plan, grocery budget, homemaking, meal planning around sales, recipes, save money on groceries, saving money