Food Inventory -Check your pantry, freezer and fridge before shopping. It gives you an idea of what you of already have and the amount of food you need to buy.
* using leftover on smart way- for instance Fried Rice is perfect pair with Beef Paris . Don't forget! always come up with back up plan for left over food.
* Cook by for portion- is best way to avoid left over food.
Weekly Sales Ad- products goes on sale every other week or so, use this advantage to score inexpensive stuffs enough to go through until the product will gonna be on sale again.
* Rewards Program/ Store loyalty card- Don't think about it twice, Sign Up! some store give you discounts and rewards for the product you normally used.
* Clip Coupons- Pair your coupons with weekly sales ad or reduced/ mark downed products.Don't buy the product just because you have coupons.
* Compare Prices- Help you determined which store is the best for your needs.
Meal Planning- This will save you time browsing and thinking what you gonna get at the grocery store, and save you money for spending only to those ingredients you need on the menu.
* Plan your meal for what's on sale.
*Home-style cooking- cooked what you have on your freezer and pantry and recipes with same main ingredients for instance; Chicken and Ground beef
Monday-Chicken Stir Fry
Tuesday- Lechon Manok
Wednesday- Pancit canton
Thursday-Vegetable Stir Fry
Friday- Pansit-Bihon
Saturday-Taco Salad
Sunday- Chili
* Stick to the meal plan-
Shopping- there must be temptations along the way, but if you have this 2 basic ingredients before heading to the store, guaranteed you gonna save money, A little lesser than you normally spent at the grocery store.
* First- Eat before you go- when you're hungry everything looks good, that's not a good thing. You ended up buying more than you anticipated.
* Second- Stick to the list!
Additional tips:
Shop Alone- shop without kids if possible,so that you can focus more on sales, rather than what the kids wants.
Try store brand products is little cheaper than brand name products. Like toilet paper, dish-washing soup etc.
Cooking - I cooked our food most of the time, especially dinner. Not only it will save me money from dining out. It also enhanced my cooking ability,learning new recipes, and having fun spending time with my kids at the kitchen. It doesn't mean, I won't order food outside or avoid dining out, I still do! but not as often as we used to do.
What's your favorite money saving meal ideas? I would love to know:) wink..