Not Sponsored: Whether the above titled questions come from you, family members, friends or colleagues, everyday (no matter what time of day) we are faced with questions as to what to eat. While many of us would love to have food prepared by a live-in gourmet chef or dine-out every night, economically it is not feasible for the majority of people. Inflation has caused prices to skyrocket on ALL products at grocery stores. So what are you to do? In today's economy, when you or someone asks, WHAT'S TO EAT? Reply, WHAT'S ON SALE? Below are some tips.
1. Subscribe Via Email To Various Grocery and Drugstores To Receive Their Weekly Advertisements
Make a list of ALL grocery and drugstores near your HOME and OFFICE. Some may be favorites. Some, you may not frequent as much. Subscribe to their weekly ads via email. Subscribe to ALL of them. You may be saying, wait a minute ... that's a lot of emails. The reason it will be good to subscribe to all of them, is so you can COMPARE PRICES AND COMPARE SALES ... WHICH WILL GIVE YOU MORE CHOICES! Many drugstores have a food section. They don't sell some food items as quickly as grocery stores and those items are often discounted. You may get a better deal at a drugstore on such things as breakfast items, snacks etc. than you would at a grocery store. Join everyone's reward program and use their digital coupons to make a savings impact. Subscribe to various grocery store weekly ads to see what's on sale! The grocery store near your office, may have better sales than the one near your house. What about your city's taxes? It's cheaper for me to shop in a neighboring parish that my own city. All of these things need to be taken into account. BOTTOM LINE ... Whatever is on sale, SHOULD BE your breakfast, lunch and dinner menu for the week (if you wish to save money). One grocery store, may have various meats on sale. Take advantage of it. Another store may have canned goods, produce, or freezer items on sale. THINK! THE WEEKLY AD IS YOUR MENU ... IT'S WHAT'S ON SALE!
2. Make A List Of What You Already Have
Before heading to the store, make a list of what you already have. Make a list of the meats, seafood, vegetables, produce and fruit you have at home. Can they be paired together as a meal? For example: Let's say, you have spaghetti, Ragu and ground meat. If you have all three, you can make a meal. So write down what you have and figure out if you can make meals out of WHAT YOU DO HAVE. Think of your menu as a puzzle! What do I have? What do I need? Is it on sale?
3. Shop Weekly And Base What You Eat For That Week on WEEKLY SALE ADS
If the weekly sale ad says SHRIMP is on sale! Make shrimp salads, shrimp pastas or shrimp sandwiches that week. If the weekly sale ad says, a whole CHICKEN is on sale! Roast chicken for dinner and slice off of it to make chicken sandwiches for lunch. If TUNA is on sale, make tuna sandwiches for lunch and/or have tuna salad for dinner. Incorporate whatever food item is on sale, into your breakfast, lunch and dinner menu. WHAT'S ON SALE, IS WHAT YOU'RE GOING TO EAT!
4. Stock Your Pantry
I remember one grocery weekly ad had an amazing sale on salad dressing. It was an amazing price. I bought like four (4) bottles. WHY? I've been eating salads ALL SUMMER LONG! Salad dressing has gone up in price. I stocked these extra bottles in my pantry and appreciated them later. So when there are amazing sales on cereals, taco shells, tuna, canned items, rice, pasta, etc., stock your pantry with those items for future consumption.
5. Stock Your Fridge And Freezer
With your refrigerator, you can only stock so much. Whatever you buy on sale, may only carry you over into the following week. I'm talking such things as bags of salad, spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes, cucumbers, and produce in general. These things aren't going to last past two weeks. But if they are on sale, plan a menu that encompasses them. That will be two weeks of meals! With veggies, you can stir fry them. Eat a bunch of salads (shrimp, chef, vegetable, chicken etc). If a store puts variety packs of chicken on sale, bring them home and separate the chicken into freezer bags. A variety pack can yield X number of meals depending on the number of people that will eat. Take advantage of sales and make them work for you.
Conclusion
I use to just go and buy groceries for the month and be done. Inflation is so bad, I am now shopping week to week BASED ON SALES. I thought writing this blog post would help some people. Don't be ashamed. I see people WITH MONEY, shopping the same way. By doing this, you are saving yourself money and preventing food waste. For MORE TIPS, read my blog post 6 Ways To Save Money On Groceries.
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